blank disk doesn't appear on the desktop

I want to back up documents on to CD-RW but when I insert a blank disk, it doesn't appear on the desktop, so how can find it in the system? I'm using Panther with my iBook G4 which is nearly three years old.

You should be able to access the disc via Disk Utility.
Once there you can format it and prepare it for accepting data.

Thanks for this suggestion. I tried it, but there isn't any menu option for formatting the disk. And it's telling me that the disk is not writable. I got the same result with a CD-R as with the CD-RW.
DavidPV

Can you access it through Finder?
Check the finder preferences to make sure you have set to show CDs etc on the desktop and the finder side bar.
S

Thanks - I figured it out now. I went into system preferences and changed the setting for there for what to do with CDs.