Creating a CD or DVD by writing to a one-time recordable disc, or an eraseable re-writeable disc. To do this from Java, you need software that makes the CD look like a
hard disk, e.g. Roxio DirectCD. However, this creates CDs that can only be read with Roxio software. To create standard Joliet format CDs, you need to create a *.iso
file which is an exact image of what will go on the CD. You can create that with CDr tools mkisofs. Basically you
give it a list of files, and it creates a giant *.iso file image. You can then zip that and email it or feed it to CDr
tools cdrecord or Roxio CD Creator to actually burn a CD. This is fairly tricky since you must compile the C source yourself, and deal with ATAPI and ASPI drivers for the
burner, and use CygWin Unix-like scripting.
Commercial utilities you might use to burn a CD include:
- Alex Feinman’s ISO Recorder, by donation. Also his CreatedCD,
command line backup a file set to CD/DVD.
- NTFS Active ISO Burner: freeware
- Free ISO Burner
- Terabyte BurnCDCC: free ISO CD/DVD burner.
- MagicISO
- Nero 9 Ultra
. A friend of mine who has tried many of these burner programs says this one is the best. To get the trial version to install on Vista, I had to use the custom install option
and select F:\Program Files as the install directory. Nero Ultra is an enormous suite of utilities that do many things besides burn CDs and DVDs.
To burn a CD, click Nero Burning ROM in the start menu. Then open the ISO image file. Then click burn.
It could not get much simpler than that, unless it prompted you. The utility to burn a collection of files is also unusually simple and fast. However, it proved overly
sensitive, aborting when I tried to do little text editing on unrelated files while it ran.
- NTI Media Maker 8
. A slightly stripped down version of this program comes bundled with Acer computers. I found it relatively straight forward. This class of program tends to be aimed at the
technogeek.
- Padus DiscJuggler
- Roxio CD Creator
. The version I have no longer works in Vista. The upgrade is not free.
The following tools are sometimes recommended for the purpose, but I found them unsuitable: Goldenhawk CDRWIN,
IsoBuster, NTI FileCD, WinImage.
Windows Burn a CD/DVD without Additional Software
Windows has two built-in techniques for buring CDs and DVDs, albeit slowly.
- UDF (Universal Disc Format) aka Live File System
- Disc at Once aka Mastered
UDF discs are only readable on XP and Vista. You can write a file at a time to them. With disc at once, you save up the files to be written, then write them all at once in one
continuous stream usually using a utility like Nero. You can’t later add more files. These discs can be read anywhere. Further they pack more information on a disc and
write it faster (if you use Nero software), though they are slower to create with just Vista. With Vista, after you have finished dragging your files to the DVD (actually to a
hard disk buffer), you must select burn to disc to actually burn them on the DVD.
There are other incremental recording schemes, similar to UDF, but they are obsolete.
Windows Burn a UDF CD/DVD without Additional Software
To burn a UDF CD/DVD, aka Live File System:
- insert a blank CD/DVD.
- Select burn files to disc using Windows.
- Drag files to the CD/DVD drive or copy them with a BAT file or at the command prompt. This is a very slow process since it writes to DVD as you go. It is best to select
several directories at once to drag.
- When it it done, right click properties then eject to eject the disc.
Windows Burn an Disc-at-once CD/DVD without Additional Software
To burn a disc-at-once CD/DVD aka Mastered:
- insert a blank CD/DVD.
- Select burn files to disc using Windows.
- Select show formatting options.
- Select Mastered.
- Drag files to the CD/DVD drive. Copying them with a BAT file or at the command prompt won’t work. This is a very slow process even thought it is just caching the files
to write to disc at this point. It is best to select several directories at once to drag.
- Select Burn Files to Disc.
- When it it done, click Finish to eject the disc.
Beware. Make sure you remember to click burn files to disc for each CD/DVD,(or click erase temporary files) otherwise you
will batch them up and be puzzled why you can’t burn the files you expect.
by Roedy Green ©1996-2009 Canadian Mind Products
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