HydraHeaded

Hi,

When we add images in Nero (I don't know about other apps), it takes a very long time, since there are a large number of files; with a video file, it doesn't take any time. Then, during the burn process also, it takes up more time. I have tried burning photos only once: I decided that one folder with some 5000 photos would not be good, so I started making 100 MB folders, with varying number of photos; then I got tired and started making two and three hundred MB photos. Finally, I burned a 200 MB folder first, and it went smootly, so then I added 2.5 GBs, and started the burn (on a 4.4 GB disk), and it took a very long time, and then Nero stopped responding - at the point where it says writing short burn out (or whatever, at the end), it clogged up, and there was no activity from the DVD drive, the light wasn't blinking, but the hard disk light was going on furiously, and the Nero dialog box was showing not responding with the mouse cursor changing to 'wait' (sandbox) when taken upon it. Finally, after almost fifteen minutes, it threw out the disc, and gave the message that the burn process was successfully over. When I opened the disc, everything was there, but when I started Nero again to fill in the rest of the disc, and went to add files, it showed the disc as empty, that there were no files in it. I still have the disc; I can open and view the files, but if I try to run it in Nero, it shows the disc as empty.

So my question is, is there any particular method that has to be followed when burning photos, or small files (like saved webpages, where the "_files" folder has a lot of small files)? One option was to make 500 MB .rar archives, but if over a period of time, the archive becomes corrupt, all the photos in it are lost, right?

And are there alternatives to Nero - there are a lot of them probably, but do they have anything special, or do all burning softwares do pretty much the same thing? I have been burning data discs with Nero all this time, and there has never been any problem.

What about burning the whole data at one go, the entire disc I mean: is that better, or is it better to burn the disc in two or three sessions?

And yes, is it true that it is better to burn the disc as few times as possible, because there is some sector from which it picks up info when it is run, and burning too many times fills up that sector? And what about burn speed, does it matter as far as preserving the disc for long term use is concerned?

Thanks.