I want to save pictures from my computer or digital camera onto a cd. I know there are labs that do this but I want to do this myself. How do I do this and where do I get the products?

-- Papoose (Iampapoose@aol.com), May 14, 1999

Answers

You need: - a CD-R drive ( less than $300 for a solid, entry level drive) - CD-R writing software (usually comes with the drive) - SCSI interface (preferably) - CD-R blanks ($1-$3 each in quantity) - enough hard disk space for the photos (700 Mb , or see "workarounds"

Good places to get these are: - APS for the drive - DTP direct for the SCSI card (if needed) - PC Connection / Mac Connection for the CD-R blanks. URLs and details below.

Details:

CD-R drives: . I bought mine from APS (http://www.apstech.com/). For example, they sell a 4x recorder (Cat# 2554-008) external SCSI CD-R drive for $270. (It also serves as an 8x CD-ROM reader). APS has a good reputation for using high-quality enclosures/hardware. You can pay more to get drives that will write faster (e.g., $450 for 8x, and I think even 12x is possible). Writing a full disk at 4x takes about 20 minutes - if you plan to write lots of them, you might be interested in the faster drives. Also, you can pay more to get a drive that will also write/read the CD-RW (Read-Write CDs) which can be erased and reused, but which are more expensive, and which some CD-ROM readers won't read (lower contrast).

CD-R software:

Generally comes with the drive. The APS drive above comes with software for both Mac and PC (Toast, Easy CD, and Direct CD). Toast is the software of choice on the Mac.

SCSI interface

Most drives I've seen require a SCSI interface. You can get a SCSI PCI card for PC or Mac for as little as $59 (http://www.dtpdirect.com, for example). If you don't have either SCSI or PCI bays to spare (e.g., you have an iMac or your bays are full), I think I've seen at least one USB based CD-R drive advertisted recently.

CD-R blanks

You should pay between $1-$2 each, depending on quantity. The recording layer will be green, silver or gold - I'm told gold is the best. The highest quality disks appear to be the "Kodak CD-R 74 with Infoguard", which I've seen at MacConnection/PCConnection (http:// www.macconnection.com) for $1.95 each, quantity 1, and are rated for recording at up to 6x (note that not all blanks are rated for recording at the highest speeds - I've seen 8x and perhaps 12x recorders). The gold in the Kodak disks really is gold (the element) and Kodak claims the data life should be 100 years or more (though, good luck finding a CD-ROM reader in the year 2100 - 25 years ago, I was storing my computer data on punched paper cards)

For anything I really care about, I make a point of burning at least two Kodak disks, and having one stored as off-site backup 20 miles away. Think very carefully about how you are going to feel if your CD-R goes bad or is damaged (fire, theft, etc.). It is so incredibly cheap and easy to spend the extra $2 and 20 minutes of your computer's time to make a backup, to protect the fruit of hours of your labor and the images of events that will never come again.

When I'm interested in saving money, however (e.g., burning 25 copies of my shareware collection as Christmas gifts), then I go for the $1/ disk with rebate 10-pack deals (though, I'm going to run out of manufacturers pretty soon).

Hard Disk Space

Ideally, you want enough hard disk space to burn a full disk as a single session ( about 640 Mb). However, you may not have that much space, or that much data (especially the data - a 640 Mb CD-R will hold over 2500 1280x960 images, or over 10,000 640x480 images). With the right software, you can fill a disk in multiple sessions, but as I recall there is a hefty overhead per session, and not all CD-ROM drives/drivers will let you see all the sessions, depending on format.

-- Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com), May 15, 1999.

I just bought and installed a Hi-Val 2X8X CD-R drive from Sam's Club for about $150. It works great. yea there a faster ones out there for a price. Sam's Club also had 20 pack of Verbatim CD-R disks with jewel case for $27. I don't think that is too bad for walk in the store and just pick them off the shelf verses ordering it and paying shipping.

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), May 15, 1999.