These days, virtually every PC has a writable CD drive. Your drive probably came with software that allows you to create audio CDs and perform specialized functions. If you use Windows XP, you don’t need third-party software to write files to a disk in your CD-R or CD-RW drive. Use this capability to perform simple backup tasks:
- Right-click a file or folder, or a selection of files or folders, that you want to copy to a CD.
- From the shortcut menu, choose Send To, CD Drive.
- Repeat these steps for all of the items that you want to copy.
When you’re ready to create your backup CD, insert a blank CD into the drive (or a CD-RW disk that you’re ready to erase and overwrite). Open your CD drive in My Computer and click Write these files to CD in the task pane, or choose File, Write these files to CD.
As an alternative to using the Send To command, you can drag files into the Windows Explorer folder for your CD drive. You can drop files on the CD drive icon, or on a shortcut to that icon. Or you can use the Copy and Paste commands. When you copy files and folders into the CD drive’s folder, by whatever means, Windows prepares them for transfer to a writable CD. The CD folder becomes, in effect, a staging area for the eventual CD burn. One word of caution: You’re limited to the contents of one CD (650-702 MB). If you put too many files in this temporary folder, you’ll get an error message when you try to burn a CD, and you’ll have to clear out some files before continuing.
Ed Bott 