Quick Start: Creating a CD on Macintosh



We have a newly installed CDRW on the iMac computer named sage.phys.cmu.edu. CD writing is carried out using the program called Toast.

Notes:
- In general, CD copying is fragile. Keep the machine at minimum possible use during burning.
To make an identical copy of a CD you should make an image of the CD, save it, and burn the image. Direct CD to CD copying is possible but it is a very sensitive process and any error will produce an usable CD.
- You can use either CD-R disks or CD-RW disks in this process. CD-RW disks can be erased and rewritten (up to 100 times or so) but the CD-R disks are cheaper.
- You can get CD-R and CD-RW disks from CompUSA. They offer rebates every week on them, so you might even get them for free!!.
- To erase a CD-RW go to "easy CD Creator" (You might need to cancel the wizard) and choose Erase Disc from the Disc menu.
- From the CD-Recorder properties under the Tools menu you can choose the burning speed of the CD. Our CD-writer supports up to 6x writing. The higher you go the faster the process. Lower speeds are recommended for fewer errors. At 2x a full CD takes about 1 hour to burn.
- You might need to rename files. This is because in burning CD's you might choose (go to CD layout properties under the file menu and press on the Data settings tab) one of two file systems;

ISO9660: Select this option if you want to be able to read the CD on different platforms including DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, Windows and UNIX. Files and directories recorded to CD based on the ISO 9660 standard must meet the following (8+3) requirements:

(i)  A file name may not contain more than eight alphanumeric characters and the underscore symbol "_".
(ii)  A file name extension may not contain more than three alphanumeric characters.
(iii) A directory name may not contain more than eight alphanumeric characters and the underscore symbol "_".

Joliet: Select this option if you want to use file names that contain up to 64 characters in length, including spaces. Joliet also records the associated DOS-standard name (8+3 characters) for each file so that the CD may be read on DOS systems or earlier versions of Windows.


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