Can I do this with back up my PC?

[jley]

I have hundreds of gigs of files that I want to archive - i.e. backup once. I'm looking for some software that will

- let me select all the files I want to archive at once - i.e. by selecting the folders I want to archive

- Automatically burn the DVD's and advise me when I need to insert a new one.

- Automatically give each DVD a unique name

- Tell me that name when each DVD is burned

- Give me a report of which folders and files are on which DVD - preferably in .csv format.

 

So, what I want to do is select all my hundreds of gigs of files, and let this software burn everything in the background while I work on other stuff, and only alert me to insert new DVDs and tell me what the name of the dvd I just burned is.

 

Can "back up my PC" do ALL of this? or do you have any suggestions?

[gaper1]

Don't think BUMP does the following

 

- Tell me that name when each DVD is burned

- Give me a report of which folders and files are on which DVD - preferably in .csv format.

 

so you probably want to check your other choice.

[lynn98109]

An External Hard Drive could be taken off-site, and I've seen adds for them as large as 1 Terrabite.

 

Lynn

[jley]

Lynn,

 

Yes, I know... that's something I've considered, but I believe a HDD is inherently less stable than media like a DVD-ROM. Nothing is perfect, but HDDs have moving parts that eventually wear out, break, etc... I'm not sure what effect leaving a HDD powered-off for extended periods might have (beneficial or detrimental)...

 

From a cost standpoint, it's probably a wash... or close to it.

 

I guess the bottom line is that I already use HDD technology locally (RAIDs, etc), and would like to be more diverse in my long-term storage strategy. I'm sure that strategy will evolve as new technologies become available.

 

Ultimately, all these things are likely to out-last me anyway. I'm 37 right now, and have what, maybe 50 years left if I'm lucky? There's a pleasant thought! Who knows how much more data I'll generate over that span, or what the heck anyone will be able to do with it. I'd just like it to be around while I'm here at least.

 

Thanks!

[lynn98109]

If you want to archive the files, I infer you mean you want to access them again later without special software that may no longer be available.

 

Programs that use disc-spanning use special, proprietary, software which enable them to split the file across discs. You need to have that to get the files back. If you don't have that, or if a disc earlier in the series than the one with the data you want has failed, you may be unable to retrieve the data without using a third-party data recovery program - and even then, you will be unable to retrieve the file that was split to span the discs.

 

If being able to recover the files is of a higher priority than convenience, I'd suggest the slow-slogging manual backup of the files. You may have a time you are grateful you used a method that can be accessed by any computer that can read R media.

 

(If you use RW media, your backup will fade out over time as the re-crystalized aluminum alloy de-crystalizes, taking the data with it.)

 

Lynn

 

Edit - and make two or more copies, and store them separately. Altho you could use an External Hard Drive or Drives for those extra copies.

[lynn98109]

One other thought about whether to do this manually or use a Backup program:

 

To recover data in a Backup, you need to have the Backup program installed. Of course, you could keep the old computer around for stand-by work, but the older the program is, the less likely it is to load in a new system. For example, if you used TakeTwo in ECDC 5 as a backup, when WinXP came along it couldn't work with TakeTwo. From a sales point of view, that was solved by deleting TakeTwo from the suite with an update, but from a backup point of view - there isn't any difference between a successful backup with TakeTwo and a coaster.

 

On the other hand, DataCDs and DataDVDs produced with ECDC 5 can be read on any computer with an optical drive that can read CDs or DVDs.

 

A lot of software has been made obsolete by Vista, for those who have converted to Vista.

 

Lynn

[marlinsinger]

One other thought about whether to do this manually or use a Backup program:

 

To recover data in a Backup, you need to have the Backup program installed. Of course, you could keep the old computer around for stand-by work, but the older the program is, the less likely it is to load in a new system. For example, if you used TakeTwo in ECDC 5 as a backup, when WinXP came along it couldn't work with TakeTwo. From a sales point of view, that was solved by deleting TakeTwo from the suite with an update, but from a backup point of view - there isn't any difference between a successful backup with TakeTwo and a coaster.

 

On the other hand, DataCDs and DataDVDs produced with ECDC 5 can be read on any computer with an optical drive that can read CDs or DVDs.

 

A lot of software has been made obsolete by Vista, for those who have converted to Vista.

 

Lynn

 

As Lynn stated, backup programs need to be resident on the system to do restores. They use compression, whether their own or something like zip files. If you really want to do this the way you are stating, then the only thing I can suggest is either use classic creator and keep your own records as to what is on each, or use something like Powerarchiver or Winzip.

You would still need to keep the records, but there is some software that will allow you to list the files within a directory. An example of that is Wordperfect, but there you are getting a full blown office product. One I much prefer over office. Happen to have both on my PC. Office for anything to do with work, and Wordperfect for everything of my own, although I can convert to office format if I need it.

 

As far as BUMP giving you want you want, it may be able to with limitations. You will need to keep the software available, it does do compression, and it does do compression so you can't just mount the DVD and look at what is on it. It keeps a catalog to show what has been backed up and what the media disks are. It has a media view which allows you to see what is on each media, but you may have to mount each DVD to see what is on it.

 

To get exactly what you want, I suggest using Creator Classic and burn regular DVDs (normal format that everyone can read), and something that allows you to print the file names on that DVD.

[jley]

No, I do not want to use any spanning software/algorithm - there would be little point in doing that. I have thousands of files, each of which may only be ~12Megs or so... The software ought to be able to make natural breaks - gather enough files to fill up <4G, burn a traditional DVD-ROM, prompt me to insert additional media, and issue a report that tells me which files are on which DVD-ROMs. Ideally, I'd like to fill the DVDs only about 90%, as I've experienced problems with media that is nearly 100% full...

 

I have found another piece of software that will do most of this, but I'm still curious if "back up my PC" will do it. It's hard to tell from the information on-line, and there is no trial version...

 

I was not planning to use RW media (Though, I would be interested to hear a discussion of the merits of DVD-R vs. DVD+R). I already have a NAS RAID, and internal RAID to store data, but would like to keep a "hard copy" off-site to protect from a catastrophic problem (flood, fire, theft). I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable actually erasing most files from my HDDs to free up some space (thereby relying 100% on DVD media), but perhaps some of the older files...

 

I realize another solution is on-line storage, but I don't want to do that either.

 

-Jonathan

[jley]

To get exactly what you want, I suggest using Creator Classic and burn regular DVDs (normal format that everyone can read), and something that allows you to print the file names on that DVD.

 

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm doing now. It's just a pain in the rump - I have to go figure out where the last DVD ended, and try to grab enough files to "almost fill" the next DVD, then write everything down. I was renaming the folders I backed up with the name of the DVD I created, which worked pretty well (e.g. a folder named "baseball" would become "baseball_100207a" after being archived). But, then I changed some other things in my workflow, and this method doesn't work as smoothly. I figure that if you ever find yourself doing some activity on the computer that's tedious, somebody has developed software to automate it.

 

I didn't realize that BUMP used compression. I have no desire to go that route then for exactly the reasons previously stated. Most of the files I'm backing-up are already compressed anyway, so compressing them further would be of little value. I just want the files burned as standard/generic DVD-ROMs with a bunch of files.

 

Anyway, I have found another piece of software that I think will do the job (it doesn't do quite everything I want, but has other interesting features... and should work). But, since this is a Roxio/Sonic forum, I don't want to be advertising other software... Anyway, I appreciate the advice from everyone!

 

-Jonathan

[marlinsinger]

One thing, if that other option is backup type software, I know of none that don't do some kind of compression or write to a file that you would still need the original software to restore.

And I have tried quite a few.