Disc burning

FlyingFiles burns files and folders from your disk onto CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, M-DISC included. Before it starts, it checks whether the data will fit, and after writing, whether the disc holds what it should. You can mark a folder you're gathering files in as a disc template: the panel then shows, as you go, how much of that disc the folder already takes.

What you need

• A disc burner — built in or connected over USB.

• A disc you can write to: blank, or with data but still open (with room for another session).

• Files on the computer's disk. You can't burn straight from an FTP/SFTP server or from inside an archive — copy the files to your disk first.

• Linux: the xorriso program. The .deb and .rpm packages recommend it, so it usually gets installed together with FlyingFiles. If it's missing, the app tells you what to install: sudo apt install xorriso or sudo dnf install xorriso.

The app burns with the tool the system provides: on macOS the same one Finder uses, on Windows the burning feature built into the system (IMAPI), and on Linux the xorriso program. On macOS and Windows there's nothing to install.

The capacities are nominal, as printed on the disc packaging (a gigabyte = 1000³ bytes).

Burning step by step

1. In the panel, select the files and folders that should go on the disc, or put the cursor on a single item.

2. Choose Functions → Burn to Disc… or Burn to Disc… from the context menu (right mouse button).

3. In the Burn to Disc window, check:

   • Disc burner — with several drives, choose the right one;

   • the disc description, e.g. “Blank BD-R disc. Free space: 23.3 GB”;

   • the data description: the number of files and folders, their size and the size of the disc image;

   • the verdict: “The data will fit on the disc. … will remain.” or “The data will not fit on the disc. … more is needed.”

4. In the Disc label field, type the name the system will show when the disc is inserted. The app suggests the name of the selected folder (when there's one) or the name of the folder open in the panel. The label has at most 32 characters, and the app leaves out the characters / \ : * ? " < > |.

5. Choose the Write speed. The default is Maximum; the list shows the speeds the burner reported for the inserted disc, e.g. “4x — 17.2 MB/s”. On cheaper discs, slower writing is often more reliable.

6. Leave Verify data after burning and Eject the disc when done on or turn them off — both are on by default.

7. Click Burn.

The Burn button works only when the data fits. When there's no disc in the drive, the burner hasn't recognized it yet, or the disc is closed, the window tells you what to do: insert a disc (or a different one) and click Check Again. Do the same after swapping the disc while the window is open.

Warning: A rewritable disc (RW, RE) with data is erased before burning — its current contents are gone. That's why the window counts the disc's whole capacity for it.

Tip: The disc gets what you select. A selected folder goes onto the disc as a folder. To put only its contents on the disc, go into it, select everything (+) and only then choose Burn to Disc….

Verifying the data after burning takes about as long as the writing itself, but it's the only way to know the burn succeeded. You turn it off for good in Settings; the field in the burning window changes it for a single burn only.

Will the data fit?

On a disc, data takes more space than the sum of the file sizes. Every file takes whole 2048-byte sectors, and on top of that comes the disc's file system: folders, names stored in several formats, and a space map that grows with the image. That's why the window gives the disc image — how much the data will take on the disc, all of this included — and that's what decides the verdict.

The app checks the space three times: in the window, again after you click Burn (the disc may have been swapped), and just before writing, with the exact image from the system tool. If the data doesn't fit, burning doesn't start, and the message says how much more is needed.

A disc with data but still open — one where another program left room for another session — gets the new data in the next session; the free space is what's still left on it. After burning, FlyingFiles closes the disc, so no further session can be added to it.

The burning window

After you click Burn, the Burning Disc window opens, with the label in its title. It shows:

• the stage with a percentage: “Checking the disc before burning…”, “Preparing data and disc image…”, “Writing to the disc: 37%”, “Verifying the written data: 20%”, “Finalizing the disc…”;

• details: the burner, the disc and the chosen speed, the size of the disc image, how much has been written (or verified), the current speed in MB/s and as a multiple (e.g. “4x”), the approximate time left and the time since the start;

• the Log — with the time of every entry: the app's stages and what the system tool prints.

The window doesn't show the names of the files being written: the system tool burns one ready-made image and only reports how much of it is already on the disc.

When it's finished, the window stays open with a summary: the label, the data, the writing time and the average writing speed, the verification time (or “Data verification was skipped.”), the total time and whether the disc was ejected. After an error, the summary gives the reason. Close the window with Close.

Cancel, Esc and closing the window while burning all mean the same thing: stop. The window waits until the burner stops working.

Warning: Cancelling before writing leaves the disc unchanged. Stopping during writing leaves a partly burned disc, which is usually unusable — that's how it is with every burning program.

Disc template

When you gather files for a disc over a longer time, mark their folder as a disc template. The panel then shows, below the file list, how much of that disc they already take, and warns you when there are too many.

1. Right-click the folder and choose Properties…. To mark the folder open in the panel, right-click an empty area of the list or the /.. row and choose Directory properties….

2. In the Properties window, in the Directory features group, check Disc template.

3. From the list next to it, choose the disc: CD-R 650, 700, 800 or 870 MB, DVD-R or DVD+R 4.7 GB, DVD-R DL or DVD+R DL 8.5 GB, BD-R 25 GB, BD-R DL 50 GB, BD-R XL 100 or 128 GB — or Custom capacity.

4. For a ready-made disc, the Capacity in bytes field shows exactly how much data the disc holds (e.g. 25 025 314 816 B for BD-R 25 GB). For a custom capacity, type the number of bytes — digits only; spaces between groups are allowed.

5. Click OK.

From then on, in this folder and in every subfolder of it, a row with a bar sits below the disk space bar, e.g. “BD-R 25 GB: 18.2 GB of 23.3 GB (78%) · 5.1 GB free”. When there are too many files, the bar turns red, and the text says by how much: “· over by 1.2 GB”. The row's tooltip gives everything in bytes: the disc capacity, the number of files and folders, their total, the disc image and the free space or the excess.

• The used space is counted the same way as in the Burn to Disc window — as the disc image, hidden files included.

• The counting runs in the background each time you enter the folder and after a refresh; until the new result is ready, you see the previous one.

• It's a soft limit: copying and moving are never blocked.

• “BD-R 25 GB” shows 23.3 GB in the panel, because by default the app counts a gigabyte as 1024³ bytes. When you count by 1000 (Settings), it's 25.0 GB.

• The mark is stored in the app's settings (settings.toml), not in the folder — no file is created in the folder.

• Renaming the folder in the app (Shift+F6) takes the mark along. After you move the folder (F6) or rename it in another app, the mark stays with the old path and comes back when the folder returns there.

• A template inside another template: the closer one applies.

• A template works on a local disk; on an FTP/SFTP server and in an archive there's no Properties… item.

• To remove the mark, uncheck Disc template and click OK.

Spare areas on BD-R discs

A BD-R disc can be burned in two ways:

• unformatted — the full capacity (25 GB per layer) and full speed. That's how macOS, Linux and programs such as ImgBurn burn, and how FlyingFiles burns by default on every system;

• with a spare area — the disc is formatted first, and while writing, the burner checks every piece and moves defective spots into the spare area. This costs 768 MB per layer, writing goes at half the speed, and formatting can't be undone. That's how Windows itself burns (e.g. File Explorer).

The second way is turned on by the Use spare areas on BD-R discs field in File → Settings… → Disc burning. On macOS this field has no effect — the system tool always burns without a spare area.

When a Blu-ray disc has less space than its type suggests, the Burn to Disc window explains below the verdict how much the spare area takes and how much is left to burn. With spare areas turned on, a Blu-ray disc template counts the capacity without the spare area, so that the bar in the panel matches the burning window.

Windows: Files larger than 4 GB can be burned too. The disc then gets the UDF file system only, which every modern system reads.

Ejecting the disc

You can eject a disc with data from the app: right-click its button on the drive bar (or the disc's folder in /Volumes on macOS or in /media on Linux) and choose Eject Disc — more about ejecting drives. A blank disc isn't mounted, so it isn't on the drive bar; after burning, the burning window ejects it when Eject the disc when done is checked.

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