19.1 Creating a Data CD or DVD

To create a data CD, go to File > New Project > New Data CD Project. To create a data DVD, go to File > New Project > New Data DVD Project. The project view appears in the lower part of the window, as shown in Figure 19-1. Drag the desired directories or individual files from your home directory to the project folder and drop them there. Save the project under a name of your choice with File > Save as.

Figure 19-1 Creating a New Data Project

Then select Burn from the toolbar or hit Ctrl+B. A dialog with four tabs offering various options for writing the CD or DVD opens. See Figure 19-2.

Figure 19-2 Customizing the Burning Process

The Writing tab has various settings for the burning device, the speed, and the burning options. The following options are offered here:

Burn Medium

The detected medium and writer are displayed under this pop-up menu. If you have more than one writer installed, choose which one you want to use here. You can select the speed here too.

WARNING: Select the Writing Speed with Care

Normally, you should select Auto, which chooses the maximum writing speed possible. However, if you increase this value but your system is not able to send the data fast enough, the likelihood of buffer underruns increases.

Writing Mode

This option determines how the laser writes the CD or DVD. For CDs, there are three modes available: DAO (disk at once), TAO (track at once), and RAW. In DAO mode, the laser is not deactivated while the disk is written. This mode is recommended for the creation of audio CDs. In the TAO mode, a separate write process is used for each individual track. The RAW mode is not used very often, because the writer does not perform any data corrections. For DVDs, auto or DAO modes are available. Do not use DAO mode if you want to create multisession DVD.

We recommend you to select Auto, because it allows K3b to use the most suitable settings.

Simulate

This function can be used to check if your system supports the selected writing speed. The writing is performed with a deactivated laser to test the system.

Create image

If this option is enabled, an ISO image of the CD or DVD is created first. This image file is subsequently written to the CD or DVD. This option should be used on low performance systems. You can set the path for this file under Temporary File on the Image tab. Checking this option also activates the Remove image option. If you want the image to be not deleted after burning is finished, uncheck that option.

Only Create Image

If this option is enabled, the ISO image file is created but it is not subsequently written on CD or DVD. Use this option if you want to write the image on CD or DVD at a later time. To do this, use Tools > Burn CD Image or Tools > Burn DVD ISO Image. If this option is used, all other options in this section are deactivated.

Remove Image

Remove the temporary image file from hard disk when finished.

Verify Written Data

Check the integrity of the written data by comparing the MD5 sums of the original and the burned data.

The Image tab is useful only if the Create image or the Only create image option is set. In this case, determine the file on which you want to write the ISO.

In the Filesystem tab, set the Volume Name. If you click More fields, you can add more information about the project, such as its publisher and preparer, copyright information and the application and operating system used in the creation of this project. You are able to set the used File System and determine how Symbolic Links and White Space should be handled.

The Misc tab contains two options. The first one, Datatrack Mode is available only for CDs. Here you can set up how data tracks should be written. In general, Auto is considered the best suited method. The Multisession Mode is used to append data to an already written but not finalized medium.

After adjusting all settings to your needs, start the actual burning process using Burn. Alternatively, save these settings for future use and adjustment with Save.