CD/DVD Master Preparation Tips

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By: Adam Platzer

“CD/DVD Master” is the disc you provide to your CD/DVD vendor for replication or duplication of that media. Here are some helpful tips for creating a high quality master:

Always use high quality media. All media is not the same. Do your research and choose a brand that will produce a high quality disc consistently.
Avoid burning from a network source. If your source files are on a network drive, copy the files to your local hard drive before burning a disc. If you cannot move the files to your local drive, please use the “Copy To Hard Drive First” feature. Your burning software will create a temporary image file during the burning process. When the burn is complete, the temporary file is deleted.
Avoid burning on a laptop computer running on battery power. Fluctuations in available power may yield poor results.
Always “Finalize” your disc. If you use the drag and drop interface that is built into some operating systems (Windows XP), be sure to select “finalize disc”. This will increase the “read” compatibility in other CD-ROM drives.
Don’t use packet-writing method to burn master disc. This method is most common with burner drives that have “re-write” capabilities. It is similar to the “drag-and-drop” method described above. This burn method produces discs that cannot be read on many CD-ROM drives. We cannot accept a master that is burned to a ReWritable (CD-/+RW or DVD+RW) disc.
Avoid impact or movement of the drive during burn. This can cause the laser to skip or jump a track, which will produce errors or a bad disc.
Use “burn-proof” feature if available. This feature allows the drive to slow down the burn speed in the event the computer cannot supply data fast enough. This can increase the total burn time, but the quality of the disc will be greater.
Avoid having multiple applications open when burning, especially those that access the internet or network. This can hinder your computer’s ability to “feed” data to the burner drive at the proper rate. Poor quality discs and burn rejects could be the result.

There are exceptions and variables to all the statements above. If you have any questions regarding how to burn your master, please contact the article writer.