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Backup software for backing up large amounts of files
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| Michal 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| Hi,
I've got over 16gb of music in over 3000 files that I really would
like to backup to CD (or to dvd if I ever buy a writer). They are all
in one folder (C:\Music\ (and subdirectories of that folder). What I
would really like from a backup software is that it:
1. Runs on Windows (XP)
2. Stores the files on CD in the ordinary CD format (not quite sure
what that is though) so they can be accessible normally without any
software (i.e. accessible normally in Windows Explorer on all
computers).
3. Allows me to select my music folder, and it can automatically
allocate all the files to the (at least) 20 CDs that would be
required.
4. This allocation would put the subfolders in alphabetical order, and
keep them together in the resulting CD collection. For example, have
all the subfolders of C:\Music\ in CDs 1-6, and then all the files
just in C:\Music\ on CDs 7-20 (all in aphabetical order).
5. Have an option to not let letters be split over two CDs (unless
there are too many to fit on one CD). For example, if all the files
beginning with A take up 500mb, with room left on the CD, then all the
files beginning with B would be put onto the next CD. This would only
apply to files in C:\Music\ and not to subfolders.
6. Not let subfolders be split over 2 CDs (unless the subfolder is too
big to fit onto a CD).
7. Allow me to manually mess about with the ordering if I want to.
8. Burn everything all to CD in order. An ideal program would just
display messages like "CD 12 burnt succesfully. Please insert CD 13",
so I would not have to do much between CDs.
Is there anything available that would satisfy my requirements?
Thank you,
Michal
| |
| Toshi1873 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| In article
<32d34b68.0404230804.1077a46e@posting.google.com>,
michalcharemza@hotmail.com says...
> Hi,
>
> I've got over 16gb of music in over 3000 files that I really would
> like to backup to CD (or to dvd if I ever buy a writer). They are all
> in one folder (C:\Music\ (and subdirectories of that folder). What I
> would really like from a backup software is that it:
External USB/firewire drive using something like Second
Copy 2000. $30 for the enclosure, $50 for the drive.
Heck of a lot simpler, plus it can run in the background
so you don't have to manually perform the backup.
>
> 1. Runs on Windows (XP)
>
> 2. Stores the files on CD in the ordinary CD format (not quite sure
> what that is though) so they can be accessible normally without any
> software (i.e. accessible normally in Windows Explorer on all
> computers).
>
> 3. Allows me to select my music folder, and it can automatically
> allocate all the files to the (at least) 20 CDs that would be
> required.
>
> 4. This allocation would put the subfolders in alphabetical order, and
> keep them together in the resulting CD collection. For example, have
> all the subfolders of C:\Music\ in CDs 1-6, and then all the files
> just in C:\Music\ on CDs 7-20 (all in aphabetical order).
>
> 5. Have an option to not let letters be split over two CDs (unless
> there are too many to fit on one CD). For example, if all the files
> beginning with A take up 500mb, with room left on the CD, then all the
> files beginning with B would be put onto the next CD. This would only
> apply to files in C:\Music\ and not to subfolders.
>
> 6. Not let subfolders be split over 2 CDs (unless the subfolder is too
> big to fit onto a CD).
>
> 7. Allow me to manually mess about with the ordering if I want to.
>
> 8. Burn everything all to CD in order. An ideal program would just
> display messages like "CD 12 burnt succesfully. Please insert CD 13",
> so I would not have to do much between CDs.
>
> Is there anything available that would satisfy my requirements?
>
Probably not, you should get a DVD writer as it will cut
your workload by 7x (making it a much more manageable
task).
Use the external drive for day-to-day backups, and just
dump the files onto DVD once as an archive (along with
PAR2 recovery data). Use a catlog program like SuperCat
to keep track of which files are on which disk. As you
get new music, dump those to new DVDs and catalog them
as well. Ideally, you'll never have to touch the DVD
discs unless both your primary drive and your backup
drive both fail.
| |
| (Pete Cresswell) 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| RE/
>I've got over 16gb of music in over 3000 files that I really would
>like to backup to CD
What do you want the back to accomplish?
If it doesn't include direct access and is more skewed towards protecting you
from loss I'd say ease up on the specific requirements and any one of several
big-name backup utilities would do the job.
I'm using Retrospect. I'm not in love with it...but it does the job and I've
recovered a couple of times already with no apparent data loss.
--
PeteCresswell
| |
| Howard Kaikow 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| Me too.
I use Retrospect to backup to external USB drives.
--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z> wrote in message
news:fv9j809arerv2eht7laep3m5vu8gdro6m9@
4ax.com...
> RE/
>
> What do you want the back to accomplish?
>
> If it doesn't include direct access and is more skewed towards protecting
you
> from loss I'd say ease up on the specific requirements and any one of
several
> big-name backup utilities would do the job.
>
> I'm using Retrospect. I'm not in love with it...but it does the job and
I've
> recovered a couple of times already with no apparent data loss.
> --
> PeteCresswell
| |
| Michal 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| > External USB/firewire drive using something like Second
> Copy 2000. $30 for the enclosure, $50 for the drive.
> Heck of a lot simpler, plus it can run in the background
> so you don't have to manually perform the backup.
Money is an issue also for me... I don't have much of it... I have a
CD writer and CDs are cheap. I only want to do this once (at least not
again for a long time), so essentially it would be $80 for the one
backup.
> Probably not, you should get a DVD writer as it will cut
> your workload by 7x (making it a much more manageable
> task).
DVD writers do seems to be cheaper than external hard drives. I will
consider this option.
> Use the external drive for day-to-day backups, and just
> dump the files onto DVD once as an archive (along with
> PAR2 recovery data). Use a catlog program like SuperCat
> to keep track of which files are on which disk. As you
> get new music, dump those to new DVDs and catalog them
> as well. Ideally, you'll never have to touch the DVD
> discs unless both your primary drive and your backup
> drive both fail.
I will look into SuperCat... it sounds like it would be useful to me.
Thanks,
Michal
| |
| Michal 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| "(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z> wrote in message news:<fv9j809arerv2eht7laep3m5vu8gdro6m9@4ax.com>...
> RE/
>
> What do you want the back to accomplish?
>
> If it doesn't include direct access and is more skewed towards protecting you
> from loss I'd say ease up on the specific requirements and any one of several
> big-name backup utilities would do the job.
The main requirement is to protect me from loss. However I would
really like it to include direct access.
> I'm using Retrospect. I'm not in love with it...but it does the job and I've
> recovered a couple of times already with no apparent data loss.
Does retrospect allow direct access?
Michal
| |
| www.JimWilliamson.net 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| michalcharemza@hotmail.com (Michal) wrote:
>
>Money is an issue also for me... I don't have much of it... I have a
>CD writer and CDs are cheap. I only want to do this once (at least not
>again for a long time), so essentially it would be $80 for the one
>backup.
[Please ignore this post if I'm commenting on the wrong thread]
If I recall you had a bunch of music files, in separate directories, that
you wish to back up to CD-R's. You wanted specific controls of what goes
on what CD (trying to keep directories in tact on a CD and not having them
split across CD's).
Since you state that you only want to do this once why not simply use the
software that probably came with your CD-R/RW drive (Roxio, Nero, etc) to
perform the process?
Get a list of the directories (by hand or print it) and document how much
space is needed for each directory (R.Click>Properties on each). Start
with the largest directory and see if it needs to be split across CD's. If
it does, then do it - manually. Burn that first CD. On the next CD finish
the split directory and then add the next largest directory that will fit
onto that CD. Perform this 'next largest fit' step until you just can't
add another directory to a CD and burn it. Document on your print out what
CD contains which directories. Next, burn, next, burn, 16x..., done.
Oh, one other thing - since you only want to do this once and you want the
protection I'd suggest making two or three CD's at each burn (set copies to
2 or 3) and then use two or three different type of CD's (Sony, TDK,
generic, etc) to minimize issues of CD dye types on age and drive reading.
| |
| Howard Kaikow 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| Yes, Retrospect does allow a file copy backup,
You seem to want to only copy selected files, for that purpose, just use the
CD recording software that came with your CD-RW drive, and copy the files to
CD-RW or CD-R media.
However, I would recommend upgrading to the most recent version of such
software.
And not doing full system backups is just asking for trouble.
IMHO, best solution is a backup program such as Retrospect and external
USB/Firewire drives.
--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"Michal" <michalcharemza@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:32d34b68.0404240045.798f0d7a@posting.google.com...
> "(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z> wrote in message
news:<fv9j809arerv2eht7laep3m5vu8gdro6m9@4ax.com>...
protecting you[vbcol=seagreen]
several[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> The main requirement is to protect me from loss. However I would
> really like it to include direct access.
>
>
I've[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> Does retrospect allow direct access?
>
> Michal
| |
| Howard Kaikow 2004-05-23, 12:15 pm |
| Retrospect has the option of a Duplicate Backup Set, which does allow direct
access to files.
--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z> wrote in message
news:v7qk805bds5vpvqh5nse1ijtrkr6151gvl@
4ax.com...
> RE/
>
> In the sense that you can seek out and restore a given file by date, yes.
>
> In the sense of MS Word, for instance, being able to open a .DOC in
Retrospect's
> DB, no.
> --
> PeteCresswell
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