backing up hard drive to CDs program?

[ZippyDan]

i have a 20GB hard drive that i want to backup to CDs (would take about 29 700MB CDs for 20GBs)

remember the old days when you could copy a bunch of files to the A: drive, and the computer would keep prompting you to insert a new disk when current one is full?

is there a program that will do something similar for CDs? i want to tell it to backup 20GB HD, and it will automatically write 700MB to each CD and prompt me to insert a new CD when the current one is full...

its something i could do myself, but i dont want to have to go through the effort of dividing my drive into 29 700MB portions, and then setting up 29 writing sessions... i want the program to handle all that for me so i only have to select files i want to copy, and put CDs in

...if it could do compression at the same time that would be a plus but not necessary

~Zippy!

 

[nnnyyy]

You can use norton ghost or drive image. Both will make an image of the partition/drive (compressed) and divide that image up into 700mb files.

 

[IamDavid]

If your running XP or your a newbie go with Drive Image from Powerquest.. Excellent easy to use program to do exactly what you need.

 

[NicColt]

I use Backup Plus it's not meant to be a full system or server backup util but it's great for backing up / restoring user data.

 

[ZippyDan]

thanks guys. i already have Norton Systemworks Pro 2002 so ill prolly try the Norton Ghost

two more questions though...

are the compressed files still accessible from the CD without copying them back to the HDD and uncompressing the entire image? (ala zip file which you can easily grab specific files out of through standard XP interface and run them)

do all of these programs handle the actual CD creation? you say ghost divides the image into 700mb sections, which saves a lot of work, but i am looking to be even lazier than that, i dont want to have to manually create 2 dozen CD write sessions... i want to be prompted to insert a new CD when old one is full

understand im not looking to make 'restorable-system-backups.' its just data no programs or OS's, and i never plan to restore it to the hard drive. i just want to be able to access it all from a library of archived CDs

~Zippy!

 

[randypj]

I believe the last couple versions of Drive Image will do what you want.

Also, I think I've used the backup version of Ghost that came with my Plextor to do that.

And.....I haven't tried Nero to do it, but I believe that it will backup full partitions to cd-r, prompting you to insert the cd-rs....but, don't think it will allow you to do partial restores.

I believe Drive Image will allow you to explore the compressed backups, and selectively restore files/folders.....at least the newer versions will. I'm thinking your burner must be a supported burner for DI to prompt to insert new cd-r blanks.

Sorry, it's been a few years since I mucked with backing up to cd-r.
--Randy