Image Viewer > Working with Studies > Writing Studies to Media

This section provides an overview of the steps required to write studies to media.

Selecting One or More Studies

Selecting studies to write to media is straightforward:

1.	On the study browser, select one or more studies to write to media. You can Ctrl-Click to select multiple (individual) studies, or Shift-Click to select a range.

2.	Click Write To Media on the study browser toolbar, or right-click and select Write To Media.

3.	The Media Writer will open.

Initially the Selected Studies tree will be empty; each study is examined to ensure that it can be written to disc and is then added to the Selected Studies tree. Note that the required disk space is automatically recalculated as each study is added to the tree; the required disk space calculation is complete when the "Calculation in progress ..." text is no longer displayed. The Write button is disabled while the space calculation is active.

5.	Studies in the selected study tree may be expanded either by double clicking on the study's description or clicking the "plus sign" to reveal the associated series.

6.	Additional study or series details can be found by hovering the mouse cursor over the desired node in the Selected Studies tree.

The Media Writer will typically look like the following:

In the event that studies are added to the Media Writer for multiple patients, a warning message is displayed.

Important Note

Distributing media with real patient data from multiple patients is not recommended.

Adding Additional Studies

Once the Media Writer is open, additional studies can be added in the same manner as the initial set of studies as described above. Note that the required disk space is automatically recalculated as each study is added to the tree; the required disk space calculation is complete when the "Calculation in progress ..." text is no longer displayed.

If a study is already in the Media Writer's selected studies tree, it will not be added again.

Additional studies may not be added once media writing has begun.

Modifying the Selected Series and Studies

There are a number of ways to modify the list of selected studies and series:

•	The Clear All button can be used to remove all studies from the tree. Once cleared, the desired studies can be added as described above.

•	Uncheck a study to exclude it from the media. Re-check a study to include it on the media. Note that the required disc space is automatically recalculated as studies are checked and unchecked.

•	After expanding a study node in the study tree to reveal its associated series, uncheck a series to exclude it from the media. Re-check a series to include it on the media. Note that the required disc space is automatically recalculated as series are checked and unchecked.

Writing the Studies to Disc

Once the desired studies have been selected, they can be written to disc:

1.	The disc's volume name may be specified or left as the default value. The recipient of the disc will see the specified volume name when inserted into their own computer.

2.	Additional options may be selected.

3.	Select the Media Writer containing the disc you want to write to.

4.	Press the Write button.

Once writing has begun, the progress indicator will pass through a number of stages:

1.	Staging files: Progress bar will update as each study is copied to the staging folder.

2.	Creating disc image: The media writer must prepare an image of the staged files to be burned to disc. This stage may take a long time depending on how many studies have been selected; the progress bar will indicate activity, but not percent complete.

3.	Initializing writer: The media writer is preparing to write to the media. During this stage the progress bar will indicate activity, but not percent complete.

4.	Writing: The staging folder is being written to disc and progress is updated.

5.	Finalizing media: The media writer is finalizing the disc. During this stage the progress bar will indicate activity, but not percent complete.

6.	Verifying media: The media writer is verifying the correctness of all files written to the disc. During this stage the progress bar will indicate activity, but not percent complete. This stage is optional.

7.	Cleaning up: Files are deleted from the staging folder. During this stage the progress bar will indicate activity, but not percent complete. This stage is optional.

8.	Complete: Media writing is complete.

Tip

•	Like all shelves in the ClearCanvas Workstation, the Media Writer can be pinned or unpinned. Unpinning the Media Writer while it is writing to disc will enable you to use the Workstation while writing completes in the background.

Technical Notes

•	The Media Writer must remain open while media writing is in progress.

•	The studies written to disc are a snapshot at the time each one was added; if a study is updated with Key Images, or is still being received from a PACS, the data written to disc may be incomplete.

•	Studies must not be deleted from the local store while media writing is in progress. Doing so will cause media writing to fail.

•	Media writing is audited.

Completion

Upon completion of the writing to disc, the progress will say "Complete". At this point it is safe to remove the disc (if it hasn't already been ejected automatically) by either pressing the Eject button in the Media Writer or manually ejecting the disc via the drive's eject button.

The Staging Folder field will indicate where the files were staged to. If the Delete staged files after writing option is unchecked, the Explore To button will open a Windows Explorer window for the staging folder. Users are free to do what they please to the staged folders after writing is complete as the ClearCanvas Workstation will no longer use them, but they should always be deleted, as ClearCanvas Workstation does nothing to manage leftover staged files.

If additional copies of the disc are required, they may be created by simply inserting a new blank disc and clicking Write again.

If the Media Writer is closed, the currently selected studies will be cleared, and subsequent uses of the Media Writer will only include studies selected at that time.

Cancelling Media Writing

Media writing can be cancelled in three ways:

•	Cancel button: the user is prompted to confirm that they wish to cancel. Upon confirmation, the cancel is not immediate, however the progress bar's text will change to "Cancelling" to indicate that cancellation is in progress.

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Closing the media writer: the media writer will not close immediately, but the user is prompted to confirm that they wish to cancel. Upon confirmation, the cancel is not immediate however the progress bar's text will change to "Cancelling" to indicate that cancellation is in progress. Once the write is cancelled, the media writer will close.

•	Closing the application: the application will immediately close and disc writing will cease.