Professor von Clueless in the Blunder Dome: Toolcraft: Making Discs from CD/DVD Image Downloads

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2007-11-25

Toolcraft: Making Discs from CD/DVD Image Downloads

Technorati Tags: toolcraft, VC++ Novice, Burning CDs, Burning DVDs, downloads, software

More software is being provided for download in the form of a CD/DVD disk image file. The Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions are available as a single DVD image. The Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions are available as individual CD-ROM images.

Although you might have used a CD/DVD burner to make backups or copies of media discs, working with downloaded disc images might be a new experience. Here is how to burn a downloaded .img file to a CD or DVD.

Although there are ways to work with a disc image directly on your computer, I do not recommend that. Burning a CD/DVD allows you to release the space taken by the download. Also, when you install from the CD/DVD, the installation materials will be placed on your computer only temporarily. When you are done, your computer has only the software that you installed. And, most of important, you now have a backup if there is any need to re-install the software on the same or different computer.

Finding Your CD/DVD Image Burner Software

If your computer comes with a CD-RW or a DVD-R/RW driver, there is burner software somewhere. If you have added CD-RW or DVD-R/RW drives to your machine there is burner ~~hardware~~ software on a CD that came with the drive.

For recent versions of Windows there are utilities (such as Windows Media Player, Windows Live Photo Gallery, and Windows Live OneCare) that can burn CD and DVD data discs. These utilities are not designed for the full range of functions; they do not support burning from downloaded .iso (and .img) software disc images.

So, the first thing you need to do is find your burner software and then find its option for burning a CD/DVD from a downloaded image file. Some of the burner software supplied with the original computers may not be fully-functional, being an SE or LE or Express version that does not support .img buring. That has to be resolved too.

On my desktops, I found two burner icons, one on my developer machine and another on my Tablet PC. These are upgrades and have the ability to record .iso images to disc.

Sometimes, perhaps as the result of cleanups, and perhaps because I did a manual upgrade to Vista, there is other software that only shows up when I look for it. My Tablet PC has usable burner software in its TOSHIBA folder (see the Vista start menu snapshot on the right).

I also have Cyberlink Power2Go burner software as the result of having updated the DVD video software on my development machine.

Finding the Image Burning Option

There are different places to look for the option to burn from an .iso image file.

With the Toshiba Disc Creator, the option for recording an Image to Disc is found in the Disc Backup selection.

With Cyberlink Power2Go, the option is under Disk Utilities.

With Sonic RecordNow! Deluxe, the option is under the Backup Projects tab:

A Typical Burn

	My latest burn was using the "Nero Startsmart" icon of the Nero 7 Ultimate Edition. I first specified that I wanted to burn a DVD because the .iso I'll burn is too large for a CD.
	In this case, the option to burn images is on the Backup menu.
	When the Open Dialog appeared, I moved to the folder that had the downloaded .iso image file. This is for the Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition DVD.
	The tray on my recording drive opened and I am reminded to insert a blank DVD.
	As the burn proceeds, there is a log of activity and progress bars indicating how the burn is going. Other software will provide more or less information as the burn takes place. Notice that the default behavior with this burner software is to verify the written data. I always use that option.
	The most welcome message of all, when the disc tray opens and the message says that verification was successful.
	My next step is to label the disc. The orange ring is a D_skin cover that protects the recorded surface. I use these to avoid damaging the disc while handling it.
The Finishing Touch
	And the most thrilling message comes on placing the fresh disc back in the drive and watching the Auto-play bring up the start-up screen for the install software.
	The creation of a CD-ROM involves essentially the same procedure. A CD is selected for single-CD Platform SDK releases and for the single-CD Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions, such as this Visual C++ 2005 Express CD-ROM setup.