Easy CD Creator 5 is available on most computers on campus that have CD burners. There are three primary functions available with Easy CD Creator (See: opening screen):
Data CD
Put a CD-R or CD-RW in the CD burner drive. To launch Easy CD Creator, go to Start, Programs, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, and Project Selector. Click on Make A Data CD and Data CD Project. The Easy CD Creator screen that displays has two main sections (See: creator screen):
To add files and folders to the CD, select the file(s) and folders in the
top section and click Add, or drag the file(s) and folders from the top
section to the lower section with the mouse. To remove a file from the lower
section, select it and click Remove, or right-click on the file and select
Remove From CD Project.
To burn the CD, click on Record. In the Record CD Setup screen, click Start Recording (See: record CD setup). When the CD is finished burning the Record CD Progress screen displays CD Created Successfully (See: record CD progress).
The procedure for adding files to a CD-R or CD-RW that contains files from a previous burn is the same. The files already burned to the CD might not appear in the lower section until additional files are selected and added. Note that files might not burn if the CD does not have enough available room or if the CD was Finalized when it was last burned (See: record CD setup).
Direct CD
A blank CD-RW can be formatted to behave like a very large floppy disk. Put an empty CD-RW in the CD burner drive. To launch Easy CD Creator, go to Start, Programs, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, and Project Selector. Click on Make A Data CD, and Direct CD. Blank CD-RWs must be formatted initially before they can be used as a Direct CD. To format a blank CD-RW, click on Format CD (See: format Direct CD).
The format process takes 10 to 20 minutes and reduces the available space on the CD to about 530 MB. Once the CD is formatted as a Direct CD it can be used on any Windows computer with a CD burner - Easy CD Creator is not required. Non-burning CD drives will be able to read files on the Direct CD but will not be able to write to it. Use the Direct CD as you would a conventional disk, i.e., save files, copy files and folders using Windows Explorer and drag-and-drop, and delete files.
General notes on CD-R and CD-RW
CDs are not indestructable, they are vulnerable to scratches and can be corrupted in the burning process. Important files should be backed up with a second copy.
CD-Rs and CD-RWs are different in that CD-RWs can be erased and rewriten for the life of the CD. CD-Rs cannot be erased but can have additional files added until they run out of space. This is an oversimplification, but it describes the basic differences.
CD-Rs are not recommended for Direct CDs.
Audio files are usually created on CD-Rs, especially if they will be played in conventional stereos.
CD-Rs and CD-RWs come in various speeds - the higher the speed the faster it can burn. CD-RW's do not burn as fast as CD-Rs. The speed of the CD burner will also limit the burning speed of CD-Rs and CD-RWs.
CD-RWs and Direct CDs have a range of speeds at which they can write. The lower and upper limits of this range are usually listed on the CD, e.g., 4x - 10x. The important point is that an older CD-RW drive might not be able to write to a newer CD-RW with a higher range of speeds. Persons purchasing CD-RWs might want to keep in mind the slowest CD-RW drive they might want need to use.