Looking for backup/file copy/archiver

If this is posted to the wrong forum, please forgive and move to where more appropriate.

I am looking for what I thought was a simple Windows program, and have discovered is not-so-simple after all; I want to take a large directory containing files and subdirectories and back up/archive it in readable format to DVD-R media. The program should be able to copy the files, burn the disc, and automatically ask for the next one when full. Free software would be nice, but I'm not adverse to paying for something that can perform this function.

I've tried eight or nine different backup/archive software packages so far today, and either they expect a pre-formatted media that will contain the entire backup, write to a proprietary or compressed format to span a backup, or in one case (GFIBackup) ask for an administrator password in their installer when the installer is already running as an administrator (a sure trip to the recycle bin, IMHO!). None of them will simply copy files in human-readable format to a DVD-R while splitting the archive into disk-sized chunks. I know I could use something like ImgBurn to make the disks manually, but some software to automatically split the files into disk-sized segments would save tremendous amounts of time.

Can anyone make a recommendation of software that might perform this function?

 

I don't know of an all in one solution. I'd run Cobian Backup , split the data into cd/dvd sized zip files, then use Cobian after backup tasks to run createcd from http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/CreateCD.htm

The thing is how are you automating the disk swap if you have to use more than one disk? Two burners?

 

Much thanks for the reply. I think you're missing what I'm trying to do, probably due to my not explaining it very well. I have a folder-full of junk. I want to archive off to removable discs in human-readable format. I don't want a compressed backup or an archive in a proprietary format, I just want the files archived in human-readable fashion so I can retrieve them later. I have and use Cobian Backup 10 for flexible backups, but it will not archive to removables - it depends on having enough room on the pointed-to directory (not device) to house the files.

Let me try two examples to describe the problem I want to solve:

1) I have a folder of a few thousand digital photographs. I want a program (sorry...an application) to write them to removable media like DVD-R, something that will decide the first 2,345 will fit on the first 4.5G disk, the remainder on the next, and just burn them.

2) I've got a huge My Documents (or My Music, or My Stupid Stuff) folder and want to get rid of all the cruft. So I want to throw the entire directory at some application which will archive everything there to DVD-Rs in such a way that I can load the discs and retrieve any specific file at any time, so I can delete the garbage yet still retrieve that complaint letter to my pet-whisperer from 1998 if I ever need to do so.

The program should be able to handle this all on its own...the application should be able to know when the disc is approaching full, kick it out, and ask for another.

FWIW, I had something that did exactly this (except to 3.5" floppies instead of DVD-R) on a Macintosh back in the late 1980s (would start copying files once it knew what size disk was inserted so one could mix 720K and 1.4M discs in the same archive set), which is why I can't believe there isn't something for modern Windows. But I sure haven't been able to find it...

 

So your not 'archiving' per say.. but I don't know of anything that will do it all but this thread may help..
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=236099
Check out my video 'how-to' that does what you want to do.

 

Actually, for the "real" purpose, I will be exactly "archiving" in the real-world sense of the word; removing from the working filesystem to an external permanent archive. (But there will be multiple copies, on various media.)

Um, yeah, that kinda fills the bill.

I did, but only after I downloaded and tested out the program (going in blind is the best way of really evaluating how intuitive an application is). It's pretty straightforward, and although the window design is a little screwie under Aero (right-side title-bar controls are truncated), and in one test I found the DVD-5 setting had ImgBurn calling for a DL (DVD-9) disc (easily fixed by setting a custom size of 4480M), this might work pretty well for what I planned. The "By Size (flat-level)" falls apart quickly on nested subdirectories which are larger than the media type, though, even if none of the files inside those nested directories are larger than the media type. (Example: Scan the Windows7 \Windows folder, and \Windows\winsxs is red and unburnable, even though none of the files contained there would need to be spanned. Seems odd a directory couldn't be split...)

Still, it's a whole lot closer than I've been before, and manually splitting a few directories isn't a deal-breaker. Much thanks for the pointer!