When you copy files to the drive, they are temporarily copied to a staging area on your hard disk first, then they are written to the disc all at once when you select “Burn” in File Explorer.

With a CD/DVD player: This is a more traditional method of “mastering” discs.A drawback is discs created this way are typically not compatible with machines older than Windows XP. But if you use a rewritable disc, you can erase files as you go without having to wipe the entire disc at once. If you’re using a write-only CD-R or DVD-R disc and you erase a file, the file will no longer appear in Windows, but space will still be taken up on the disc. Like a USB flash drive: This allows you to write and erase files to the disc on-the-fly using a live file system without ever having to finalize or “master” the disc.This dialog asks you how you want Windows to handle writing the disc. As soon as you insert it, a window titled “Burn a Disc” will appear. Log into your Windows machine and insert a blank recordable CD or DVD into your optical drive.

Also, you can’t read DVDs in a CD-ROM drive. When picking media, pay attention to drive compatibility: Most recordable DVD drives can also write CD-R discs, but CD-R drives can’t write DVD-R discs.

CD-RW, DVD-RW: These disc types allow data to be written to and erased from the disc, although they can only be erased a certain number of times ( usually about 1,000), that varies based on the media brand.

They cannot be physically erased, although Windows can ignore “deleted” files on the disc if you choose a Live File System (see “How to Burn a CD or DVD with a Live File System” below).

CD-R, DVD-R: These disc types only allow data to be written to the disc.

Here’s what is different about the writable and rewritable versions of the media. And 4.7 GB DVDs (or 8.5 GB dual-layer DVDs) hold dramatically more data than CDs, which can typically only hold about 700 MB.

You’ll also need some blank CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW discs that work with your drive. Luckily, Windows 10 works with most CD-R/W and DVD-R/W drives automatically through Plug and Play, so you might not even need to install a driver. We’ll also assume that you have any necessary drivers installed. It could be an internal drive or one that plugs in to your PC via USB. Before we begin, we’ll assume that you have an optical media drive capable of writing to the disc type you choose.

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