BURNING NERO

Last week I discussed How to dual boot xp and linux on the same hard disk.

In the column I discussed installing Fedora Linux, by downloading the following:

Because iso files are so familiar to IT professionals, I forgot some readers may be unfamiliar with them.

Let’s start by describing iso files from Microsoft itself.

What is an ISO CD Image?
Products posted to MSDN Subscriber Downloads are usually posted as ISO image files. An ISO image file is an exact representation of a CD or DVD, including the content and the logical format. ISO files from MSDN end with either an .ISO or .IMG extension. The extension might need to be changed to work with your CD writing software.

Many products are posted as ISO-9660 image files. An ISO-9660 image file is an exact representation of a CD, including the content and the logical format. The most common use of an image file is to write it to a blank CD-R resulting in an identical copy of the original CD including file name and volume label information. ISO image files may also be opened and their contents copied to a local folder, much like ZIP files. ISO files may also be virtually mounted and accessed as a CD-ROM device.

Common utilities for writing an ISO file to recordable media such as CD-R include ISORecorder (doesn’t work on Windows XP, SP2), Nero, and Roxio.

Today, we’ll discuss Nero, as it is the best I’ve found and is the most popular and highly rated.

Let’s go to the Nero home page .

Nero’s page can be overwhelming. It not only sells a basic product, but a number of add-ons that specialize in music making, digital recording, movie making and ripping. Some of these features can make another interesting column. Today I’m interested in the basic product, Nero 6.

Near the bottom of the page is a button to buy the basic product.

Buy Nero, download it to a folder. Navigate to the folder, and double click the setup icon.

Once installed, follow the example – or, Heaven forbid, read the help file – to burn an ISO onto a CD or DVD.

In my example, I use Microsoft Office instead of a Linux disk because it’s much smaller than the Linux disks, and, well, I’m lazy.

Insert a blank CD (or DVD, depending on the size of the file).

Start Nero.

Notice I selected Copy and Backup among the choice in the fancy button bar on top. Beneath that I chose Burn Image to Disk.

Next, Nero comes up on the screen with a file explorer for you to select the image to burn.

Once you select a file, Nero offers the following screen:

You have a few choices. My burner can write up to 48X, but I’m rather conservative. You can choose the number of copies, and as you can see above, make other adjustments.

Click next.

And finally,

Nero will ask you if you want to burn another disk. If not, exit. The disk just burned will be ejected.

If you reinsert it, it will act just like an installation disk you bought from the store.

Next week we’ll get to VCDControlPanel

Dennis Turner