Blank CD's not reconized

Hello,
My computer will not reconize any Blank CD's and DVD's no matter what brand I use I am a new user and do not understand a lot of the computer largo and need step by step instrutions I may have two conficting programs but again don't know how to check this out ...Also I have back up on my computer and since I collect a lot of clip art My backup is full and now I don't know how to see what has been saved and I don't need to save the clip art but I do need to save my business files and I do not know how to do this Please any advise would be greatly appreciated