How do I burn CDs

[StupidUser]

Hi. Is there a tutorial on here (or anywhere, for that matter) on how to burn CDs in Windows 7?

My PC is capable of burning them, but whenever I do it, things go wrong. I drag files to somewhere and burn and remove the CD, but the files keep showing up as ready to burn. Sometimes they're not on the CD, but they remain as ready to burn, or other strange happenings that I can't quite understand. I would like a simple explanation of what is happening and how to burn CDs, the goal is to burn all of my notes from school (I just finished all my classes) onto CD for future use - but off of my space limited SDD.

Thanks.

 

[profdlp]

What program are you using to burn them?

I would recommend CDBurnerXP: Free CD and DVD burning software - it's free and has enough options for pretty much every task.

Common burning errors:

Choosing the wrong type of project - make sure that for copying data you choose Data Disc, if it's an iso you need to create a Disc From Image, etc.

Not closing the disc - Closing the disc writes all the special files needed to identify it to another computer. A disc which hasn't been closed might show up as empty when you go back to it.

You may want to look these over:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5942-burning-cd-dvd-enable-disable.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/548-burn-disc-image-iso-img-file.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/654-you-have-files-waiting-burned-disc-stop-message.html

 

[PooMan UK]

Hiya pal

You might find it easier to use a program like CDBurnerXP: Free CD and DVD burning software
It's free to use and works on Win7

There's some easy to follow help guides here CDBurnerXP FAQ

.... hope this helps a bit

*edit ooops prof beat me to it

 

[StupidUser]

What program are you using to burn them?

Well, I prefer to use built in Windows tools. I am down to 5GB free space on my (too small) SSD and I really don't like installing applications which I will rarely use (my next post: how do I clean registry/PC after installing/uninstalling tons of apps). If the program you guys suggest has a small, easy to use, portable version, then... well... maybe I'll use it (we'll see).

 

[PooMan UK]

CD burnerXP is only 5Mb so it's as about as light as it's gonna get

 

[ignatzatsonic]

ImgBurn is another possibility.

My installation of it uses 3.07 MB.

Do you have hibernation turned off on your SSD installation?

 

[StupidUser]

CD burnerXP is only 5Mb so it's as about as light as it's gonna get

And, FYI, it has a portable version. You have to find the small link which says "More download options". The 64-bit version is 6MB (still pretty small).

 

[StupidUser]

ImgBurn is another possibility.

My installation of it uses 3.07 MB.

Do you have hibernation turned off on your SSD installation?

No. I have hibernation turned on. I like that feature.

Why do you ask? I don't like hibernation so much that I wouldn't get rid of it in the right circumstances.

 

[whs]

Hibernation uses as much space on your SSD as you have RAM. How small is your SSD. I have a bunch of 60GB SSDs and never ran out of space. Maybe we can help you clean it up.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

ImgBurn is another possibility.

My installation of it uses 3.07 MB.

Do you have hibernation turned off on your SSD installation?

No. I have hibernation turned on. I like that feature.

Why do you ask? I don't like hibernation so much that I wouldn't get rid of it in the right circumstances.

If you don't want it, you can turn it off from an elevated command prompt with this command:

powercfg -h off

and press Enter

As WHS says, you would get back SSD space equivalent to the amount of your installed RAM.

You might want to also inspect the size of your page file and the amount of space devoted to System Restore.

 

[StupidUser]

Hibernation uses as much space on your SSD as you have RAM. How small is your SSD. I have a bunch of 60GB SSDs and never ran out of space. Maybe we can help you clean it up.

I have 4024 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory (according to Belarc Advisor Computer Profile) and one 128GB SSD. If I understand you (and the next post) right, hibernate is taking 4GB of space.

Edit: hiberfil.sys is 3,089,680 KB. Say "Goodbye", Hibernate.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hibernation uses as much space on your SSD as you have RAM. How small is your SSD. I have a bunch of 60GB SSDs and never ran out of space. Maybe we can help you clean it up.

I have 4024 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory (according to Belarc Advisor Computer Profile) and one 128GB SSD. If I understand you (and the next post) right, hibernate is taking 4GB of space.

You are correct.

 

[whs]

The other day someone had 24GB of RAM and was all amazed that his 60GB SSD was completely full. He had 48GBs for the hiberfile and the pagefile. That was easy to fix - no hiberfile and a pagefile of 2GB.

 

[StupidUser]

OK, this is strange. In Control Panel I clicked "Change Power Settings", then "Change advanced power settings". The settings "Allow hybrid sleep" was already set to "off" and "Hibernate after" was already set to "Never". But hibernate has been in my menu for a long time - in fact, I have it set to be the default shutdown choice.

Why won't it disable? Is it because I have it set as the default? If so, how do I fix that? (Should this be a new thread?)

 

[ignatzatsonic]

See my post 10.

It must be done from an elevated command prompt with that specific command.

 

[StupidUser]

See my post 10.

It must be done from an elevated command prompt with that specific command.

You were right. I skipped your post because I wanted to use the regular window GUI because that way I am more likely to remember where it is. But clearly, the GUI does not always work. (Aside: Why the heck not? It just lowers my confidence in Windows.)

Anyway, hiberfil.sys is gone.

pagefile.sys is 4,119,576KB. My Virtual Memory is set to "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives". Shouldn't that make the pagefile the most optimal, albeit large, size?

 

[whs]

A pagefile of 1GB or 2GB is enough. The only drawback is that you do not get a full memory dump in case of a BSOD - but let's hope that never happens.

 

[profdlp]

I would mention that if you have nearly filled a 128GB SSD you might check out some other data storage strategies. By that I don't mean abandon the SSD (no way!), just to find other places to place things which either are infrequently used or won't benefit much from the improved access time. I'd recommend that you fill in the rest of your system specs so we can give you more precise advice.

Fine-tuning things like swap file and hibernation usage is a good thing overall, but you need to recover more space than those types of things are going to get you.

 

[StupidUser]

I would mention that if you have nearly filled a 128GB SSD you might check out some other data storage strategies. By that I don't mean abandon the SSD (no way!),

I would never abandon my SSD. In the first month I owned this thing, while turning around in a parking log, I accidentally smacked the laptop into a cement block (you know, the base of one of those things which holds up lights, or something like that). I can be an abusive owner. I've lost data on laptop's HDDs in the past.

just to find other places to place things which either are infrequently used or won't benefit much from the improved access time.

You mean, like burning my once frequently used class notes and recordings - but I've finished my class work - to a CD?

I'd recommend that you fill in the rest of your system specs so we can give you more precise advice.

Fine-tuning things like swap file and hibernation usage is a good thing overall, but you need to recover more space than those types of things are going to get you.

Here is a pic of my system specs that I took way back when I first got this thing, but I haven't changed any of the hardware (if there's a better way than this massive screenshot to provide the info, lemme know). Note that my Lectures folder - the one with my class notes (recordings) - is just less than 8GB (after zipping), so I will need to clean more stuff.


And thanks, everyone, for your help.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You can fill out system specs through the user control panel at the top of the page and then "edit system specs" on the left side.

How much of that 128 GB SSD is Windows and installed programs?

How much of it is personal data?