How to Back Up Data from Hard Drive(s) to External Media
How to Back Up Data to a CD Using Roxio Easy CD Creator

If your computer came with, as most new computers do, an application that allows you create data or audio CDs (e.g., Roxio Easy CD Creator), you can use that application to back up data from your hard drive. If your computer did not come with this type of application, you can purchase one.

The instructions given here are for Roxio Easy CD Creator version 5 used on a Windows XP computer. If you have a different version of this application or a different application, the instructions will not work exactly as they are outlined here. Read the Help menu within your application for specific instructions.

NOTE
If you use Roxio Easy CD Creator to back up data to a CD, you do not need to format the CD beforehand.

How to use Roxio Easy CD Creator to Back Up Data to a CD
  1. Insert a blank, unformatted CD into the drive on your computer that allows you to write to a CD. (The drive is usually labeled as Recordable or Rewritable).
  2. If a dialog box appears that asks how to open the CD, click Cancel.
  3. Click Start | All Programs | Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 | Project Selector.
  4. You will see the Select a Project dialog box that looks similar to the following one. Move your mouse so that the cursor rolls across the make a data CD button (on the left-hand side of the window ).

  5. Click data CD project (the middle button).
  6. In the bottom left-hand column, you will see a CD icon followed by a series of numbers—this is the current "name" of the CD.
  7. Click this CD icon and type a new name for the CD (one that will provide information about what is on the CD and when it was created). For example, on the following screen, the CD is named backup_11_04 to indicate it is a backup done in November 2004.

  8. In the Select source files field in the upper-right corner of the screen, select the files or folder(s) in which the files you want to backup are located. The folder name(s) will then appear below the name of the CD as well as in the right-hand column of the window. For example, the following screen shows that the folder selected is Backup Utility.

  9. After you select all the folders/files you want to back up, click Add (the downward pointing arrow in the middle of the window).
  10. Click record. The Record CD Setup dialog box will appear.
  11. Click Start recording. Depending on how much information (data) you chose to back up, it may take a few minutes to an hour or more for the backup CD to be created.