How do I back up all my pictures and documents to a disc?

Right,

1.) Insert blank DVD-R, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RW (CD-R and DVD-R mean CD recordable and DVD recordable it means you can write files to them but can not erase those files and burn again RW means re-writable so you can 100s of times :) Ignore the pop up box with the options of what to do with the disc and it does matter to a point, if you open my computer (step 2) it will say something like DVD-RW or CD-RW or DVD-ROM or CD-ROM if it said ROM it means read only memory so you cant even burn discs, if it said CD-RW it can read CDs and burn to them but not to the larger space (4.7GB usually) DVDs. If it said DVD-RW it can burn to both CD and DVDs :). The other factor to take into consideration is how large the files you are backing up are, if they are 700mb or less use a CD-R or CD-RW, if they are 4.7GB (4700mb) or less use the bigger DVD-R or DVD-RW. To see what size the files will be in total complete all the steps then read step 8.

2.) Open my computer (press the windows icon at the bottom left of screen then click computer or my computer).

3.) Open Drive (E:) (the one you checked to see if it was ROM or RW).

4.) Leave Drive (E:) open (minimize it) and open My documents or documents or My pictures or pictures or my videos or videos depending on the files or folders you want to backup.

5.) Right click on the folder you want to backup or the individual file a menu should open, left click on copy on he menu.

6.) Maximize Drive (E:) that you opened for step 3 and put your mouse in the middle of your screen and right click again, the menu should open again and this time left click paste, the document/folder you originally copied should appear there and a bar progress bar should appear saying copying (if it is a small file it may not appear because it instantly transfers).

7.) Repeat step 6 with all the documents and photos and folders you want to backup.

*Tip if you want to select multiple folders at once hold the left mouse button down and drag the box over the folders you want they should turn a different colour (usually blue) then hover your mouse over one of the documents you 'highlighted' and right click, the menu should appear and left click copy it will then copy all the 'highlighted' files so you don't have to do them one at a time :)

8.) Open My computer or computer again (step 2) left click Drive (E:) once it should then show information at the bottom of the screen saying how much space remains, if it says there is remaining space (more than 4mb) jump to step 9 if it says 0 space free then you need to use the *tip and 'highlight' ALL the documents,folders etc. in Drive (E:) and right click, on the menu left click copy now remove the inserted disc and add a bigger memory one such as a DVD-R or RW, if you already had one of them in either use 2 discs or buy Dual-layer discs (there up to 8GB). Once the bigger memory disc is added open my computer or computer and open Drive (E:) if the files are still there great skip to step 9 if they are not right click in the middle of the screen and left click paste.

9.) Maximize Drive (E:) make sure nothing is 'highlighted' then at the top of the screen left click burn a box should open saying name the disc name it appropriately then click next and complete the steps it tells you to when it says select burn speed the higher 'x' such as 52x the quicker it will burn the lower the 'x' the slower but there is less chances of errors. Click next and follow the steps then click either finish or burn or next until a progress bar opens and your computer makes a noise as if it is starting up (it becomes noisy). Wait for it to finish then it will either eject the disc or tell you it is finished, take the disc out the computer and hey presto! its done, i suggest putting it back in the computer to see if the files are on successfully.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306524