CD Burning on Windows XP
Burning CDs in XP is easy to do:
- Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
- Right-click the CD drive, which is probably lettered D: or E:, and choose Properties.
- Select the Recording tab.
- Make sure CD recording is enabled, choose a burn speed (we suggest 4X or slower), and choose whether you want the CD to be automatically ejected.
- Click the OK button.
- In Windows Explorer, double-click the CD burning drive.
- From a second Explorer window, drag-and-drop the files you want to burn into the Explorer window from Step #6.
- Once you have compiled all the files you want to burn, choose File –> Write these files to CD in the Explorer window from Step #6.
- Go through the CD Writing Wizard to complete the burn.
There are a few things to know about CD burning. First, a CD does not work like a floppy disk or Zip disk. It is far less versatile when it comes to file management. Two primary limitations are that 1) you cannot work on a file directly from a CD and 2) you cannot perform a File –> Save As to a CD. All file manipulation must be done on the hard drive, then burned to CD once it is complete.
Second, you can burn a CD multiple times. Each successive burn adds files to whatever files were already on the CD. The only exception to this is when you want to burn a file that has the same name as one that already exists. In this case, the file you want to burn will replace the one that already exists. To avoid such “overwriting,” make sure all files have unique filenames.
Third, you cannot delete a file from a CD. The best you can do is to burn a blank copy of the file, thus “overwriting” the file that had the content you would have liked to delete.
Fourth, all CD drives are not created equal. Some read better than others, while some burn better than others. If you work with one drive only, then you probably won’t have trouble reading and burning CDs. However, if you work on different drives, then you might find that a CD burned with one has trouble being read by another. There are potentially two problems in this case, though only one is necessary to make life difficult. Either you are dealing with a poor reader or a poor burner. Older drives tend to be poor readers, while fast burners tend to be poor at their highest speeds. If you find that you can’t read your CDs, try burning them at a slower speed. This will take longer, but will increase the chances of being able to read the CD on different computers.