Backing up and Burning
Burning simply means to “backup” or make a copy of something. It has nothing to do with matches or lighter fluid, some people also call it “ripping," so they might rip you a copy of a music track or other media.
Media is also often referred to as the physical storage we use for our backups, it can be a disc, (DVD or CD), USB memory stick, external hard drive or a memory card etc.
Media is also often referred to as the physical storage we use for our backups, it can be a disc, (DVD or CD), USB memory stick, external hard drive or a memory card etc.
Backing up is an integral part of computing, without backups you have no real means of recovery should your data be corrupted or compromised, it is unwise to simply believe that what is on your hard drive will always be there and reamain in tacked forever. Hard drives can and very often do fail, large companies make use of storage solutions which involve the use of multiple hardrives for this very reason.
Viruses and hardware failures are a sure way to loose precious data, especially in the case of photos, movie files, important and sensitive documents,etc. Always make a backup copy of these items as soon as practical. In my experience, I have seen too many people totally devistated by the loss of their family photos and so forth, simply because they were not backed up. Thankfully we have nearly always been able to recover their lost data and we know what this means to them.
Viruses and hardware failures are a sure way to loose precious data, especially in the case of photos, movie files, important and sensitive documents,etc. Always make a backup copy of these items as soon as practical. In my experience, I have seen too many people totally devistated by the loss of their family photos and so forth, simply because they were not backed up. Thankfully we have nearly always been able to recover their lost data and we know what this means to them.
I cannot stress enough the importance of backing up files, a very simple rule of thumb goes like this:“IF YOU WANT TO KEEP IT, BACK IT UP!!"
A question we very often come across concerns the type of media to use for backups, this largely depends on what you are backing up and by this I am talking about file sizes. Lets say you have a home movie you wish to backup, obviously a DVD would be the best item for this job, if it is a few photos then perhaps a CD-R will do. Once you backup your data to a disc you can be fairly well assured that it is safe unless you use a “rewritable” disc.
These disc’s are labeled CD-RW or DVD-RW, the “RW” part describes the rewritable function. Put simply, you can use these kind of disc’s like a re-recordable tape, so it becomes very easy to over-write or record over your original data.
Another point worth mentioning is about using electronic media for backups, there is the possibility of this media or “device” failing and then you cannot access your data, this can and does happen with removable media such as USB memory sticks and even external hard drives. They can go just as light bulbs do, be especially conscious to only use them for temporary storage, never ever use them for permanent storage.
If your data requires that it stay in tacked and is not over-written, use a CD-R
or a DVD-R, these guys are recordable CD/DVD’s and you can only write to them
once. Depending on how you initiated setup the burning process, in some cases you can add additional data later without the fear of recording over your initial backup. Then all you have to worry about is how you keep this storage. Always store it in a dry cool environment and place your disc's in a protective case or cover, if you scratch the disc's surface the data may be unrecoverable.
A question we very often come across concerns the type of media to use for backups, this largely depends on what you are backing up and by this I am talking about file sizes. Lets say you have a home movie you wish to backup, obviously a DVD would be the best item for this job, if it is a few photos then perhaps a CD-R will do. Once you backup your data to a disc you can be fairly well assured that it is safe unless you use a “rewritable” disc.
These disc’s are labeled CD-RW or DVD-RW, the “RW” part describes the rewritable function. Put simply, you can use these kind of disc’s like a re-recordable tape, so it becomes very easy to over-write or record over your original data.
Another point worth mentioning is about using electronic media for backups, there is the possibility of this media or “device” failing and then you cannot access your data, this can and does happen with removable media such as USB memory sticks and even external hard drives. They can go just as light bulbs do, be especially conscious to only use them for temporary storage, never ever use them for permanent storage.
If your data requires that it stay in tacked and is not over-written, use a CD-R
or a DVD-R, these guys are recordable CD/DVD’s and you can only write to them
once. Depending on how you initiated setup the burning process, in some cases you can add additional data later without the fear of recording over your initial backup. Then all you have to worry about is how you keep this storage. Always store it in a dry cool environment and place your disc's in a protective case or cover, if you scratch the disc's surface the data may be unrecoverable.
How to Burn
Now that we know something about “backing up” lets move on to how its done. First of all you will need a blank disc, you can also use a USB stick or other media but in this tutorial we will be using a disc for demonstration purposes. We will also be focusing on the Windows default burner or the "CD Writing Wizard", the one that was built-in to Windows. There are of course many other burning suites or burning software available on today’s market, the intention here however, is to show you how to burn using Windows.
First thing we need is our disc, a standard CD-R will do, place it into your drive and then close the caddy, when you see a box pop-up on screen click the red X. Now locate the file or folder you wish to burn.
If it is a image file like a photo then it may be located in the “My Pictures” folder, here you can click on a single image or hold down the “Ctrl” key and click which ones you want. You can also click “Select All” from the task bar menu at the top of the screen.
In our example we will only be selecting a single image.
First thing we need is our disc, a standard CD-R will do, place it into your drive and then close the caddy, when you see a box pop-up on screen click the red X. Now locate the file or folder you wish to burn.
If it is a image file like a photo then it may be located in the “My Pictures” folder, here you can click on a single image or hold down the “Ctrl” key and click which ones you want. You can also click “Select All” from the task bar menu at the top of the screen.
In our example we will only be selecting a single image.
So Lets crank up the CD Writing Wizard !!
Step 1) Locate the image file you wish to burn
Step 2) Right-Click this file then scroll down and select “Send To”
Step 3) When the next menu box appears scroll and select “D Drive”.
The name or letter of this drive may appear different depending on your computer's configuration, It may appear as "E Drive" for example.
Step 2) Right-Click this file then scroll down and select “Send To”
Step 3) When the next menu box appears scroll and select “D Drive”.
The name or letter of this drive may appear different depending on your computer's configuration, It may appear as "E Drive" for example.
Step 4) You will now see a balloon prompt appear in the task bar, click this balloon .
Step 5) In the next screen click “Write these files to CD” from the left hand menu.
Step 6) Click Next.
You will now see the screen below indicating the duration or burn status.
Step 7) Now simply click Finish and the job is done!! Your disc will eject automatically.