Saving docs to CD-RW

You cannot save directly to cd, but you can first save to your hard drive and copy to cd. You can't save documents created in Word to cd because Word has more "behind the scenes" files and edits attached to the document. But if you save to hard drive first, it strips it down to just the doc file. Windows Explorer will be able to copy it to the cd.

Edit:  Mary is right; I misunderstood.  CDs don't work like a floppy or a hard drive, so you can't save directly to it using an application like Word.

I bought my laptop in October, 2004, and it came with Sonic Record Now.  Whenever I put a blank CD into the CD RW drive, a pop-up appears asking what I want to do, and I either choose to make a data CD or I exit out of this and start Record Now from the programs list and indicate I want to make a data CD.  A link appears saying Add in the lower part of the box and everytime I click that I get to select a directory or file to add to the record list.  When I've finished, I just indicate that it should write the disk.  This has worked well for me so far.

It is my understanding that Windows XP does have a limited capability to write to a CD drive, but I've never used it.  Have you tried what Mary suggested, that is, using Windows Explorer to drag the files from the folder on the hard drive to the CD RW drive?  You may be able to find some info about writing files to CD by using the Help and Support function found in the Start menu.

I found the following in Help and Support (the different colors are links that most likely do not work properly from this message; I found it by typing Write to CD in the Search Box):

To copy files and folders to a CD

1. Insert a blank, writable CD into the CD recorder.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Click the files or folders you want to copy to the CD. To select more than one file, hold down the CTRL key while you click the files you want. Then, under File and Folder Tasks, click Copy this file, Copy this folder, or Copy the selected items.

   If the files are located in My Pictures, under Picture Tasks, click Copy to CD or Copy all items to CD, and then skip to step 5.

4. In the Copy Items dialog box, click the CD recording drive, and then click Copy.
5. In My Computer, double-click the CD recording drive. Windows displays a temporary area where the files are held before they are copied to the CD. Verify that the files and folders that you intend to copy to the CD appear under Files Ready to be Written to the CD.
6. Under CD Writing Tasks, click Write these files to CD. Windows displays the CD Writing Wizard. Follow the instructions in the wizard.

Notes

• To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
• Do not copy more files to the CD than it will hold. Standard CDs hold up to 650 megabytes (MB). High-capacity CDs hold up to 850 MB.
• Be sure that you have enough disk space on your hard disk to store the temporary files that are created during the CD writing process. For a standard CD, Windows reserves up to 700 MB of the available free space. For a high-capacity CD, Windows reserves up to 1 gigabyte (GB) of the available free space.
• After you copy files or folders to the CD, it is useful to view the CD to confirm that the files are copied. For more information, click Related Topics.

Jack, unfortunately my Dell didn't come with Sonic Record Now.  I didn't clarify in my original question that the docs are already saved on the hard drive, and I need to move/copy them to the CD-RW.  Do I need Sonic Record Now do to this?

Thanks for the info, Mary.  The docs were saved to hard drive and I need to get them moved/copied to the CD-RW; sorry, I didn't word my question clearly.  Isn't there a way to just copy or move the docs from C to the CD-RW without a lot of hassle??

One comment on the RW disc media.  RW media should be used with caution.  CD-RW media has a history of not being very reliable and has been known to lose data and/or format.  If it's worth saving on some type of media only use CD-R media.

Thanks...this is a GREAT help!  Appreciate your input.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the heads-up; I didn't realize this.

Appreciate the input!!