Spanning data across DVDs

[rayden54]

What's the best/safest way to span data files across multiple DVDs?

 

I'm trying to figure out how to backup my backlog of games installers/folders.

[Syntaxvgm]

compress into a multipart RAR 

[thekeemo]

use a split compression tool like 7zip and just move it but I would honestly would get an external harddrive

[rayden54]

compress into a multipart RAR 

I was hoping there was something better. I had one of the discs get scratched and lost the whole thing.

 

I'd buy a hard drive, but A) I don't have any money and B) I don't like using hard drives for data storage. The whole point of backing stuff up to disc is to free up space on my hard drive.

[dalekphalm]

I was hoping there was something better. I had one of the discs get scratched and lost the whole thing.

 

I'd buy a hard drive, but A) I don't have any money and B) I don't like using hard drives for data storage. The whole point of backing stuff up to disc is to free up space on my hard drive.

Does your DVD Writer support M-DISC?

[Syntaxvgm]

I was hoping there was something better. I had one of the discs get scratched and lost the whole thing.

 

I'd buy a hard drive, but A) I don't have any money and B) I don't like using hard drives for data storage. The whole point of backing stuff up to disc is to free up space on my hard drive.

back it up twice? Two sets of disks? 

[swifty7]

Does your DVD Writer support M-DISC?

M-discs are very expensive, but it will last a 1000 years... LOL!!! 

 

I've heard blu-ray m-discs will also be available sometime down the line.

[dalekphalm]

M-discs are very expensive, but it will last a 1000 years... LOL!!! 

 

I've heard blu-ray m-discs will also be available sometime down the line.

Yep I assume that an M-DISC type solution for Blu-Ray will come sooner or later. Seriously though, if you're worried about scratches on the DVD, then archival grade, or better yet, M-DISC is the only way to go.

 

The problem with regular DVD's is that the plastic will naturally degrade no matter what, even stored ideally. After 10 years, there WILL be some amount of unrecoverable read errors from the plastic in the disc degrading. Archive Grade discs are rated longer - the really expensive ones up to 100 years (though I wouldn't trust that), but M-DISC really is the best for DVD's.

[rayden54]

Yep I assume that an M-DISC type solution for Blu-Ray will come sooner or later. Seriously though, if you're worried about scratches on the DVD, then archival grade, or better yet, M-DISC is the only way to go.

 

The problem with regular DVD's is that the plastic will naturally degrade no matter what, even stored ideally. After 10 years, there WILL be some amount of unrecoverable read errors from the plastic in the disc degrading. Archive Grade discs are rated longer - the really expensive ones up to 100 years (though I wouldn't trust that), but M-DISC really is the best for DVD's.

 

I'm not concerned with them lasting 10 years. I don't think I've got M-DISC capability anyway. I do have a blu-ray burner though and apparently the blank discs have dropped significantly since I last checked them. I might try that instead.

 

The thing I don't like about rar spanning is that even small files that should fit on one disc end up spanned accross more than one disc. If you lose one disc, you're about guarenteed to lose half what's on the one before and after it. And yet you always end up with one 700 MB archive file at the end. I wish the spanning could be made smarter.