Windows 7 : Using CDs and DVDs - Using Disks that Already Contain Data (part 1)

Using disks that already have information on them isn't too tough. Starting with the basics, if you have a DVD drive, you can read (use) both CD and DVD disks. If you have a CD drive, you can only use CD disks.

Playing the kind of CD that you buy in a music store is usually pretty easy. You stick the CD in your CD drive and, most likely, Windows Media Player will play it for you. To copy songs from that kind of CD, you rip the CD in Media Player.

To watch a DVD movie, you stick the DVD in your DVD drive and hope it plays. If you have a CD drive (not a DVD drive), it won't play at all. To copy files from DVDs, you typically have to use DVD ripping software.

Exactly what happens when you insert a CD or DVD really depends on your AutoPlay options. Generally, Windows 7 does a pretty good job of figuring out what to do. For example, you might see an AutoPlay dialog box asking what you want to do with the CD. The options in that dialog box depend on the contents of the disk and the programs installed on your computer. Figure 1 shows a general example. You just click whichever option describes what you want to do.

Figure 1. Sample AutoPlay dialog box.

Then again, nothing at all may happen after you insert a CD or DVD. It all depends on the type of drive you have, the type of disk you put in the drive, and how you've configured AutoPlay options. But no matter what happens, you can use your Computer folder to view the disk's contents.

1. What kind of disk is this?

Every disk drive on your system is represented by an icon in your Computer folder. To open your Computer folder, click the Start button and choose Computer.

When your CD or DVD drive contains a disk, its icon changes to show some basic information about that disk. If the drive can handle that type of disk, the icon shows the disk type. If there's any empty space on the disk, you'll see just how much space there is. Figure 2 shows several examples using a single icon and how it looks with different types of disks in it. The figure shows three examples, but different icons are possible depending on the media type inserted in the drive.

Figure 2. Examples of a CD/DVD drive icon containing different disks.

2. Viewing a disk's contents

To see what's already on the CD or DVD in a drive, right-click its icon in your Computer folder and choose Open. You'll see its contents in Explorer. As with folders on your hard disk, any folders on the CD appear as manila file folders. Files are represented by document icons; if the disk is empty, no icons show.

3. Copying files from a CD or DVD

To copy files or folders from a CD. But first, if you skipped straight here without reading anything else, some quick reminders on when not to use the method described here:

• To copy songs from a commercial CD where songs are titled Track1, Track2, and so forth, and have .cda extensions, rip the CD using Windows Media Player.

• To copy a movie from a video DVD that has a folder named Video_TS, use DVD ripping software to copy and convert to a more computer-compatible format such as .avi, .mpg, or .wmv.

  Often you can copy the .vob files to a folder on your hard disk, then change the extension to .mpg. Typically the largest .vob file is the most important one. Smaller .vob files are often just background video scenes.

  
  

For other types of CDs that you or someone else created using a computer. For example, you can select any icons and drag them to a folder name in the Navigation pane. Or open the destination folder in a separate Explorer instance and drag right into the folder as shown in Figure 3.

If you specifically want to send the selected items to your Documents folder, right-click any selected icon and choose Send To => Documents.

Figure 3. Copy from a CD or DVD by dragging.