How To Burn Cross-Platform Readable CD’s in Windows Vista

By default, Windows Vista uses Live File System to incrementally add files to your CD. Live File System is a file storage system that can be used to create CDs and DVDs. Discs formatted with Live File System allow you to copy files to the disc at any time, instead of copying (burning) them all at once. However such disks are not readable by many CD / DVD players and are also not readable on Linux. Here’s how you can burn your CD in Windows Vista so it can be readable on CD / DVD players as well as other operating systems like Linux and also older version of Windows operating system like Windows 98 or 2000.

Choose the Mastered format when you need a highly compatible disc that will play in computers with an older version of Windows or in media devices such as CD and DVD players that can read digital music and video files.
1. Insert a writeable CD or DVD into your computer’s CD or DVD recorder.
2. In the dialog box that appears, click Burn files to data disc.
3. In the Burn a Disc dialog box, type a name for this disc, and then click Show formatting options.
4. Click Mastered, and then click Next.An empty disc folder opens.
5. Open the folder that contains the files you want to burn, and then drag the files into the empty disc folder.
6. On the toolbar, click Burn to disc.The selected files are copied to the disc. When the disc burning is complete, the disc burner tray will open and you can remove the disc.

You can now use the disc in another computer or media device.

Notes:
1. This type of disc does not need to be closed.
2. To burn a Mastered disc, you need free space on your hard disk equal to the capacity of the disc. For a typical CD, this is about 650 megabytes (MB).
3. If you select files to burn but decide not to copy the files to disc, you can delete the temporary files to recover hard disk space. To delete the files, open the disc folder, select the files, and then, on the toolbar, click Delete temporary files.

When should you use Mastered format and when Live File System format?
1. Mastered format should be used to burn CD’s which are likely to be used in different operating systems or even different version of Windows.

2. Live File Format should be used for taking incremental backups of your system.

However some versions of Live File System can be used with older version of Windows:

1.02 - This format can be read on Windows 98 as well as many Apple computers. You should use this version if you need to format DVD-RAM or MO (Magneto-optical) discs.

1.5 - This format is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. It might not be compatible with Windows 98 or Apple computers.

2.01 - This format is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It might not compatible with Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Apple computers.

2.5 - This format is designed for the latest version of Windows and might not be compatible with earlier versions of Windows.
Source: Microsoft