Copy Files to CD/DVD via the Easiest Way in Windows 11/10/8/7

Why copy files to CD or DVD disc?

Compact Disc (CD) and Digital Video/Versatile Disc (DVD) are common storage to store large amounts of information, especially photographs, videos, music, etc. It can be stored and used on a computer or CD/DVD player.

Many people want to copy files including Excel files, music mp3 files, videos, CDA files, zip files, PDF files, and JPG image files to blank CDs for a lot of devices that support playing CDs or DVDs. Due to their properties, these discs can work on laptops, in cars, or be placed in a book for sale.

Does Windows 10/11 have a CD or DVD copy software?

Like other versions of the Windows operating system, Windows 10/11 works well with most CD-R/W and DVD-R/W drives automatically through Plug and Play. It includes a disc-burning tool, you can either use disc burning feature in File Explorer or Windows Media Player (for the creation of audio CDs). 

Besides, you can copy files to CD/DVD easily using professional backup software, AOMEI Backupper Professional, for example. It provides you with two available ways, copy files to CD/DVD and compress them to an image file with the File Backup feature, or sync files to CD/DVD and keep their original structure. And I'll introduce all of them in the next part.

How to copy files to CD/DVD in Windows 10/11

Here you will learn how to copy files to CD or DVD in Windows 10/11 with 3 different methods. The previous two methods require human intervention while copying files, it's time-consuming and tedious. If you don't want to perform the file transfer process manually, try the last way.

Way 1: Copy files to a CD or DVD via Write to Disc

Step 1. Insert a blank CD/DVD into your computer via a CD/DVD writable drive. 

Step 2. Then, click Open with CD/DVD Creator when you see the pop-up notification window. Type a name for the disc. 

Step 3. Drag the files you want to copy and drop them into this window. Click Write to Disc.

Way 2: Burn files to CD or DVD

Step 1. Insert a blank CD/DVD and be sure it's recognized in Windows. 

Step 2. In the DVD RW Drive window, click Burn files to disc. If this window does not pop up, go to File Explorer and manually open it.

Step 3. Then, you will be navigated to Burn a disc window. Input a disc title and select the way to burn files - "Like a USB flash drive" or "With a CD/DVD player", click Next. It will start to format CD/DVD for storage. 

Step 4. Drag the files you want to burn and drop them onto your CD/DVD.

Way 3: Copy files from PC to CD or DVD via free software (Easiest)

You may have problems using the above ways, for example, it does not work in an operating system like Windows XP. Others also report being unable to copy files to CD, and poor burning tools are one of the reasons. Well, is it any easy for common users to complete this task?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. You could consider using free backup software like AOMEI Backupper Standard. With it, you can enjoy the following advantages.

Backup files to CD/DVD automatically: It is able to backup files to CD/DVD with daily, weekly, and monthly schedule backup, so you don't need to worry about data loss due to forgetting backup or not.

 Copy only changed files to save much time: It supports incremental backup and differential backup, which back up only changed files. 

Delete old backup images regularly to prevent backup disk full issues. It is capable of deleting backup backup files as long as you enable automatic backup cleanup.

Other useful features: It supports splitting large files into multiple smaller images when you copy files larger than 700MB to a CD or DVD. Also, you can create a bootable device to copy files without booting Windows or just in case of boot failure.

All the operations are based on its lucid and user-friendly interface, even a computer novice can make it. Please download this software and install it on your computer. Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista supported. For server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server.

Then, follow the steps below and copy files to CD or DVD in Windows 10:

Step 1. Insert your CD or DVD disc and make sure it shows up in File Explorer. Then, launch AOMEI Backupper after installing, click Backup, and then File Backup in AOMEI Backupper.

Step 2. Edit the task name if necessary. Click Add File or Add Folder and then This PC to select files from the PC.

✍Tip: You can set the file filter settings of the selected folder to backup files with a certain file extension. You can directly type the file extension you want to exclude in the Filter settings window.

Step 3. Configure backup settings and prevent the backup disk full issue from the beginning.

• Click Options to set normal or high compression levels, automatic or customized splitting, or other features.
• Enable Schedule Backup and select Daily/Weekly/Monthly. Also, you can backup files at a specific event with Event triggers or backup files to a USB drive with USB Plug-in feature. 

• Enable the Backup Scheme and then select the backup method (Full/Incremental/Differential Backup) and automatic cleanup methods (By quantity/By daily/weekly/monthly/By time). Please note that this advanced feature only works in Professional or higher editions.

Step 4. Click where the arrow point to select your CD or DVD drive.

Step 5. Finally, click Start Backup to copy files from the PC to a CD or DVD. Wait for the process to complete and then you’ll find all selected files are burned to the CD or DVD automatically.

✍Tips:

• Do not remove the CD or DVD while copying. It is suggested to test the CD or DVD disc after copying.

• The rewritable CD has a limited number of burning times. If the CD is over-burned (worn out), strange errors will arise.

• You can use different CD media to store each backup version. If the burn process fails, you still can use the previous backup version on a different disk.

FAQs about copying files to CD or DVD

1. Why can't I copy files to CD in Windows 10?

This is a common question for users and it usually occurs when the "Remove CD Burning Features" setting is disabled. To enable it, follow the steps below:

• Go to  “User Configuration” > “Administrative Templates” > “Windows Components” > “File Explorer“.
• Open "Remove CD Burning Features" and set it to “Disabled” or “Not Configured”  to allow disc burning.

2. How do I copy music CDs to my laptop?

Unlike copying files from CD to laptop, you need to use Windows Media Player if you want to copy music files. Follow the steps below:

• Insert the music CD into the disc tray and be sure it's displayed on the File Explorer. 
• Open Windows Media Player and click the Rip CD button. 
• Right-click the first track and choose Find Album Info, if necessary.

3. How to copy the content of the CD to a desktop folder?

Sometimes your computer may have a problem reading the CD, you could copy all the contents of the CD to a folder on your desktop and then run the installation from there. The steps are below:

• Put the CD in your drive and cancel the installation if it starts.
• Press Win + E to open My Computer, right-click the CD/DVD ROM drive, and choose Open or Explorer.
• Copy all the files and folders on CD and paste them to a folder on the desktop. 
• Open the new folder and find the Setup.exe file to start the installation. 
• Besides backing up files to CD/DVD, you can also backup files to the cloud. AOMEI Backupper provides users with their own cloud drive - AOMEI Cloud. when you sign up for an AOMEI account, it will give you 1TB of free storage space for 15 days.

Final words

You can copy files to CD or DVD with 3 different methods in this article. The previous two methods are manual while the last one is automatic, thus using professional backup software will be a better choice if you want an easy and automatic way. It is able to minimize the size of the backup images and delete old backup images to free up disk space.

All of these features are suitable for System Backup, Disk Backup, and Partition Backup. Besides, it is still disk cloning software, so you can use it to migrate operating system to SSD or directly clone the entire disk.