Sally,
> I have a lot of important stuff on an old Gateway PC.
>
Yes, a DVD burner is a great way to back up data. The steps depend on
part on what if any software came with the burner or that you may have
obtained separately. The place to start is the drive manual and for any
software that you have. But before you start burning you have to decide
which files to back up. Which applications have you created data with.
And more important, where was it saved. Lots of program default to some
folder where the program is located. That is usually in Program Files
under a folder name that matches the program name or sometimes under the
software companies name. I have chosen never to save my data files in
those folders. In fact I have separate partitions. That way data files
are easier to find AND if I should have to reformat my C drive to
reinstall everything I don't have to worry about data files getting
clobbered.
Of course you may also want to save things like your email address book
and your browser favorites folder. Take your time, do it right.
As for the actual burning, I only know Nero, you open the program, in
this case Nero Start Smart. Select CD or DVD depending on which type of
disk you are using. Then choose create a data disk. In Nero this opens a
window that looks like My Computer with a few add ons. You can migrate
to where you files are and select folders or individual files. You will
then see the selected files/folders. Keep on going until either they are
all selected or you have reached almost disk capacity. It's best not to
come any closer than say 10% of disk capacity. Then select NEXT or BURN,
see the manual for which.
This is a fairly resource intensive task but you should still be able to
read e-mail or even play a simple game. Or even browse.
What kind of disks? The two basic types come for both CD and DVD
burners. One is - or + R, the other is - or + RW. The latter can be
erased and reused. The former, not. There has been some confusion over
the minus or plus. I have always used Plus and had no computability
problems. I hope my comments have been helpful.
Jim
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