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I've been using Nero Express this whole time for most of my burns, but my brother says it's better to use Nero Burning ROM and you don't get as many lockups and stuff. OK, so I want to burn a plain ol' data CD of files (no music or mixed mode). What CD burning option do I choose in Nero Burning ROM 6.3.1.6? Are there any non-default settings for that option that I need to watch out for? Thank you.

nothing special really.

• if you get the wizard, close it (at least i don't like it)
• select the drive you want to use. either the pull-down menu in the menubar, or click the drive selection button (right next to that pull-down menu), or Recorder -> Choose recorder, or Control-R.
• either click the leftmost button on the toolbar, or File -> New, or Control-N
• on the left hand side there's a "bar" of sorts, select CD-ROM (ISO). you might also have a pull-down menu to select between CD compilations or DVD compilations (if the selected drive is a DVD burner for instance).
• in Multisession tab choose No Multisession (unless you really want that).
• in ISO tab choose Data Mode 1, File system ISO9660+Joliet, File name length Level 2, Character set ISO9660. i also check the 1st, 2nd and 4th checkboxes under Relax ISO restrictions.
• in Burn tab choose Write, Finalize CD, Write method choose Dics-at-once.

look around at other options and other tabs.