How to Burn a DVD With Nero

Nero makes it easy to burn a DVD in a variety of formats from data to video and movies. This "how to" will show how to create a data or video DVD using "Nero Burning ROM" version 8.1.1.0.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Nero Burning ROM program (version 7 or higher)
• Blank DVD media (DVD+/-R or DVD+/-RW)
• Files to burn to DVD
• DVD burner/recorder drive
• A minimum of 6 to 7 GB of free space on hard drive

Setting Up

1. Download (or buy) a Nero package with the Nero Burning ROM program. Try to get version 7 or higher. (This examples uses version 8, so it might look slightly different than what is seen on your version but not enough to make this "how to" unintelligible.)

2. Install Nero and load Nero Burning ROM.

3. Click the "New" icon at the top right, if the "New Compilation" box does not automatically pop up when loading Nero.

4. Choose the type of DVD you want to create on the left side of the "New Compilation" box. (In this example, choose "DVD-ROM (ISO)."

5. Click "New" at the bottom of the "New Compilation" box. It will close and a browser window will open, similar to Windows Explorer or an FTP file browser. The left side list the DVD title in the first column and the files to be included on the DVD in column two. The right side (columns three and four) lists the files on your hard drive.

6. Make sure the "File Browser" tab is open in the "Browser" side of the screen.

7. Choose the "Folders" button and under "Views" (button next to Folders) choose the "Details" option.

8. Locate the directory where your desired files are located in column three of the browser window. The files will be listed in column four.

9. Highlight the desired files in column four.

10. Drag the files to column two with the mouse. The file names will be duplicated, so nothing on your hard drive will be changed. Watch the bottom scale, which shows the amount of space on the DVD that will be filled by the files to be burned in column two. Most DVD media has 4.7 GB capacity but most burners caution you at 4.5 GB due to lead-in, lead-out, and other configuration information space on the DVD. Nero shows a yellow marker at 4.5 GB and, once crossed, it means the maximum DVD capacity has been passed and some files need to be removed.

Disc Preparation and Burning

11. Be sure to erase all data on the disc, if media is rewriteable, by going up to the "Recorder" drop-down menu and clicking "Erase Rewriteable Disc." A box will pop up on which you need to choose the correct recorder from the top menu, quick or full erase (best option), and a maximum erase speed is fine.

12. Choose your recorder drive on the top right drop-down menu on the main screen. The drive icon next to this menu allows you to set advanced options. (Not needed here.)

13. Click on the "Burn" icon in the middle of the main toolbar. This opens up the "Burn Compilation" box.

14. Click on the "Multi-session" tab on the "Burn Compilation" box. Choose "Start Multi-session disc", if the disc is to be added to later. Choose "No Multi-session disc," if the disc is to be completed with the current burn. The other options are good at the default settings.

15. Click on the "Label" tab on the "Burn Compilation" box to give the disc a title that will be seen in the drives list, such as Windows Explorer, when the disc is loaded. Choose "Automatic Disc name" and enter the desired name without spaces. For spaces, add underscores (shift+hyphen).

16. Click on the "Burn" tab on the "Burn Compilation" box to set desired burn and writing actions. "Determine maximum speed" lets Nero determine the recorder and disc speeds, if they are unknown. "Simulation" performs a test virtual test burn to see if all goes well. "Write," of course, burns the disc. "Finalize disc" means that the disc will be burned, so that no more can be burned on it. (For the example, check the boxes for "Write" and "Finalize disc," which is probably already checked.)

17. Set "Writing speed," if known, "Writing method" as "Disc-at-once" and "Number of copies".

18. Click the "Burn" button at the bottom on the "Burn Compilation" box to begin the actual burning process and the "Writing to disc" window will open.

19. Check the "Verify written data" box on the bottom left of the "Writing to disc" window. This will have Nero read the disc, after it is done burning, to verify that all of the data has been properly burned to the disc. This is an important optional step, especially with really important data. If all goes well, a box will pop up stating that "Data verification completed successfully."

20. Run the disc in a drive or DVD player to make sure it runs correctly. If it does, the original files on the hard drive may be deleted, if desired.

Tips & Warnings

• Clicking "Open" in Step 5 allows you to burn an image, or one complete file with a compilation of files. This is also how a movie DVD, which can be played in a DVD player, is created.