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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Burning CDs in Finder has me far more befuddled than it ought to

Burning CDs in Finder has me far more befuddled than it ought to
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neilw
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Dec 18, 2005, 10:14 PM
 
I feel like an idiot for having a problem with this, but I seem to be having a fundamental lack of understanding of some details of how to burn data CDs in the Finder. Running 10.4.3.

I put in a blank disc, name it, and then start dragging in folders that I want to include on the disc. I am apparently creating aliases to these folders; don't know where they're going but it doesn't matter.

So here's problem #1: How can I easily tell how much data I've put on the disc so far? "Get Info" on the folder aliases just tells me 4KB or something useless like that. Is there some obvious way to see how much you've put on the disc without going through a tedious manual process?

Problem #2 is worse. Let's say I drag a folder to the blank disc. That puts an alias of that folder there. If I drill down to the folders below the alias, though, I'm then touching the real folders. So how do I eliminate a sub-folder from being on the burned disc? Any operation I perform on that folder (like deleting it) will affect the actual folder on my hard disk, which of course I don't want to do.

These seem like ridiculously basic problems, but a straightforward answer has eluded me so far. Thanks in advance for any help...
     
CharlesS
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Dec 18, 2005, 10:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by neilw
So here's problem #1: How can I easily tell how much data I've put on the disc so far? "Get Info" on the folder aliases just tells me 4KB or something useless like that. Is there some obvious way to see how much you've put on the disc without going through a tedious manual process?
When you have the window to the disc open, it should say on the bottom how much space you've used up so far.

Problem #2 is worse. Let's say I drag a folder to the blank disc. That puts an alias of that folder there. If I drill down to the folders below the alias, though, I'm then touching the real folders. So how do I eliminate a sub-folder from being on the burned disc? Any operation I perform on that folder (like deleting it) will affect the actual folder on my hard disk, which of course I don't want to do.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way to do this, other than recreating the whole directory structure manually.

I suppose you could hold down the Option key to copy the files rather than making an alias. Then, it would work the way the burning feature used to work in 10.3, but you'd also get the downside of that - you'd have to wait for the files to copy.

If you want a little more flexibility, you might want to look into Roxio's Toast. It gives you a lot more control over the disc you create.

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production_coordinator
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Dec 19, 2005, 01:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by neilw
Problem #2 is worse. Let's say I drag a folder to the blank disc. That puts an alias of that folder there. If I drill down to the folders below the alias, though, I'm then touching the real folders. So how do I eliminate a sub-folder from being on the burned disc? Any operation I perform on that folder (like deleting it) will affect the actual folder on my hard disk, which of course I don't want to do.

These seem like ridiculously basic problems, but a straightforward answer has eluded me so far. Thanks in advance for any help...
Does Windows/Unix have an easier way of doing it?
     
mpancha
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Dec 19, 2005, 02:26 AM
 
Originally Posted by production_coordinator
Does Windows/Unix have an easier way of doing it?

Yup... WIndows XP's builtin burning utility, as Apple says, "it just works". I use my iBook as my primary machine and it goes with me to all my clients. But if I have the option, I always use the Windows XP burning feature over my iBooks.

I recently caved and bought Toast because OS X's burning function is just pathetic. Like the original author says its a ridiculous basic problem
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Big Mac
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Dec 19, 2005, 06:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by mpancha
Yup... WIndows XP's builtin burning utility, as Apple says, "it just works". I use my iBook as my primary machine and it goes with me to all my clients. But if I have the option, I always use the Windows XP burning feature over my iBooks.

I recently caved and bought Toast because OS X's burning function is just pathetic. Like the original author says its a ridiculous basic problem
I haven't burned a disc in Windows, but according to xvsxp the process for burning single session CDs is essentially the same in both OSs. Could you explain precisely what you find to be superior in Windows?

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Fonzie
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Dec 19, 2005, 10:33 AM
 
I've read that in order to burn a disc - the easiest way is to create a burn-folder on the desktop or someplace else and then start dragging in files. then for an estimate, click the burn button and then a requester will come up telling you that you have to insert a blank CD and how much space you have have available on that disc.
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brettcamp
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Dec 20, 2005, 05:18 AM
 
I agree that OSX disc burning is kinda clunky, though I think I have it mostly sussed out now. Still, does anyone know why Apple can't design it so it appears to work just like floppy disks used to -- that is, you drag files to the disk, and they appear inside the opened disk icon? OK, you'd have to add a "burn" feature that floppies didn't have, but aside from that, why not make the process seem simple so it looks like copying a file to any other location?
     
Chuckit
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Dec 20, 2005, 06:10 AM
 
Originally Posted by brettcamp
I agree that OSX disc burning is kinda clunky, though I think I have it mostly sussed out now. Still, does anyone know why Apple can't design it so it appears to work just like floppy disks used to -- that is, you drag files to the disk, and they appear inside the opened disk icon? OK, you'd have to add a "burn" feature that floppies didn't have, but aside from that, why not make the process seem simple so it looks like copying a file to any other location?
Well, you aren't copying the files to the CD, so it obviously won't be just the same. If you'll recall, they used to simulate this by creating a hidden disk image and using that to represent the disc. But that had the drawback of being slow — copying 4GB is not a fast operation, plus there was the burn time when you finished that — and it took up space on your hard disk equal to the size of the disc you wanted to burn. And there were so many ways it could go wrong and that 4GB would stay eaten on your hard disk. I never used Finder burning back then.

So they introduced the idea of burn folders, which alleviate these two problems but have the downside of being a little more abstract. Between the two, I prefer burn folders. Hopefully they're working on an even better implementation, but I do see the challenge in creating a total abstraction that doesn't have any hidden gotchas.
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mpancha
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Dec 20, 2005, 06:56 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac
I haven't burned a disc in Windows, but according to xvsxp the process for burning single session CDs is essentially the same in both OSs. Could you explain precisely what you find to be superior in Windows?
Well, honestly no.... it just works. It works how I think it should, and its as simple as that.

But the one big thing is, when you drag a folder onto the CD you see the folder, you can double click into a folder, and remove certain files without actually being in the folder and permanently deleting files.

As pathetic an answer as that is, like I said, it just works. To precisely see why its better, other than trying it yourself, there's no way. It works the way you would think it should, and that's it.
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asxless
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Dec 26, 2005, 12:26 AM
 
Originally Posted by neilw
I feel like an idiot for having a problem with this, but I seem to be having a fundamental lack of understanding of some details of how to burn data CDs in the Finder. Running 10.4.3...
Apple has developed a bad habit of changing basic functionality so much between OS versions that previous capabilities appear to be lost. In this case CD/DVD burning via the Finder was changed from a semi-automated creation of a disk image that can be burned to disk via the Finder to a "burn folder" which hunts down the targets of aliases to be burned via the Finder. BUT...

The underlying CD/DVD burning functionality has been part of the OS X Disk Utility application for the last several incarnations of OS X. You just use the Disk Utility to create a CD/DVD 'disk Image', the Finder to copy anything you want to it and then Disk Utility again to burn it.

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asxless
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Dec 26, 2005, 12:37 AM
 
Originally Posted by CharlesS
...I suppose you could hold down the Option key to copy the files rather than making an alias. Then, it would work the way the burning feature used to work in 10.3, but you'd also get the downside of that - you'd have to wait for the files to copy....
One might think that (I did), but the result is NOT the same as in previous versions of OS X. Tiger hunts down EVERY alias it finds in a Burn Folder and attempts to burn the TARGET data. So,for example, if you copy a folder containing an alias to say your Music or Pictures folder, the Finder will try to burn their contents too... OOOPS!

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Hal Itosis
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Dec 27, 2005, 12:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by neilw
I put in a blank disc, name it, and then start dragging in folders that I want to include on the disc.
Macworld suggests creating (and checking) the burn folder *before* mounting the blank CD:
View size requirements for burn folders
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HamSandwich
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Dec 27, 2005, 12:55 AM
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds Apple's Finder method of burning non-intuitive. The previous implementation was a lot slower but far easier to understand. Toast does it best, IMO.
     
forkies
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Jan 19, 2006, 11:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by asxless
One might think that (I did), but the result is NOT the same as in previous versions of OS X. Tiger hunts down EVERY alias it finds in a Burn Folder and attempts to burn the TARGET data. So,for example, if you copy a folder containing an alias to say your Music or Pictures folder, the Finder will try to burn their contents too... OOOPS!
does anyone know of a way to burn actual aliases with the finder?

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asxless
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Jan 20, 2006, 12:14 AM
 
Originally Posted by forkies
does anyone know of a way to burn actual aliases with the finder?
My earlier statement "Tiger hunts down EVERY alias it finds in a Burn Folder and attempts to burn the TARGET data." is true but might be somewhat misleading. You have to read it literally. Tiger burns "actual aliases" as long as they are not _directly_ in the burn folder.

For example, If you simply drag a folder containg a number of aliases into the burn folder (without holding down the option key), Tiger will create an alias of that folder for later burning. When it actually burns the CD/DVD it will NOT hunt down the targets of the aliases in that folder. It will simply burn the aliases contained in the folder. BUT if you drag that same folder into the burn folder WHILE HOLDING DOWN THE OPTION KEY Tiger will hunt down the targets of all the aliases and try to burn them.

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krisneph
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Jan 21, 2006, 04:53 PM
 
     
gunga
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Jan 22, 2006, 07:48 PM
 
Hopefully this will help you in some way...

1. If you select 'Get Info' for the Burn Folder there should be a 'Burning' section, complete with expansion arrow. Within, there is a 'Calculate' button. This will, when selected, give you the total content size for the selected Burn Folder.

2. If you hold 'alt' when dropping directories into a Burn Folder, you'll copy the folder and it's contents, rather than creating an alias. You can tell this by the behaviour of the 'Burn' bar that appears at the top of the window. Click into an alias and this disappears, to denote you moving out of the Burn Folder. When copying folders and drilling down a level to the files/folders within, the 'Burn' bar stays sat at the top of the window. As you copied the files, deleting them won't harm the originals.

This might not be the most elegant solution - or indeed the way Apple intended Burn Folders to work, but it saves deleting files by accident.
     
   
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