posted on December 29, 2005 08:52:43 AM new
I picked up a DVD recorder recently. YAY!
Now, time to get down to business. I have a certain directory that is about 30 Gigabytes in size, broken down into several dozen subdirectories. Each subdirectory contains an audiobook, consisting of one up to a hundred or more individual mp3 files. Each blank DVD holds 4.7 Gigs, and I want to do a backup.
Is there any good freeware/shareware programs out there that will split things up to fill 8 or more DVDs with files, but not do any oddball compression or anything? I'd like to just put the DVDs back in and access the files at some point in the future without the necessity of some kind of "restore" program. I'd like to keep entire subdirectories intact too.
I don't necessarily need a DVD recording program, just something to organize my files or measure the sizes of directories prior to the recording stage.
There has to be something like this available without going to the trouble of purchasing a full featured backup program from the store.
And this is on my Windows system, so no Linux apps, please.
Anyone?
--------------------------------------
Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
[ edited by replaymedia on Dec 29, 2005 08:55 AM ]
posted on December 29, 2005 09:50:49 AM new
Didn't the drive come with its own software? You could download a trial of Roxio or Nero to use to burn your DVD's. It tells you how much you have added to a DVD just drag the entire folder to the pane for burning and when you finally get them all burned you have your back up and should be able to use the DVD after any expired software as they do not open the DVD's you burned anyway. I have also used the drag and drop to drive option of my DVD drive but rather do the explorer type pane to see what all I have to burn then burn it.
As far as having a freeware software that will divide up your directories for you I have no idea as I do it by what I want on certain DVDs. I think there is some software that will do it and Roxio or Nero might but never got tat deep into the instructions. Try finding out through Google search.
**************
Can't touch this! hu huh, uh huh.
posted on December 29, 2005 10:11:05 AM new
Fluff, a firewire disk or hardrive is a hardrive and is prone to failure as is any medium so it is a good idea to have CD or DVD backups too. You can never have enough bckups in my opinion. I have 5 computers and several Hardrives but don't trust that they will not fail at some point so I back up things to CD or DVD for that just in case senario...
Yep I know CD and DVD's can be ruined too but they are accessed less than hardrives. So I play it safe I also keep disks CD DVDs of all material I also backup to my server or other hardrive ---call me paranoid but I lost lots back in the day I didn't have the capability to back up all my hard working collection of files.
Good example of this is my Mother-in-law lost her main PC hardrive to it failure and thought she was safe and when she booted her laptop bamm it had also gone defunct at the same time now that is bad luck true but she lost her stuff except for the CD's I had burned for her the year before mainly her pictures that she thought she had lost. Good turn out for her on that but it does happen I can atest to.
**************
Can't touch this! hu huh, uh huh.
[ edited by irked on Dec 29, 2005 10:14 AM ]
posted on December 29, 2005 10:20:56 AM newas prone to failure as any medium
Oh, please. Give me a friggin' break, will you?
You don't HONESTLY believe that a backup disk that gets accessed maybe SIX TIMES in its entire life is going to fail CONCURRENTLY with your PRIMARY disk?
If you experience coincidences like that very often, quit eBay. You need to be playing the lottery instead.
posted on December 29, 2005 11:03:53 AM new
Fluffy is on the right track. I would do it slightly differently, though. Get a high capacity hard drive, set it up as a slave and install it as drive D: recreate your subdirectories on the new drive and copy your files to it. You can even clone your entire C: drive onto D: with a one line DOS command if you wish. That way, if your primary drive ever crashes and burns, remove it, change one jumper on the slave, and you're back with your original operating system and all files.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on December 29, 2005 11:13:22 AM new
I have VPN (Virtual Private Network) set up between my home and the shop. A couple of times per week, I copy my "absolutely must have to stay in business" files from the shop to home. Every now and then I copy my "it might be a bother to lose these" files overnight to my home.
In the other direction, I copy my personal Quicken, tax returns, personal photos from home to the shop every now and then.
Maybe I'll buy a USB/Firewire HD one of these days and make a third copy, but I'm not racing off to do so. I guess I could have one of the neighbors hold it for me.
posted on December 29, 2005 01:19:17 PM new
For Christmas, Ken bought me a Seagate 6.0 gig pocket hard drive. Best thing he ever bought me (besides the photography studio set up)! I can actually take it with me. I have all my important files stored on it with room to spare. The cord actually is stored within the devise. It was $99 at Sam's Club. The darn thing is only about 2-1/2" in diameter. I'm constantly amazed at the things they're coming out with.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on December 29, 2005 03:25:39 PM new
You can put any hard drive into an aluminum enclosure and hook it up via usb. Some of them have power switches so they don't have to be running all the time. They also make them for laptop drives, those fit in your pocket and draw power via usb. They are pretty cheap if you already have a working drive laying around. As for the original question, I wish I could help you, I would love to have something that does that.
Tony.
In a world without walls or fences who needs Windows and Gates?
[ edited by sciclone2000 on Dec 29, 2005 03:26 PM ]
posted on December 29, 2005 03:58:10 PM new
Guys, this is for over 30gigs of audiobooks. I may not get into these for years. A couple of $1.00 DVD-R disks will be plenty sufficient.
I was just looking for a convenient way to efficienty split up a bunch of directories to use the fewest number of disks before I am ready to use Nero to burn them. It's certainly nothing that cannot be done manually.
--------------------------------------
Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on December 29, 2005 04:20:02 PM new
Misunderstood what you were looking for. If it's not urgent, I can ask Ken when he gets home from practice. I know that he has a lot of music that he has to organize before he burns them onto disks. I don't know if he does it by hand, or if he's got a program for it. I'll let you know what I find out either late tonight or tomorrow.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
posted on December 29, 2005 04:59:12 PM new
And then there's ibackup.com and others like it. No additional hw needed, backup is offsite and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. I'm thinking of using their free trial when I reformat my disk
posted on December 29, 2005 05:31:47 PM new
Roxio or Nero will divide up those files nicely for you automatically. Although, I too use an external usb drive. (Iomega 20 and 40 gigs) I periodically ghost a copy of everyone's PCs in the house. I'm a little OCD with it comes to protecting data.
