How can I backup my MP3s? (30 gbs)

[austin316]

For the second time, I have just finished ripping all my cds to mp3 format (I used CDEX, is ITunes just as good as this? also, should normalize be at 98% if I want them as aloud as possible?) and I want to back them up this time so I don't lose another month and have to rip them again. My hard drive crashed after the first time.

My question is this, are there any programs that will like compress my files and allow them to fit on one DVD or even just two or three? I really don't want to burn 8 DVDs for my music. Also, will I lose sound quality? thanks in advance.

 

[Britboy]

Why don't you just pick up another HD for cheap and back em up there?

 

[Lonyo]

You ripped to mp3...
That is a compressed format, so no, you can't compress it much more, maybe a few %, but that's about it.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
You ripped to mp3...
That is a compressed format, so no, you can't compress it much more, maybe a few %, but that's about it.

thanks. I guess then, any program that will burn a dvd until its full and then ask for another one?

 

[illusion88]

I have a HDD mounted in an external box that sits on my network. You can buy the boxes for about $100 for a wireless one.

Works great. Currently, I dont use any sort of software to back it up automatically, I just do it manually.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: illusion88
I have a HDD mounted in an external box that sits on my network. You can buy the boxes for about $100 for a wireless one.

Works great. Currently, I dont use any sort of software to back it up automatically, I just do it manually.

Links to what you are referring to? Wireless HD?

 

[networkman]

Not the cheapest solution in the world, but the IOMega "Rev" drive may be just what the doctor ordered.

With an expected 30-year shelf life for the cartridges, 35 Gb native capacity, ie. not using compression, and the ability to swap cartridges as you grow, this might well be a great solution for ya!

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: austin316

Originally posted by: Lonyo
You ripped to mp3...
That is a compressed format, so no, you can't compress it much more, maybe a few %, but that's about it.

thanks. I guess then, any program that will burn a dvd until its full and then ask for another one?

Both Nero and Roxio have backup features that will do this.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Britboy
Why don't you just pick up another HD for cheap and back em up there?

My thoughts exactly. I have two 120gb drives in my system and just back up the collection to the second one. It's getting difficult to fit all my apps, music and games on just 240gb though, so I'm thinking of snagging a 300gb sata drive and RAID-1'ing the 120s for just music. Added bonus is that if you decide you want to change your tagging scheme or find out a file or album is mistagged, you can just change it - no need to worry about having an imperfect copy backed up to optical.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Britboy
Why don't you just pick up another HD for cheap and back em up there?

:thumbsup:

 

[yosuke188]

Get a big mp3 player so you can use it + it will act as a backup

 

[austin316]

For now (low on cash) I'm just going to back up via DVD-Rs. How can I do this using NERO? IE. Can I drop my "MY MUSIC" folder into NERO and once the first DVD is finished burining, it will ask for the next one?

Should I make an ISO or UDF disc?

 

[Malak]

I can't even imagine having 30GBs of music. I back up all of my music, and it fits on one CD

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Originally posted by: austin316
For now (low on cash) I'm just going to back up via DVD-Rs. How can I do this using NERO? IE. Can I drop my "MY MUSIC" folder into NERO and once the first DVD is finished burining, it will ask for the next one?

Should I make an ISO or UDF disc?

Why not just drag and drop your mp3/folders onto Nero's window manually in sequence?

By default you should be fine with ISO. I only go for UDF if I'm burning a single very large (multi-gigabyte) file onto a DVDR since the ISO format doesn't allow it.

 

[0roo0roo]

whats wrong with dvds? cheap and quick recompressing into rar or whatever just adds the risk of losing the whole archive if it gets a little corrupt instead of one song. just double copy.. 16 dvdr is like what a few bucks? frys always has 50 packs for less than 10 bucks and yea u can't recompress compressed media files without being lossy.

 

[0roo0roo]

just think of it this way... its better than burning 50+ cdr's

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
just think of it this way... its better than burning 50+ cdr's

right, but does nero allow me to just drop a whole folder into the window and then prompt for another blank dvd once the previous one is full? or do I need to group my songs in blocks of 4500MBs?

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: austin316

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
just think of it this way... its better than burning 50+ cdr's

right, but does nero allow me to just drop a whole folder into the window and then prompt for another blank dvd once the previous one is full? or do I need to group my songs in blocks of 4500MBs?

why you would burn to DVD is beyond me
buy a 40gig HD copy everything to that, pull HD out of PC and toss in closet or offsite or something and be done with it

 

[WT]

I use a Speeze external 3.5" case with a 40gb drive that I got for $20 which attaches to the PC via USB 2.0. I use it occasionally but NOTHING beats it for portability and backups. The box itself cost $28 but its no longer available on the Egg, so here's a link to a similar product from Vantec:
Vantec external USB enclosure

With hard drives very cheap these days, you can score the box and drive for well under $100.

 

[Metron]

Originally posted by: Britboy
Why don't you just pick up another HD for cheap and back em up there?

300 Gb for $89 at Fry's... for the nguyen!

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: austin316

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
just think of it this way... its better than burning 50+ cdr's

right, but does nero allow me to just drop a whole folder into the window and then prompt for another blank dvd once the previous one is full? or do I need to group my songs in blocks of 4500MBs?

why you would burn to DVD is beyond me
buy a 40gig HD copy everything to that, pull HD out of PC and toss in closet or offsite or something and be done with it

Money reasons. Rather pay like $6, than like $40 for a hard drive.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

burn a couple dvds a day and it will be backed up cheaply in no time at all

 

[pontifex]

i have about 60 or so gb of mp3s. had my hd die with all of them on it once. got them all back again after a few months. i NEED to backup but i am just too lazy to do it.

 

[Jeff7]

Don't bother with CDex's normalize. Use MP3Gain instead.

But yeah, I don't recommend recompressing MP3s. Now I have recompressed some of my own MP3s, but they were originally 320kbps, and I recompressed them to 160kbps for a CD that I use in my car's disc player.

For my archiving, I now use FLAC. It doesn't get the compression ratio of MP3, but it's totally lossless - as good as having the CD sitting right there on the hard drive. If you've got the space for it.
FLAC also features Replaygain, so all the files have the same general volume.
I think LAME does too, but it needs to be specifically enabled through a command-line argument.

 

[Frodolives]

I understand that for now you are unable to invest in another hard drive, but that's really a good goal for the next time you can put aside the price of a couple of retail cd's or so.