How do I write to CD or DVD?

[MiZoG]

Hello, mnbey999
[Never hesitate / don't be shy to start a new thread on Mint forum regardless of the problem you face while using this distro]

k3b
I won't be surprised if only this program can burn those discs on Linux.
It's a KDE application but it can be installed in any flavour of Mint without a single problem in my experience.
I've been using it since my day 1 on Linux a long time ago and 99% of time not on KDE. So don't listen to crap like "it will pull thousands of kde libs to molest your virginal Cinnamon".

My advice is go to k3b forum and ask for more specific instructions
about burning M-disks (don't ask em how to install k3b properly on Mint, ask these questions on this forum if you need to)

[mnbey999]

Hello MiZoG

Thanks very much

[billyswong]

I have posted this in the beginners section even though I have been using Linux Mint for many years. I have written to discs before both for my data such as documents and photos etc and also for the Linux Mint (and some other distros) OS which I have then successfully installed onto various computers. Having said that I have never understood what I am doing and I can not do any of these things reliably. I simply have never understood what the word burn means and what K3b is all about and what an ISO is.

I have just tried to back up some files in various directories on my Linux Mint computer to a CD and to a DVD. The approach I took was to open two Nemo windows. In one of the windows I opened up the CD or DVD and in the other one I navigated around my computer and transferred directories for backing up to the window opened for the CD. When I had transferred all the directories I wanted to back up I clicked the Blank DVD item under devices in the Nemo window and there was quite a long period of time with a box showing the copying process. Once that was completed I removed the disc. When I put the disc into another computer running Linux Mint there is nothing on it.

I have clearly missed something very basic in my understanding of this. It is surprising to me because back in the 90s I used to use Macs and it seemed very easy to transfer data from disc to computer and vice versa. I certainly don't want to abandon Linux Mint because I am sure it is just me not getting it. Also Macs have probably changed and I might have the same problem plus a lot of others if I did that.

Hi your old memory of drag and drop files to disc in file manager is probably due to an old technology called UDF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format

Back when the day of CD-RW, UDF was a godsend. But since even the cheapest USB stick nowadays exceeds the volume of an DVD-RW, the rewritable optical discs technology has faded out of flavour. For example, there is just no market for BD-R or BD-RE. Blu-ray drives were never popular and soon many new computers lost optical drives altogether.

Does Nemo, a file manager created after almost nobody use CD-RW and DVD-RW anymore, support UDF or disc burning natively? I don't know. But sticking to dedicated disc burner software as recommended by others here is the easiest way out. Or one may turn to USB flash drives or USB removable harddisks.

[Moem]

Hi your old memory of drag and drop files to disc in file manager is probably due to an old technology called UDF

Mod note:
And that's what you get when people dreg up old topics instead of starting new ones. Billyswong, you are responding to a stale old post.

[billyswong]

Hi your old memory of drag and drop files to disc in file manager is probably due to an old technology called UDF

Mod note:
And that's what you get when people dreg up old topics instead of starting new ones. Billyswong, you are responding to a stale old post.

Ouch, I didn't notice somebody dug up a last year post. Sorry for responding to that. I saw the most recent discussions are on these couple days and didn't notice the huge time gap in the middle.

[Dark Owl]

Mod note:
And that's what you get when people dreg up old topics instead of starting new ones. Billyswong, you are responding to a stale old post.

With all due respect, I don't think that matters much. OK, so the OP has probably moved on and the reply is no longer relevant to him, but surely the purpose of a technical forum is to collect information from whoever cares to contribute it? Does it matter that a discussion may continue over an extended period of time?

[Moem]

Does it matter that a discussion may continue over an extended period of time?

Yes, because that creates confusion. Information given may about different versions of Mint; people will try to apply that information and it may not work, or even get them in trouble. That is why we prefer to start new topics for new questions.