How to make CD backups
This document tells you how to make CD backups of data.
The first method you might use to back up files is to choose them selectively and put them onto a CD. This
process requires that you have a CD burner (not a standard CD-ROM drive).
- You might have a software program, such as Adaptec Easy CD Creator, that you can use to make CDs.
- If you launch your CD burning program, you will most likely be greeted with screens asking what you want to do.
- Select something to the effect of "burn a data CD."
- Typically, the program will have an area which you can drag files in order to put them in the "queue" to be burned. Usually there will be another region in the program where you can browse to the files and drag them to the queue, or you can simply find the file on your computer and drag it into the application.
- For detailed information on your cd burning software, consult the manuals that came with your specific software.
If you have Windows XP, you have the option of using the built-in CD burning utility.
- Right-click on a file or folder you wish to back up, you can choose Move To > DirectCD Drive or Move To > CD-RW Drive. This will put the file in the "queue" to be burned.
- If you want to use a drag-and-drop method, you can open up My Computer and then your CD-writer drive.
- Then, click and drag any files/folders you want to back up into that Explorer window.
- The icon will appear as a temporary file, but it indicates that the file is waiting to be burned.
- Once you have moved all of your files into this folder, click on the "Write these files to CD" link
at the top left side of the Explorer window to initiate the CD Burning wizard of Windows XP.
If you have Windows XP, you can also use the built-in backup utility (this is for backup purposes only, not
for sharing files).
1. Go to START > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.
2. A dialog box will open for the Microsoft backup tool. Choose "Create New Backup Job" and click OK.
3. You will be prompted for what you want to back up. Choose "back up my computer, back up all files and
folders" and click Next.
4. A Back Up wizard will open. If this is the first time you have done a backup, choose "all selected
files" and if you have done this before, you can add on to old backups by choosing "New and Change
Files."
5. You will then be prompted for a location to back your computer up to. To use a CD-writer be sure to
select the drive letter for that device. For example, D:\backup.qic. The D is the letter of your CD writer
drive.
6. Click start.
If your computer crashes, you would need to use this same utility to retrieve files from the CD.