At 15:13 9/09/2008, you wrote:

>Hi Folks:
>
> Developing on XP Home, VS 2008 Pro WIN32, no MFC.
>I'm developing in C++.
>
> Gbak works great. It backs up and restores to
>files on my PC as documented.
>
> The dialog my application opens for backup and
>recovery asks the user to identify the file to use
>as the destination for the backup or the source of
>the recovery.
>
> The problem happens when the user selects to
>backup to a DVD or CD.

Here's where this stops being a firebird-support question. But do feel free to post a question to firebird-tools - there may be someone who has already incorporated a burning tool API into a third-party utility.

>
>
> A DVD or CD is different from other drives, for
>one thing it has no file system until something is
>burned into it.

It has no file system, period. A DVD or CD carries an image of a block of disk.

> I see there is something called the "Image
>Mastering API", which seems to address writing
>to a CD and, with version 2, a DVD. I'd like
>to know if this is the correct approach to
>write gbak files to the CD.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with gbak. You're looking for some way to burn the image of an already-created backup file onto a CD. When you ask on Firebird tools, be sure to mention as much detail as you can about your programming environment. And perhaps search Tucows for a shareware that already has what you want?

^heLen