How to duplicate CD? (XP Home)

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I have only one CD/CD-W IDE drive on my PC. How to duplicate a CD, either software CD or music CD, by using the built-in function of WinXP?

I used to use Nero in Win98 to duplicate CD. It worked well. I believe WinXP should have the similar functions as Nero had. Unfortunately, all I could do was to copy all the files on CD to hard drive first. Then copied them to the blank CD-W. The result was not satisfied. For example, I used this procedure to duplicate an Office XP disk. But, if I used this duplicated CD to install extra options, like Thesaurus, installing will tell me it could not find particular files in the duplicated CD to install.

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Dennis ~

There was a recent post regarding using XP’s native CD burning capabilities and the problems contained therein, but for simple copying and burning I have never had a problem. I used to use Adaptec Easy CD Creator & Direct CD but had nothing but problems and had my drivers screwed up due to known conflicts w/ XP software despite the signatures. (XP CD software is actually licensed from Roxio, the makers of Adaptec products).

I have duplicated literally thousands of dollars in software this way and never had any problems including the options of Office XP Home & Pro. To reduce errors in the copying/burning process, it XP works best when no other apps are running or working on something else while this is going on. Also, set your burn rate to no more than half of the rated speed capability of your CD – burning errors are inversely proportionate to the speed at which you burn.

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Bruce,

Is manually copy all files from CD to HD first then copy them into blank CD the only way? Is there a more convenient way?

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Dennis ~

You only have 1 CD-R/RW from what you mentioned so that is what you would need to do. Unless I am misunderstanding, what other fashion did you have in mind?

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All programs copy to the hard drive and then to the new CD, unless you have enough memory to load ALL of the old CD data into (up to 640 megs) memory plus what is required to keep your system running.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave, doesn’t that depend on the program that’s being used to burn the disc? I seem to recall that both Nero and EZCD Creator use a memory buffer – the more RAM the better of course – but I don’t know the size of that buffer. I like to copy things to the hard drive first, anyway, just because I hate making coasters. Too darn many of them now – wasn’t so bad when I had a matching set…. Anyone wanting a set of matching, chrome colored coasters suitable for LARGE drinks let me know!

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