All new OmniTech workstations have CD burners installed as well as Roxio Easy CD Creator software, which is CD-burning software.  This allows anyone with access to an OmniTech workstation to create CD's storing any data files they may have.  The great advantage of a CD as a storage medium over floppies and Zip disks is the CD's huge storage capacity and relative low cost.  A blank CD-R disk can cost as little as 30¢ with over 650 MB of storage, while a blank Zip disk can cost around $20.00 and only have 250 MB of storage.

Using Roxio Easy CD Creator

The Easy CD Creator program will start.  Your first step will be to create a new CD Project.  To do that, go to the File menu and select "New CD Project" and then "Data CD", as pictured below.  You need to remember that Music CD's are created a little differently than Data CD's so you need to make sure that you select Data CD for your new CD project when backing up your data.

After you have created your new Data CD Project, you will need to go and find the data you want to store on this CD, which in this example are the files you have been saving to your "My Documents" folder.

A quick way to add all files and folders in your "My Documents" folder is to highlight just one of the files and then do the keyboard combination Ctrl-A, which is "Select All".  All files and folders will then be highlighted and all you have to do is click on the "Add" button to include all of those files on your CD you are creating.

There are other options on how you can create or "burn" CD's using Roxio CD Creator.  This handout is just a quick description on how to use Roxio.  For more details about the features of Roxio, you can refer to the Roxio CD Creator electronic manual that is stored on your building's Publications folder inside of the folder titled "Manuals". 

You can find the Publications folder by double-clicking and opening My Computer and looking for the P: network drive.  Double-click and open up the P: drive and you will find a folder titled Publications, which is the folder we created to post documents.

If you double-click and open up the Publications folder, you will find the "Manuals" folder that contains the more detailed Roxio CD Creator manual.

After you have added all the files and folders you want to record to the CD you are creating, you are ready to record.  All you need to do at this point is make sure you have placed a blank CD in the CD burner drive and then click on the "record" button, which is circled in the picture below.

Another window will pop up and all you have to do is click on the "Start Recording" button to start the CD burner copying your files to the CD.

I want to buy some blank CD's for my CD burner.  What kind should I buy?

Blank CD's come in two styles: CD-R and CD-RW.  CD-R stands for CD Recordables while CD-RW stands for CD Re-Writeables.  We would suggest using just CD-R's.  CD-R's are relatively inexpensive and appear to be more reliable that CD-RW's.  We would only suggest buying CD-RW's if you are sure you know that you want to create a rewriteable CD.  You can refer to page 5 of the Roxio CD Creator manual for more information about which type of blank CD you might want to use.

You can find the Roxio manual in the "Manuals" folder inside the "Publications" folder on your school's server.  You can find the Publications folder by double-clicking and opening My Computer and looking for the P: network drive. Double-click and open up the P: drive and you will find a folder titled Publications, which is the folder we created to post documents.

Another issue is that you can buy CD-R's on a spindle of 25 to 100, but they do not come with any kind of CD case, usually called jewel cases.  If you need jewel cases, you can either buy the CD-R's individually with jewel cases or you could purchase the jewel cases separately.

The final issue with blank CD's is the speed at which they will copy material.  The speed of the CD is usually referred to as 8X or 12X or 24X.  The larger the number, the faster the blank CD can record material.  There are "slow" blank CD's that record or write at 8X (maximum write speed) that are inexpensive, but those older blank CD's will have problems with the faster CD burners we have in our OmniTechs that write or record to CD's at around 24X.  In fact, if you use a blank CD that has a maximum record speed of 8X and try to "burn" or record a CD at 16X or 24X, the "burn" will probably fail and you will have to start over.  We would suggest that the blank CD's that are purchased should be able to sustain a record speed of 24X or faster.  

Our recommendation is to purchase CD-R's that have a maximum record (or write) speed of 24X or faster.  Please note that write or record speed is different than the read speed, which is sometimes listed with CD's.  We are concerned with the write or record speed of the blank CD.

Why should I backup or copy my files and data?

If you do not backup your files and documents on a regular basis, you are being careless with your documents.  You should always back up your files on a regular basis and not just when you are changing computer workstations. Any one of the following occurrences could mean the loss of important work unless you have backed-up your files:

• Accidental Deletion: One of the most common problems with any computer is that people occasionally delete files accidentally. This can happen at home as well as at school. 
• Hardware Failure: Hard drive failure can occasionally happen. If your hard drive fails there may be no way to recover any of the data on the drive. If you did not have those files copied to a back-up disk all your work may be completely lost.
• Computer Viruses: Computer Viruses can be very malicious; erasing or rearranging information in files can be only the beginning. Although we are taking efforts to protect our systems from viruses, there is no such thing as being 100% protected since new viruses are created daily.
• Theft or Vandalism: If someone steals or damages your computer, your files may get damaged or stolen too. We can replace the hardware, but can you replace your work?

Backup your files

Backup your files at least once to a floppy disk or CD, and backup all important files on two different floppies or CD's. Do not wait until the document is completed before you make a backup. Backup your documents as you create them. You should backup your files on a regular basis and you should keep a copy of your most important documents in an off-site location like your home in case there is fire, vandalism or theft of equipment in your classroom.

You decide what's important, but grade reports, letters, etc. are considered important by most people. Tests, study guides, worksheets, and other class-related information would be important to me, and probably will be to you too, if for no other reason than not having to re-invent the wheel each time you create a document like these. I would have two backups of important documents where one is kept at school and one is kept at home.

Backup daily, or weekly, or as often as you feel your changes warrant it. Just make sure you back up your documents! Label everything so you know what you have, and then store everything in a safe place. Please remember, if a computer fails for some reason, the damage may be so severe that we may not be able to retrieve any of your documents. There have been instances where a computer has failed and the user lost everything because they did not have a backup for any of the documents.

Do not forget your Outlook Express address book and Internet Explorer Favorites

Many of you have address books in Outlook Express you might want to backup. Don't forget, you may also have a number of websites listed in your Favorites folder that you would like to keep safe as well. We have created some step-by-step instructions on how to save your Address Book to a floppy disk as well as how to export all of your Favorites out of Internet Explorer so you can keep a backup of these important items.  You can find these instructions in our Tech Tips section of our website.

Exporting and Importing Internet Explorer Favorites (Bookmarks)

Exporting and Importing your Outlook Express Address Book