Burning Data to a CD-RCD-RW

Burning Data to a CD-R/CD-RW

This is the fun part ”the part of the chapter that tells you the last piece of information you need to know in order to put down this book and start burning CDs like there's no tomorrow. (Note, though, that in a later section I'll tell you how to duplicate a data CD, so there is at least some small incentive to continue reading.)

As you saw before, we ran the cdrecord command to blank a CD-RW. Now we'll run the cdrecord in normal recording mode. The command looks like this:

cdrecord -eject -v -speed=4 dev=0,0,0 /data/myimage.raw

Why the -v? Because if you don't specify it, you won't get a status update as the CD is cut. On my machine, cutting a full (650MB) CD-R takes about 18 minutes. I get nervous when I don't get any screen output from a program in that amount of time. Bear in mind that CD-RWs will cut only at CD-RW speed. So even after I've blanked a CD-RW, it takes me 37 minutes to burn a 650MB image to one (my Mitsumi handles CD-RWs at only 2x). Needless to say, I prefer to use CD-Rs, but CD-RWs do have their place.

The -eject tells the system to open the drive and eject the media. I did this so that when I walk by my machine and see the drive hanging open , I know the burn completed successfully. I simply pull out the burned disc, label it, and pop a new blank in.

Be sure to substitute your drive's speed in the -speed area. It should save you some time. I've seen 12x and even 20x CD-R speeds in some ultraexpensive drives . Since 1x = 74 minutes for 650MB of data, a 12x CD-R can cut a 650MB CD in just over 6 minutes.

And be sure to put the name of your actual image file in the last field, or you won't get what you want at all.

I have had difficulty with some ultracheap CD-R blanks in my drive. Sometimes burns will fail due to inferior media. If this is happening to you, try moving to a name-brand media for a bit. I've found Maxell and Imation to be quite reliable.