The creators of versatile CD/DVD burning tool CDBurnerXP have posted a guide in their forums to using the program to create a live-booting Windows XP (or 2000/2003) disc. It’s a multi-step process that involves a lot of settings to tweak, but at the end you should have a Windows desktop that loads straight from the boot. If you’re going to roll your own live-boot XP, you might want to get familiar with trimming it down to the bare essentials for faster loads, or slipstreaming your installation to avoid Windows Update nags that will, frankly, never go away. I haven’t given it a thorough test yet, but online forum users seem to give it the thumbs up. Let us know your experience with live-booting XP in the comments. Creating bootable Windows 2000/XP/2003 Disc (CDBurnerXP 3) [via Confessions of a Freeware Junkie (Delicious)]
The Online Tech Tips blog delves into a little-discussed feature of Windows Vista that can turn your spare blank discs into drag-and-drop bins for extra files. The Live File System mounts writable CDs and DVDs as pseudo-flash drives, letting you add files to them on a continual basis rather than having to initiate one big burn session. You can’t recover space from added files, but if you’ve got blank discs to spare, Live File System can be a handy write-as-you-go backup method. Turn your CDs into flash drives using Vista’s Live File System [Online Tech Tips]
Windows only: Freeware application BurnAware covers all of your most common burning tasks, from burning audio CDs and video DVDs to disk images (like ISO files) and regular data discs. That’s a good start, but BurnAware really impresses by supporting virtually every optical format, including Blu-Ray and HD DVDs. If you’ve been looking for a simple, all-in-one burning tool with a small footprint to replace expensive alternatives like Nero, BurnAware may be the ticket. BurnAware is freeware, Windows only. BurnAware Free Edition
