How to burn a disc with folders arranged your own way

Turn on Advanced mode in Burn by Zaweba, then start a new data disc. Instead of the simple page, you get a project window with this PC's files on the left and the disc on the right, where you can make your own folders, rename items, add empty folders and drag things between the two. Your files on the PC stay exactly where they are.

The normal data disc page in Burn is quick: drag files in, watch the capacity bar, burn. It puts things on the disc as they come. When you want the disc laid out differently from your hard drive, Advanced mode is the tool.

Switching Advanced mode on

There are three places to do it. The switch in the status bar at the bottom of Burn's window is the quickest. It's also under View > Advanced mode and in Settings. Once it's on, every new data disc you start opens the project window, and it stays that way until you turn it off.

Start the disc as usual, from Home, Disc > Data disc or File > New data disc (Ctrl+N).

Building the disc's layout

The left side of the project window shows the files on this PC, and the right side shows the disc. Drag files and folders from the left to the right, or straight in from Explorer. On the disc side, create folders of your own and drag items into them, rename anything to suit the disc, and add empty folders if you want a structure ready for later.

Renaming on the disc side changes only the name on the disc, which is handy for giving files clearer names for whoever receives the disc without touching your own copies.

Advanced mode also shows every option for the disc in one place: disc name, file system, finalise on or off, write speed, buffer-underrun status and per-file verify, or saving as an ISO instead of burning.

Layouts people commonly want

A disc for a client might gather files from several places on your PC into one tidy set of folders named by date or project. A family photo disc might put each year in its own folder with a clear name, even if the originals are scattered. A disc of documents for an archive might use short folder names to keep paths well within the name limits of the file system.

Burn warns before any name would be shortened, so if a folder or file name is too long for the chosen layout, you can rename it in the project window there and then.

Finishing and checking

Keep an eye on the capacity bar as you add things. When the layout is right, burn the disc. With Check every disc after burning on in Settings, which is recommended, Burn reads every file back and compares it with the original.

If you leave finalise off, the disc stays open and you can add more later with Disc > Add files to a disc, which imports the earlier session and keeps it. And if you'd rather not burn yet, save the layout as an ISO and burn that image whenever you're ready.