How to Easily Backup a CD to a Computer

This post will go through the process of backing up a CD to an ISO file which can be opened on a computer in the same way a CD would.  This ISO file can also be burned to blank CD which would essentially be an exact duplicate of the original.

The first thing you need to do is download and install ImgBurn from here if you do not already have it. Be careful during installation that you do not accidentally install any adware; it will be installed by default if you just click through everything.  When you get to a page that looks like the following picture, make sure to select custom installation and uncheck anything that says to install something that is not ImgBurn or will reset your homepage.

For me, there were two pages that offered to install adware by default, so make sure you pay attention to what you are installing.

Once installed, go ahead and insert your CD you want to backup and open ImgBurn.  The main window will look like this:

Click the option to "Create image file from disc."  Browse for a destination folder and name your file (by default, it will appear in your Documents folder with the name of the CD).  Then click the button that looks like a CD pointing to a file with a CD on it.

Wait for it to complete and you are done.
If you are running Windows 8, you can open that file by simply double clicking it.  It will then appear in "This PC" (formerly "My Computer") as a CD and will work just the same.  If you are running a previous version of Windows, you may need a program like MagicDisc to mount the file as a CD.

NOTE: This is not ideal for backing up music, but it will work.