CDs and virtual CDs -- me very confused

[roninsmurf]

the thing i'm trying to figure out is
how
and whether or not
i can/have to burn a cd.

i downloaded a bootable cd from a friend,
it's NOT A REAL CD! (i'm confused)
it's now just an icon on my desktop -- though it says it's a CD
(i can even "eject" it)?
(how does that work?)

and now i want to turn it ito a REAL CD, so i can use it to reboot the system, and use it to scan my HD
i'm a novice at this -- how can i turn this icon of a cd into a real, burned CD?

or do i NOT have to do this? do i need to just leave this phantom CD on my desktop, and never "eject" it??

please explain. sorry i'm so confused.

 

[barhar]

'i downloaded a bootable cd from a friend' - what is the (title of the) CD?; from where (web page) and by what means (what application and version number) was the CD downloaded?

'... it's NOT A REAL CD! (i'm confused)'; no, it is not; it is an image of a downloaded file ('.sit', '.zip', '.gz', etc.). Files can be stored and transferred via TCP/IP; a standard CD (that is bootable) cannot. Double clicking on such transferred file may result in a 'Desktop' based image.

'... it's now just an icon on my desktop -- though it says it's a CD'; I doubt it says anything - although the image may appear as a CD / DVD icon, on the 'Desktop'.

'(i can even "eject" it)?'; dragging an image's icon to the trash (now 'eject' icon) ejects (removes) the image; but, not the actual downloaded file.

'... and now i want to turn it into a REAL CD, so i can use it to reboot the system, and use it to scan my HD'; hmmm, from this statement - it appears that a (possibly commercial) disk utility CD has been compressed, tar'ed, zip'ed or similar; and, you somehow obtained it (via a global or personal peer to peer connection, or similar) and now want to burn a copy of the downloaded file's image. If that is the case, you should be able to use 'Disk Utility', 'Toast', or any other Macintosh CD / DVD burning application.