Cloud and flash storage are great, but there are still times when you need an optical disc
You could be forgiven for thinking that CDs and DVDs are outmoded technologies. With flash memory getting cheaper and the cloud becoming ever more pervasive, storing data on circles of plastic-coated aluminium seems little better than chiseling ones and noughts on slabs of stone. But it`s not that simple. How will the cloud help if your PC won`t boot? Is a thumb drive any use if you want to play a movie in your vintage DVD player? Like it or not, CDs and DVD still have their place in the world. They`re cheap, easy to make and can often work as a brilliant bridging mechanism between different devices and data formats.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 1 : Make a data disc
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 2 : Overburn a disc
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 3 : Burn a secure disc
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 4 : Bootable DOS disc
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 5 : Dual layer discs
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 6 : Audio CDs
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 7 : Combine VOB files
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 8 : Burn a Blu-ray disc
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 9 : Recovery files
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 10 : Restore from PAR2 files
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 11 : Damaged discs
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 12 : Convert to ISO
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 1 : Make a data disc
Windows’ own data disc burning routines can be slow and frustrating, and don’t always produce a disc that can be read by other devices. You’re better off using a dedicated disc-burning program like CD BurnerXP (www.cdburnerxp.se) or ImgBurn (www.imgburn.com). These make burning data to disc simpler, and avoid the need to cache the whole disc contents to a temporary folder in the process. If you’re using CD BurnerXP, launch the program and choose ‘Data disc’. Browse to the files or folders you want to include and drag them onto the lower pane. Check the indicator to see how full your disc is. Click ‘Burn’ to write your files to disc. In ImgBurn, choose ‘Write files/folders to disc’, then drag the files you want to burn into the left-hand pane. Click the ‘Build’ button and the program checks your compilation, offering corrections to make the disc compatible with most devices. It can also verify the data on the disc after burning it.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 2 : Overburn a disc
If you’ve just slightly exceeded the capacity of a disc, try overburning if the option is available. There are no guarantees, but the data may just fit.
Launch CD BurnerXP, insert the disc you want to write to, and add the files or folders you want to burn. If the data size exceeds that of the disc by only a small amount, click ‘Burn’ and then choose ‘Overburn’ when you’re warned about the mismatch. If the disc burns successfully, test it to see that all the files have been transferred. The smaller the overburn, the less likely you are to have problems.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 3 : Burn a secure disc
The simplest way to encrypt files on a disc is to use TrueCrypt (www.truecrypt.org). Select ‘Create volume I Create a file container I Standard TrueCrypt volume’. Choose ‘Select file’ and browse to where you want to store the container file. Enter a filename and save it. Provide your password and opt to format the volume. You can mount it using TrueCrypt with your password, and use it to store sensitive files. Once you’ve added your files to this volume, burn the container file to disc using your disc-burning software.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 4 : Bootable DOS disc
You might want to create a DOS boot disc if you have old games that only run under DOS. To do so, you need a PC with a floppy drive and a DOS boot disk, which you can download from www.bootdisk.com. Use ImgBurn and choose ‘Mode I Build’. Put your DOS boot floppy into the floppy disk drive. Choose ‘Advanced I Bootable disc’ and select ‘Make image bootable’. Choose ‘Floppy Disc L44MB’ as the emulation type and select your floppy drive under ‘Extract boot image’. Add any other files you want to include. Insert your CD and click ‘Burn’. Boot from this disc and it acts like the A: drive.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 5 : Dual layer discs
Burning data to a dual-layer disc works in much the same way as creating a data disc, as long as you use a disc-burning program that supports dual-layer burning, and have a dual-layer capable disc and drive. However, if you want to create a video disc, you’ll need to decide where the layer break comes, because there will be a slight pause here during playback. In ImgBurn, choose ‘Build mode’ and add the DVD video files that you need for your project. Click the ‘Burn’ button and provide a volume label. ImgBurn shows some suggestions for the layer break position. Select one and click ‘OK’ to proceed.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 6 : Audio CDs
CDs that play in standard CD players need to be in Compact Disc Digital Audio format. Most music files are stored on a PC in compressed forms and need to be converted. Several programs are capable of doing this, including Windows Media Player, but CD BurnerXP provides a very simple interface. Launch the program and choose ‘Audio disc’. Click ‘OK’. Browse to the audio files that you want to include in your disc and drag them into the lower pane in the order you want them to appear on the CD. Insert a CD and click ‘Burn’ to produce the final disc.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 7 : Combine VOB files
DVDs recorded on camcorders or home DVD recorders save their contents in VOB, IFO and BUP files. The files with the extension VOB that contain the video, while the other types include disc information and backups. You can play VOB files in VLC media player, but your files won’t necessarily match up with chapters. To get a full video, you may need to combine several VOB files. There’s a simple program that will do this, called Join VOB Files Tool. Get it from www.bit.ly/eMpEYM, then unzip the file and launch the executable. Click ‘Add VOB file’ and browse tothe files you want to join. Click ‘Change file name’ and supply the name and location for the joined up file, then click ‘Join VOB files’.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 8 : Burn a Blu-ray disc
When burning a Blu-ray disc, it’s best to select the UDF filesystem and include recursive subdirectories. 1mg Burn is an ideal tool for this
To burn a Blu-ray disc, you’ll need the disc itself and a drive capable of writing to it. ImgBurn supports Blu-ray recording. Launch it and choose Write Files/Folders to disc. For a data disc, add whatever files and folders you want to the ‘Source’ box. If you have a video Blu-ray disc authored, you should have a folder labelled ‘BDAV’ or ‘BDMV’, and one labelled ‘CERTIFICATE’. Browse for these and add them to your compilation. Now select ‘Options’ on the right-hand side, then ‘Data Type MODE1/2 048’. For ‘Filesystem’ choose ‘UDF’, and for ‘UDF revision’ select ‘2.50’. Tick the box marked ‘Recursive subdirectories’. Now, on the ‘Information’ tab, click ‘Calculate’ to check you have enough space. Click ‘Build’ and provide a volume label when prompted.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 9 : Recovery files
Provided the damage isn’t too extensive, QuickPar can use its PAR2 recovery files to repair broken or missing files on a corrupted disc.
Whenever you burn a data disc, you’re likely to have some spare space. You could use this to store other files to ensure each disc is full up, or you could use it to better advantage by storing recovery files for the data that you’ve already put on your disc. QuickPar (www.quickpar.org.uk) is a data verification and recovery tool that lets you create recovery files from the originals. If anything goes missing, you can use these recovery files and what’s left of the data to reconstruct the missing bits. Launch QuickPar and click ‘Add files’. Add all the files that you want included on your disc. Drag the ‘Redundancy’ slider until the data size matches your spare space. Click ‘Create’ to produce the PAR2 files. Once complete, return to your disc-burning program, add these PAR2 files and burn the disc.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 10 : Restore from PAR2 files
Launch QuickPar and click ‘Open’. Browse to one of the PAR2 files alongside the data that you copied from your damaged disc. The software will detect any missing or damaged files and show them as it scans the data. As long as not too much data has been damaged, QuickPar can recover what’s been lost. Click ‘Repair’ and wait for the program to restore the damaged files to their rightful place.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 11 : Damaged discs
If you find that a CD or DVD no longer reads properly and there are no visible fingerprints or scratches, you may be able to rescue some or most of the data using the free version of ISO Buster (available from www.isobuster.com). Insert your damaged disc and launch ISO Buster. Click ‘Refresh’ if it isn’t detected. You’ll see each session of recording on the disc. Choose ‘File’ and pick a session. Choose ‘Extract session Extract user data’. Provide a location to save this to disc. You can then open the image and restore intact files.
Disc Burning Tip and Trick # 12 : Convert to ISO
You can store the contents of a disc on your hard drive as an ISO image using the free ISO Recorder tool for Windows XP, 2003 and Vista.
Install ISO Recorder, which is available from http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/W7.htm. Insert the disc you want to convert, right-click it in My Computer and choose ‘Create image’. In the resulting dialog, ensure the right drive is selected and browse to the location where you want to save the image file. Provide a filename. Click ‘Next’ and wait as the ISO image is generated. When it’s complete, click ‘Finish’. You can now browse to your ISO disc image file.
This article was originally written by Joe Cassels for the June 2011 edition of PCPlus. All credits go to them. This article is only for educational purposes.
