The CD-Rchive Handbook: Making Data CDs

Contents

### Step 3. Making Data CDs

The golden rule here, is make a dummy run every time before the real run. It will save you many spoilt CDs by highlighting problems before they occur.
Be aware that the Dummy Write checkbox on the Advanced tab page cannot be set in combination with the Multi-Session radio button on the Image tab page.
The program will not let you make a CD with both set, because it produces an error with my machine. (See further info) (Remember to reset the Multi-Session radio button when you come to write a Multi Session CD for real, or you will have problems!)
Having carried out all the preparation, made the image, mounted it and viewed it and made a dummy write; you can't put it off any longer
It's time to burn!
The man pages for cdrecord stress it, but I will repeat it, burn CDs on a lightly loaded system.
If you decide to fill your waiting time by re-compiling a kernal, having htdig re-index your documentation server and spring cleaning your hard drives, deleting large blocks of data, you are courting disaster.
Avoid anything which makes heavy use of I/O, especially the SCSI sub-system, it just takes one lost block and the CD is useless.
It's not as if you should have to wait too long, my current system has a HP 9210 SCSI 8x CD Writer and I get a throughput of approximately 1MB per second at full write speed. I hardly have time to prepare an email before the CD is done.
If you have a slower system, just press [Write to CD] and go and watch television for a while!
When you have made your CD, first job before you even open the drawer is to check the output from cdrecord. If that seems OK, mount the CD and check it.
All in order? Congratulations - its as easy as that !
General:-
If you find that you need to abort the operation, click [Cancel Operation].
Please note that it does not guarantee a clean end to the operation. It kills the child process running the operation and attempts to reset the SCSI bus. Aborting during a write operation is liable to leave the CDR inaccesable and of use only as a coaster!
Advanced Settings