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                       How to successfully burn CD-Rs
                                  ver. 1.0

                         by Burnin' of UNKNOWN Prez
                              November 19, 2000
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 Introduction
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 No matter what you're thinking: this text file is not a CD-ROM or CD-R FAQ,
 I don't explain how CD burning works or anything like that. What I do is
 give some advice about how to successfully write CD-Rs and how to keep
 the amount of fucked up CDs minimal. And that all from the viewpoint of a
 user who messes with CD-Rs only once in a while and doesn't do that daily
 for backing up his documents. I don't consider myself to be a CD guru or
 anything, but I have a couple of CDs and have written about half of them
 myself. And I have a couple of tips for the non-expert users.


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  The most important thing: the CD-writer
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 If you know this field then you'll probably say that the CD-R is also very
 important. You're right. But it's still secondary, the writer comes first.
 Why? Because no matter how good the CD is, if the burner is not working
 correctly then you'll have just for fun thrown out money and time. And if
 the device is top class then you'll probably get a good result even if the
 CD wasn't the best. So, use the best writer you can get. If you use others'
 services to get your stuff on CD then look around and test all who do this
 kind of thing. It's worth the money. If you on the other hand have a burner
 and do the writing yourself then, well, good luck with it, there's no advice
 I can give you about the writer. But if you are just about to buy/loan a
 writer then hear around and take others' experience in consideration before
 you give out your money.


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  The second most important thing: CD-R
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 I don't know about the rest of the world but here in Estonia we have
 3 types of CD-Rs: no-names which have absolutely no identification about
 the manufacturer or the origin, CDs by companies about whom nobody has ever
 heard of, CDs from big well-known companies. The later ones are usually the
 best, even if the price might be 2 or even more times higher than the
 no-names'. But, from my own experience, I can say that the cheaper ones don't
 have to be worse. That especially goes if you have an excellent writer (for
 an example: my best CD is a no-name). The main problem by no-names is that
 you don't know if the CD-R you bought today is from the same company as the
 CD (which turned out to be good one) you bought yesterday. But if you've got
 money and time you might test a little bit. As for the expensive CDs: if
 possible then try to have the CD-R and the writer from the same company.
 Theoretically there should be less chances that the burner messes up. Also
 if you still got enough money then buy two CDs: one for the actual writing
 and the other one for cases when the writer fucks up the first CD. An unused
 copy is always good anyway (you can for example sell it to someone in
 desperate need with a price twice as high as usual).


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 When writing
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 If you let someone else burn the CD then you can skip this chapter because
 the person has his own habits and it's not nice to get on someone's nerves
 with something you've just read about in a text file  :)  But if you do your
 own burning then some hints. First: the load. If possible then don't do
 anything on that computer, just let it be on it's own and write. Writers
 need that the data flows in a constant stream and if the HD suddenly gets
 a request from your word processor to load a 75MB document then there's a
 good chance that you can say goodbye to your new CD. Second: the speed.
 Unless you're in a hurry don't use the fastest writing speed. Today's
 hard drives are fast enough so there shouldn't be a problem with the data
 stream not being constant because the HD can't catch up with writers request,
 but better to take care then to be sorry. The best would be if you would use
 the lowest speed your writing software offers. A good practice that several
 people employ is to not turn off the computer for the night but let it write.
 Even in the lowest speed it'll be ready in the morning (actually it'll be
 ready in less than 1,5 hours so...).


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 After writing
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 When the writing's ready, don't delete the files. Or if you have software
 which let's you 'move' the files to CD-R then don't use this opportunity.
 Why? You MUST test the CD first. Although writers are getting better and
 better the process of burning CD-Rs is still an art with many dangers
 (which usually result in a defected CD) in it so one must be careful.
 That especially goes when the CD is going to be read in a different device
 than the one it was written. The best would be if you take the CD home and
 test it. If it's OK then you (or the owner of the computer where the CD was
 written) can erase the files. So how to test? The easiest way is to copy
 everything to HD. If no "Can't copy from drive x" messages appear then you
 don't have to worry about read errors. That of course doesn't necessarily
 mean that the data in CD is in fine. The best way is to use a data integrity
 checker which checks the previously generated checksums. And by the way,
 there are two other things. First: the OK doesn't mean that CD can just be
 read. It means that the reading is fast. Not as by a classmate of mine: "I
 stick the CD into the reader in the morning and by evening I actually get
 some data from it" (although he was referring to the quality of reader).
 Second: don't be satisfied when the CD works fine on the computer next door,
 test it on the machine where it will be primarily used. That usually is the
 case when you take the CD home and check it on your PC, but when the CD
 should for example go to a friend as her birthday gift then try that CD
 on her computer. There will always be the possibility that some x reader
 won't like the CD, but as long as the computer for which the R was meant
 for eats the plate everything's fine.


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 When somebody wrote the CD for you
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 Again, I don't know if this is being done somewhere else, but here not
 everybody owns a CD-burner. Only those who REALLY need it, have more money
 or are more fanatic. Some of those people also offer the service to burn
 the CD for you. If they're really nice or are your friends then they'll do
 it for free. In other cases they charge you for it. Now a couple hints 
 considering this:
 Make sure he/she won't charge you or gives the money back or at least makes
 a new one when the writing fails or your computer refuses to read the CD.
 That especially applies when he/she also provides the CD-R and/or it's the
 first time you let him/her do this for you. If you don't get this guarantee
 then better use somebody else's service or be ready to get nothing for your
 money.
 The situation where the burner (and not you) gets the CD-R has some
 advantages. Mainly because the owner knows which CDs the writer will work
 with. Also if the writing is unsuccessful then he is the one who has messed
 up and you can get your money back. And as last: less stress because you
 aren't the one who has to run around and find a CD. But there's the chance
 that you could (or probably would) find a cheaper R.
 

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 My reader won't eat the CD!?!?!?
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 From all those people I know of who have burned (or let someone burn for
 them) a CD there's exactly 1 who hasn't experienced an unsuccessful
 write. And that's only because he has 1 CD-R. The more CDs you make the
 bigger the chance that the next one will be a failure. So be prepared for
 it. That doesn't mean that you have to sweat by every writing session.
 What shall happen that will happen. It's like death: sooner or later it
 gets everyone. Relax, man, don't freak out, the failure by writing ain't
 so terrible as dying, I was just joking  :)  So take it with humor and get
 used to it. If you listened to my advice then you still have the files and
 you also have the other CD so go ahead and try again.


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 Conclusion
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 Burning CD-Rs is like the rest of your life: whatever you do, you hope the
 end result won't blow up in your face. But, there is one difference: when
 something goes wrong then you can make things OK with minor expenses.
 At least when you listened and did what I told you  :)

