http://youtube.com/johnsonyip1 for more computer help videos! It is important to back up your files on a regular basis, so if your computer is stolen or breaks. You still have a copy of your files even though your computer is gone or broken.
But, a external hard drive or flash drive can be costly if you just have a few files to backup which are only a few MB in space.  Plus, Archival grade CDs or DVDs  can have a shelf life of hundreds of year or a lot longer then hard drives and flash drives.  However, archival grade DVD-R are expensive.
What I like to do is burn my files to DVD-RW discs which can be erased and rewritten to many times. I been using the same CD-RW disk and DVD-RW disk for years.
What is great about RW disks is you can’t accidentally delete files like a flash drive or hard drive. You have to use a CD DVD burning software to physically erase the disc.  CD-RW and DVD-RW cost more, but you can reuse them many times without the quality degrading very quickly. After a few years of using my RW discs.  They still work like the day I bought them.
I mostly use DVD-RWs to fill up to 4.4GB and then I burn my files on the DVD-RW to DVD-R which is more permanent.
Using rewritable disc is also great for the environment since some things you only need for a few days like homework assignments after the course is over. You can erase the disc and use it for something else like burning MP3s onto to listen to on a CD Player.
For more permanent CDs and DVDs, I recommend archival grade CD-R and DVD-R.
CDburnerXP.se has wizards for helping you burn CDs and erase them. It is mostly drag and drop or clicking a few buttons to burn a CD.
You can download CDBurnerXP at CDburnerXP.se
Tips for burning CDs: If your CD are not working after you burned them, burn them at a lower speed setting.
I use Verbatim, Maxell and Fuji branded DVD-R and I been pretty pleased with them. Their quality has been great.
My DVD burner of choice is LG since they don’t cost a lot and work very well. They are also very durable as well.
I’m using CDBurnerXP too, it’s very easy to use. It’s not as complete as Nero or other CD Burner tools but the main function is very much completed! And above all, it’s FREE… lol
I agree the best thing about CDBurnerXP is it is free, and you can use it to burn data CD, and a CD from a ISO. Nero, Roxio, and other CD burning programs have more multimedia functions like burning DVD movies, and editing video files to burn to DVD-R.