Backup files to a DVD ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter newtothis
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newtothis

Hello all,

I know this might be a simple question to some of you, but I can't figure
out how to backup my files onto a DVD. And yes, I have a DVD burner...lol. I
have a DVD+RW, but when I move files into my DVD+RW/CDR-RW it wants to copy
the files onto a CD. I have 3GB of info so it obviously won't fit on a CD so
how do I copy the file to a DVD+RW?

When I have my DVD+RW disc in the "E" Drive and try to "write these files to
CD" it says I don't have a writable CD in the drive. I know this, but can't
seem to figure out how to write the files to a DVD instead of a CD.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance...
 
XP's built in function is for CDs not DVDs. Your burner should have come
with software that will allow you to burn DVDs.
 
Your DVD writer may have come with a program for this. Possibly either..

Roxio EasyCD (latest versions support DVD)
Ahead Nero

...or another similar program.

EasyCD comes in two parts. A CD/DVD "Burning program" with an easy to use
Wizard and "packet writing" support that makes a DVD behave like any other
folder on your hard disk (eg you can just drag and drop files using
Explorer).

If you are planning to use your DVD for backups its worth deciding which of
two types of backup that are possible....

(Note the following is a greatly simplified view of the subject. Every
expert has their own preferred solution. I'm not a backup expert but I have
been through the process of having a hard drive fail, replacing it with a
new one and restoring my data for real).

1) File Level Backups

This is just like making a copy of your files and putting them on a disk.
This type of backup is best suited to backing up your data files (eg My
Documents). It's not really suitable for backing up your whole system. The
reason is that many system files can't easily be copied because they are
"in use" by the operating system. This means that a file level backup can't
always backup everything you need to recover your whole system on disk. The
advantage of this approach is that the file structure on the disks you
create is easy to navigate and you don't always need a special program to
explore the disks to find individual files. You can also choose to do Full
or Incremental backups (the latter only include files that have changed
since the last full backup so are a lot smaller)

For this type of backup I like "BackupNow" from NTI.
Home page: http://www.ntius.com/default.asp?p=backupnow/bun_main

2) Drive Image Backups

Programs that do this type typically look at the individual sectors on the
hard disk and create one big file that contains everything on your drive. If
that big file is too big for one DVD they will split it into suitably sized
chunks to fit on several disks. This type of backup is good for disaster
recovery (eg if your hard drive fails you have an exact copy of everything -
Windows, Windows Updates, Programs you downloaded and installed, email etc).
The disadvantages of this type of backup are: a) backups are large and b)
you usually need to use the same program to explore the backup disks if you
just want to find and restore one file (eg you can't use Windows Explorer).

For this type of backup I like "Drive Image" from Powerquest.
Home Page: http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/

Perhaps in an ideal world you would do both types of backup.

In both cases it's best to set up the program to create the backup on the
hard disk (or another hard disk) first and then copy it to CD/DVD (perhaps
using a burning program like Nero) . If you use the backup program itself to
write directly to the CD/DVD you risk having to start the whole process over
again if the backup fails halfway (eg If your 3rd CD turns out to be faulty
you have to reburn CD 1 and 2).

Just my 2 cents worth.

Colin
 
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