help with backup dvds

just got my sony S series and started to make my recovery disks and the dvd player said it was checking the disk and something went wrong. So, the icon to start the "make the recovery disks" is now gone from the task bar and I can't figure out how to find the vaio recovery wizard to make the disks. I found the recovery wizard but that starts the whole reset the computer to factory settings deal which I don't need. Can someone tell me how to get back to the area where I make the backup cds / dvds. Also , how do I make sure my dvd burner is actually burnning stuff. I put a movie in and it worked fine and it reads cds fine also, but for some reason it didn't like my dvd r. Any help would be greatly appreciated.