If you don't see an answer to your own burning query, drop me a line and let me know what's on your mind. Hopefully in the near future I'll make more of these FAQ’s including one on CD/DVD quality and why not to use a bad quality disc! (I did the best i had to work with In addition similar yet more detailed information is freely available all over the internet!) Which Format? DVD-RAM Suited for archival purposes, DVD-RAM is catered to niche audiences: It's the most expensive form of DVD media but also the most durable and rarest. DVD-R This write-once-only format is the cheapest form of DVD media, widely available and compatible with a wide range of home DVD players. DVD+R Another write-once-only format in the same mould as DVD-R. But the media's compatibility with older DVD products raises questions on its potential as a video storage source. DVD-RW The DVD Forum's DVD-RW was the first rewritable DVD format marketed but has since been overtaken by the faster and more versatile DVD+RW media of the DVD Alliance. DVD+RW Fast, versatile and supported by many DVD drives and players, the expensive DVD+RW media is an all-rounder media that does everything from storing data to video clips. For audio projects, pick CD-Rs. CD-Rs are the best way for you to create audio CDs, the format recognized by CD and DVD players. If you want to pack more music on a disc, convert your audio files to MP3 before burning them to a CD-R. But note that they're stored as data files, not as music per se. That means the player you're using needs to have a built-in MP3 decoder, as many DVD players and portable CD players do--but not as popular in car stereo and living-room CD players. If I Buy a DVD Burner, Do I Still Need My CD Drive? No, you don't--but there are reasons you might want to keep two drives. It's not a question of whether your DVD burner can also burn CDs-It's a question of the speed in which it does it. For a long time, having two drives made sense, since DVD burners started out with CD write speeds that were significantly slower than what you'd find in a dedicated CD-RW drive. However, you really don't need two drives anymore. Today's DVD burners can burn CDs at 12X and 16X speeds, which are quick enough for most purposes. Still, I can come up with three reasons you'd want to have multiple optical drives. The first, and most obvious reason, is for easy disc copying: Pop a CD into one drive, a blank disc into the other, and there ya go! The second is for testing: If your second optical drive is a combo DVD-ROM and CD burner, then you have a quick means of getting those DVD movies you've made on a drive other than the one you burned the disc on. Third, lots of games are coming through with multiple CDs. If you have two optical drives, you can minimize your disc swapping with multi-CD games. How Can I Copy My Videos? Your perked up at the question, wondering how you can copy your store-bought DVDs. But I'm not going into that murky water, fraught as it is with questions about the legality of copying movies on DVD. If you do a Web search, or dig around on sites dedicated to DVD burning (such as CD-Rinfo) you'll see shareware and freeware DVD "rippers" out there. What you choose to do with that software is up to you. Quick Refernce-Burning a Disc Copy a DVD: If you have a second optical drive on your system, you can easily copy contents from a disc in that drive to another in your burner. But if your second drive isn't the fastest spinner on the block, it might be just as easy to first create an image of the DVD on your hard drive. The software may go a bit faster when transferring the data from your hard drive to disc. Plus, if you destroy your first copy, you can always burn another from the image on your hard drive! Choose Your Write Speed: For optimal performance, make sure the write speed corresponds to the speed of the media you're using. To maximize your new disc's potential quality, and to avoid buffer underruns, try bumping the recording speed down a notch or two. In case you're wondering, buffer underruns occur when the data source fills the drive's buffer faster than the drive can copy the data to your destination. All drives have buffer underrun protection; but the situation can still occur, especially if you perform CPU-intensive tasks while burning a disc. Multisession or Finalize? For data or video, select a multisession burn, or finalize your disc. With write-once DVD-R and +R, and CD-R, you can choose to add data to the disc in separate burning sessions over time (multisession write), or lock a disc so you can't add more content (disc finalization). You'll need to decide which route you're taking before you initiate the burn. If you want to play any part of your disc in stand-alone DVD players or recorders, you'll need to finalize it. Drag and Drop Data Files: If you're using rewritable media, you can simply drag and drop the files in Windows Explorer, just as if the DVD-/+RW or CD-RW drive were a floppy drive. The disc you create will use the Universal Disc Format file system, and should be readable on most PCs and Macs. But note that UDF requires overhead for its disc error correction, so you'll typically sacrifice one to several hundred megabytes on the rewritable disc, depending upon whether you use CD or DVD. Pick Your File System: Most burning programs by default use the Joliet file system, which allows you to use 64-character file names, as you do in Windows, and automatically generates an 8-character file name with 3-character file extension for use with DOS and earlier versions of Windows. That should work for most burning needs, but you can usually find a few more formatting options in the software. Burn an ISO 9660 disc if you want the disc to have near-universal compatibility with different operating systems, including Windows, Macintosh, and Unix. The resulting file names must be 8 alphanumeric characters, with a 3-character extension. Verify Your Data: It's a pain to do, and it's admittedly boring--but it's also necessary especially if you're backing up critical data or making a one-of-a-kind video disc. Verification is your best means of confirming that the software made an accurate copy of your data. Some burning software performs verification by comparing each original source file to the copy created on the disc, bit-for-bit; other programs simply compare the original file's size to that of the copy. Enjoy.
Extended > What are ISO image files and how do I use them? An ISO image is an informal term for a disk image of an ISO 9660 file system. More loosely, it refers to any optical disk image, even a UDF image. As is typical for disk images, in addition to the data files that are contained in the ISO image, it also contains all the filesystem metadata (boot code, structures, and attributes). All of this information is contained in a single file. These properties make it an attractive alternative to phyical media for the distribution of software which requires this additional information as it is simple to retrieve over the net. Some of the common uses include the distribution of operating systems, such as Linux or BSD systems, and Live CDs/DVDs. Most CD/DVD authoring utilities can deal with ISO images: Producing them either by copying the data from existing media or generating new ones from existing files, or using them to create a copy on physical media. Most operating systems (including Mac OS, BSD, Linux and Windows, with third-party tools) allow these images to be mounted as if they were physical discs, making them somewhat useful as a universal archive format. The most common use of an image file is to write it to a blank CD-R resulting in an identical copy of the original CD including file name and volume label information. ISO image files may also be opened and their contents copied to a local folder, much like ZIP files. These three methods of using ISO images are described below. Writing ISO files to CD-R - This is probably your best method. You will need CD-R writing software to do this. The NERO software has free Demoversions if you do not have any CD-R writing software. There is also Easy Media Creator, NTI CD Maker and many others and is entirely up to user preference! Most CD-R writing software includes a feature to create a CD from an image file. Below are instructions for some popular applications: Easy CD Creator 5 From the File menu, choose Create CD from image file. Easy CD Creator assumes the file extension is .CIF so enter the full path and filename, or select the .ISO option. ISO Recorder ISO Recorder is a third-party add-on for Windows XP that adds image file writing capability: Right-click an image file and choose Copy Image to CD. Nero Burning ROM In Nero, from the Recorder menu, choose Burn image. For more information please see the Nero Burning ROM Support Page or the Nero software help section! After a CD-R has been written, you can use the CRC tool to verify that the CD-R was correctly written. 1.The CRC305.exe tool can be downloaded from MSDN Subscriber Downloads in the Tools, SDKs, DDKs folder. 2.From a command prompt, run CRC305 filename (where filename is the image file name.) 3.Run CRC305 x: (where x is the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive containing the CD-R). The CRC values should match. Other software for processing ISO files: Copying the contents of ISO files The contents of image files may be accessed directly using third-party tools. Using this method you can extract the files from an image file to a temporary folder on your hard drive, then run setup. The following tools offer such image file support: ISO Buster CD Image Daemon Tools Mounting ISO files virtually The following tool for Windows XP allows image files to be mounted virtually as CD-ROM devices. This tool is unsupported by Microsoft Product Support Services. (Direct .exe Link so is recommended to perform a virus and spyware scan before opening)) Virtual CD Control Panel
Extended yet again > Will this disc work in my burner? # This is an excellent question but one that is not at all easy to answer. There are many factors that can have a bearing on whether a particular brand of disk will work in a particular burner and also be compatible with any player. These issues include: #The Disc can be a cause of burning and/or playing problems. Generally there is a wide range of disc media out there and its quality varies. This includes fake discs that may appear to be a particular brand but are not. Whilst most people will tend to blame the media, from my experience this is not always the case. # The DVD burner (implicitly as they are computer based devices they also have versions of firmware that can affect the drive's compatibility with a particular disc. One burner manufacturer tends to have drives that are particularly demanding on the DMA capability of the PC motherboard. In this case the drive would appear to simply dislike some PCs! The way the burner, the operating system and the burning software interact is complex and varies between setups. Some setups include a list of discs they know and will only work with these. In this case some discs will be recognised and so some will not be suitable for that particular setup. # The processor speed of the PC where the DVD burner resides - slower computers may not be able to supply the data quick enough. # If using an external burner some people hope that USB 1.1 is OK - unfortunately you need USB 2.0 to provide sufficient speed to reliably burn DVDs. # It takes all a PCs resources to keep reliably burning discs - don't use it for anything else while it is burning! This is particularly important with 'hidden programs' like virus checkers which wake up and scan from time to time. # What about the software you are using to burn the disc? Do you have any other software that you can try? # Once you have burned a disc, it may not work in some players if it is not recorded beyond 1GB # Labels can cause discs to be out of balance to the point where they have difficulties in a player. What do I do if a particular disc does not work? First question is 'have you burned reliably at this speed before? If this is the first time you have burned at say 8 speed, then it is wise to check out a few things. Will this disc burn reliably at a slower speed? If yes, then you should look at data transfer issues and drive firmware. check on the drive manufacturers web site to ensure you have the latest firmware. Are you within the specified processor speed for your drive, do you have any other processes working while you are burning? In the end you may be better off spending a little more money on trying out another brand of disc. Some times it would appear that one PC and its configuration simply does not like a particular disc, whereas other PC configurations that appear to be identical do not have any problems with the disc. In other words, sometimes it is not worth your efforts to find out exactly why something is occurring, it is simply easier to move on. How can I find a better value disc? There are several aspects that you may consider on this issue: 1. Burning Reliability Most importantly, the reliability of any disc will vary depending on YOUR equipment and software. This means that whilst it is good to get other opinions, they may not apply to every situation. 2. Playback Reliability If you are burning a disc on one drive and playing it on others then this aspect is important. It is impossible to evaluate all players out there, particularly when you consider some may be slightly out of alignment/worn or even faulty. There are also players that do not play burned DVDs, they can only play pressed/replicated DVDs (typically Hollywood DVDs). As a general rule, you will probably find that better quality discs will play in a wider range of playing situations - however you need to find out for yourself. Additionally some DVD players do not understand discs that have less than 1GB recorded data. 3. Longevity - how long will my disc last As the disc ages, it will change is some way. In particular the amount of UV light, the temperature and humidity are known to be important factors that will effect to a greater or lesser extent depending on the materials and care in construction of the disc. Additionally how the disc is treated in handling and storage will also be important. 4. Burning Speed What speed do you burn at? 1X, 4X, 8X 16X ? Over time, disc manufacturers come out with faster discs and as they do this, they tend to retire slower speed discs. As a rule faster burn discs can also burn at slower speeds and universally a faster discs should still play in a normal 1X players. Practically many people are forced to use faster burn discs, simply because the slower burn discs become unavailable. This is currently occurring with 4X discs going out and 8X and 16X are replacing them in the shops. Burning at higher speeds on a computer requires faster transfer rates from the computer to the DVD burner and as such may show up limits in the throughput. If you have issues with burning at faster speeds, you should firstly establish that the discs will burn at slower speeds first. The speed that the disc will burn in your environment is determined by more than the burn speed of the actual DVD (or CD). When burning the software on the computer or burner determines what speed to burn at and this may be determined by the firmware in the drive and / or a speed test by the burning software etc. etc. The only advice i can provide is to ensure you have the latest version of drive firmware, application software and if they still will not burn at the disc rated maximum speed then try out another brand of DVD, if after all this, you can not get the rated speed, then it is most likely that your computer/ recorder is not capable of this burn speed. 5. Disc Type Often you have a choice whether to use a DVD-R or DVD+R as your burner may be capable of using either. As a general rule (with plenty of exceptions) you will find that DVD-R will play on more computers than DVD+R but conversely a few more DVD players will like the DVD+R better than the DVD-R. In the end you need to work this out for yourself, simply trying out one kind of disc and if this does not work out, thy the other!! In the end there are some DVD players that do not like any recorded DVDs, only commercially produced ones!! Often you have additional choices as to use of DVD-RW or DVD+RW. These rewritable discs have tended to go out of favour in recent times simply due to costs. Wtih time, the cost of DVD-R and DVD+R have come down to such an extent that they are so cheap that reusing a disc becomes hardly economic. For situations where you are using the disc for collecting and replacing many smaller files each day or week, then the use of RW may be viable. It should be noted that RW media is far less likey to play on stand alone DVD players, compared to DVD-R/DVD+R discs. EDIT: For further reference, please check out my guide on getting good DVD media. Check it out Here
very detailed, i'm sure people will find it extremely helpful...i currently have 2 drives in my system, a CD-RW and a DVD-RW, for disc-copying if i want to backup a backup disc quickly, also the other drive is there if i'm watching a dvd with 2 discs, i can pop both in and then watch the second one after the first has finished, not essential but useful to have.
Gald i could be of assistance As i said in the previous post/s i think it's very useful to have 2, especially if one fails! More power to you! I currently have a DVD-ROM and a DVD-RAM drive! I use the ROM strictly for watching movies and installing games etc.. and the RAM drive for nothing but burning to prolong it's life!
yeah thats a good plan, i also use my DVD+/-RW for burning, my other one does burn CD's but i use the DVD one, i think this thread has good sticky potential...
