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How to successfully burn CD-Rs
ver. 1.0
by Burnin' of UNKNOWN Prez
November 19, 2000
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Introduction
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No matter what you're thinking: this text file is not a CD-ROM or CD-R FAQ,
I don't explain how CD burning works or anything like that. What I do is
give some advice about how to successfully write CD-Rs and how to keep
the amount of fucked up CDs minimal. And that all from the viewpoint of a
user who messes with CD-Rs only once in a while and doesn't do that daily
for backing up his documents. I don't consider myself to be a CD guru or
anything, but I have a couple of CDs and have written about half of them
myself. And I have a couple of tips for the non-expert users.
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The most important thing: the CD-writer
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If you know this field then you'll probably say that the CD-R is also very
important. You're right. But it's still secondary, the writer comes first.
Why? Because no matter how good the CD is, if the burner is not working
correctly then you'll have just for fun thrown out money and time. And if
the device is top class then you'll probably get a good result even if the
CD wasn't the best. So, use the best writer you can get. If you use others'
services to get your stuff on CD then look around and test all who do this
kind of thing. It's worth the money. If you on the other hand have a burner
and do the writing yourself then, well, good luck with it, there's no advice
I can give you about the writer. But if you are just about to buy/loan a
writer then hear around and take others' experience in consideration before
you give out your money.
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The second most important thing: CD-R
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I don't know about the rest of the world but here in Estonia we have
3 types of CD-Rs: no-names which have absolutely no identification about
the manufacturer or the origin, CDs by companies about whom nobody has ever
heard of, CDs from big well-known companies. The later ones are usually the
best, even if the price might be 2 or even more times higher than the
no-names'. But, from my own experience, I can say that the cheaper ones don't
have to be worse. That especially goes if you have an excellent writer (for
an example: my best CD is a no-name). The main problem by no-names is that
you don't know if the CD-R you bought today is from the same company as the
CD (which turned out to be good one) you bought yesterday. But if you've got
money and time you might test a little bit. As for the expensive CDs: if
possible then try to have the CD-R and the writer from the same company.
Theoretically there should be less chances that the burner messes up. Also
if you still got enough money then buy two CDs: one for the actual writing
and the other one for cases when the writer fucks up the first CD. An unused
copy is always good anyway (you can for example sell it to someone in
desperate need with a price twice as high as usual).
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When writing
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If you let someone else burn the CD then you can skip this chapter because
the person has his own habits and it's not nice to get on someone's nerves
with something you've just read about in a text file :) But if you do your
own burning then some hints. First: the load. If possible then don't do
anything on that computer, just let it be on it's own and write. Writers
need that the data flows in a constant stream and if the HD suddenly gets
a request from your word processor to load a 75MB document then there's a
good chance that you can say goodbye to your new CD. Second: the speed.
Unless you're in a hurry don't use the fastest writing speed. Today's
hard drives are fast enough so there shouldn't be a problem with the data
stream not being constant because the HD can't catch up with writers request,
but better to take care then to be sorry. The best would be if you would use
the lowest speed your writing software offers. A good practice that several
people employ is to not turn off the computer for the night but let it write.
Even in the lowest speed it'll be ready in the morning (actually it'll be
ready in less than 1,5 hours so...).
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After writing
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When the writing's ready, don't delete the files. Or if you have software
which let's you 'move' the files to CD-R then don't use this opportunity.
Why? You MUST test the CD first. Although writers are getting better and
better the process of burning CD-Rs is still an art with many dangers
(which usually result in a defected CD) in it so one must be careful.
That especially goes when the CD is going to be read in a different device
than the one it was written. The best would be if you take the CD home and
test it. If it's OK then you (or the owner of the computer where the CD was
written) can erase the files. So how to test? The easiest way is to copy
everything to HD. If no "Can't copy from drive x" messages appear then you
don't have to worry about read errors. That of course doesn't necessarily
mean that the data in CD is in fine. The best way is to use a data integrity
checker which checks the previously generated checksums. And by the way,
there are two other things. First: the OK doesn't mean that CD can just be
read. It means that the reading is fast. Not as by a classmate of mine: "I
stick the CD into the reader in the morning and by evening I actually get
some data from it" (although he was referring to the quality of reader).
Second: don't be satisfied when the CD works fine on the computer next door,
test it on the machine where it will be primarily used. That usually is the
case when you take the CD home and check it on your PC, but when the CD
should for example go to a friend as her birthday gift then try that CD
on her computer. There will always be the possibility that some x reader
won't like the CD, but as long as the computer for which the R was meant
for eats the plate everything's fine.
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When somebody wrote the CD for you
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Again, I don't know if this is being done somewhere else, but here not
everybody owns a CD-burner. Only those who REALLY need it, have more money
or are more fanatic. Some of those people also offer the service to burn
the CD for you. If they're really nice or are your friends then they'll do
it for free. In other cases they charge you for it. Now a couple hints
considering this:
Make sure he/she won't charge you or gives the money back or at least makes
a new one when the writing fails or your computer refuses to read the CD.
That especially applies when he/she also provides the CD-R and/or it's the
first time you let him/her do this for you. If you don't get this guarantee
then better use somebody else's service or be ready to get nothing for your
money.
The situation where the burner (and not you) gets the CD-R has some
advantages. Mainly because the owner knows which CDs the writer will work
with. Also if the writing is unsuccessful then he is the one who has messed
up and you can get your money back. And as last: less stress because you
aren't the one who has to run around and find a CD. But there's the chance
that you could (or probably would) find a cheaper R.
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My reader won't eat the CD!?!?!?
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From all those people I know of who have burned (or let someone burn for
them) a CD there's exactly 1 who hasn't experienced an unsuccessful
write. And that's only because he has 1 CD-R. The more CDs you make the
bigger the chance that the next one will be a failure. So be prepared for
it. That doesn't mean that you have to sweat by every writing session.
What shall happen that will happen. It's like death: sooner or later it
gets everyone. Relax, man, don't freak out, the failure by writing ain't
so terrible as dying, I was just joking :) So take it with humor and get
used to it. If you listened to my advice then you still have the files and
you also have the other CD so go ahead and try again.
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Conclusion
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Burning CD-Rs is like the rest of your life: whatever you do, you hope the
end result won't blow up in your face. But, there is one difference: when
something goes wrong then you can make things OK with minor expenses.
At least when you listened and did what I told you :)