How to burn your account files to a CD-R in Linux

Writing files to a CD is called “burning”. If you run into problems carrying out the following procedure, please see the bottom of this page.

Easy graphical desktop procedure (works under Ubuntu with Gnome desktop):

1. Insert blank CD-ROM. A window will pop up. Choose “Make Data CD”.
2. An empty window opens. Drag the files or directories you want to burn to that window. This will add those files/directories to the list of things to be burned.
3. As an alternative, you should see “Blank CD-R Disc” under the “Places” side panel on the left. You can navigate to other locations and drag files or directories you want to burn to the “Blank CD-R Disc” entry in the side panel. This will add those files/directories to the list of things to be burned.
4. For example, to burn your entire home directory to the CD:
   1. In the side panel, double-click your account name to bring up the contents of your home directory.
   2. Click the left arrow to go up a directory level, so that your home directory is now shown as a single folder.
   3. Drag your home directory folder to the “Blank CD-R Disc” entry in the side panel.
   
5. When you are ready to burn the CD, double-click “Blank CD-R Disc” in the side panel, and then click “Write to Disc”.
6. The CD will automatically eject when the writing is complete.
7. Please test the CD to ensure it was a good burn.
8. Use a felt-tip pen to label the CD. For example, you might write “Account Backup 8Apr2007” on the CD.

Command-line procedure:

1. Copy and package your files into an ISO file:

   mkisofs -o /scratch/myaccountname.iso -J -R -r -V -v /directory/to/be/copied/

   Replace /directory/to/be/copied/ with the full path to whatever directory contains the files you wish burned to CD. For example, you might substitute the full path to your home directory. (To determine that path, issue the command cd followed by pwd.)
2. Insert media:
   • Insert a blank CD-R into your computer's CD burner drive.
   • Wait for the drive to spin up.
   • A blank Nautilus window may appear, with “burn:///” at the top; if so, close it.
3. Burn the ISO file from step 1.
   

   cdrecord /scratch/myaccountname.iso

4. Delete the file from step 1, which is no longer needed and is consuming valuable space on your hard disk:

   rm /scratch/myaccountname.iso

5. Eject the newly written CD (by pushing the button on the front of the computer).
6. Please test the CD to ensure it was a good burn.
7. Use a felt-tip pen to label the CD. For example, you might write “Account Backup 8Apr2007” on the CD.

To test the CD:

• Insert the CD and wait for the file browser to come up.
• Browse around to verify that your home directory (or whatever files/directories you burned) are appearing correctly.
• To eject, right-click the CD in the left side panel and select “Eject” from the menu that pops up.
• If possible, repeat this entire test on a different computer (because sometimes a particular CD burner becomes misaligned, creating CDs that it can still read but that no other CD drive can read).

Problems

If the above procedure did not work, it may be due to a bug involving permissions to system devices. This is especially a possibility if you are on a lab computer, or on any computer that was used by someone else prior to your current login. The permissions are fixed automatically whenever the computer is rebooted; therefore, please log out, reboot, and try again.

If the procedure still does not work, then it may be due to your equipment deviating in its use of device numbers. Please contact the computer support staff for assistance.

Additional Documentation

• Our backup-related FAQs
• Using removable media in Linux, or How to back up your Linux account [UA Math SWIG talk by Joe Erker, 2000]
• Using CD-Rs and CD-RWs with Command Line Tools [from Red Hat 9 documentation]
• The manual pages: man mkisofs and man cdrecord.