Orgainizing Folders/Files for backing up to DVD/CD/BD etc...

Suggestions and feature requests.
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gtaus1
Posts: 8
Joined: 01.10.2015, 21:05

Orgainizing Folders/Files for backing up to DVD/CD/BD etc...

#1 Post by gtaus1 » 03.10.2015, 05:48

I routinely make DVD backups of my growing multimedia music and movie collection before I transfer the files to my home media server. I use the FC XE "Show Folder Size" feature to select folders to build a DVD sized directory (4.36 GB) to burn to disc. It would be great if FC XE had a feature that would automatically determine the best fit of selected folders/directories to fill a DVD/CD/BD and move them to a single directory for burning. My disc burning software has a feature something like that, but it does not respect directory structure and folders could be split over different discs. Also, the disc burning software does not allow me to see what folders/files it will put on any disc before burning. For these reasons, I have been manually building my own DVD burning directories using FC XE. I just think it would be great to have a feature that allowed us to state what size disc we wanted to burn DVD/CD/BD with capacities listed for the various formats (e.g. 650 MB CD or 700 MD CD?) and then move those folders/files to single directories for burning to backup media.

Timon
Posts: 729
Joined: 13.09.2012, 08:51

Re: Orgainizing Folders/Files for backing up to DVD/CD/BD et

#2 Post by Timon » 03.10.2015, 06:21

Idea can be considered, but you have to change your burning software for something else.
... but it does not respect directory structure and folders could be split over different discs. Also, the disc burning software does not allow me to see what folders/files it will put on any disc before burning.
There is a huge number of free software for burning, try something from the list - Ashampoo Burning Studio FREE, BurnAware Free, CDBurnerXP.

joby_toss
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Re: Orgainizing Folders/Files for backing up to DVD/CD/BD et

#3 Post by joby_toss » 03.10.2015, 07:29

@gtaus1: Take a look at the File Container feature in FC XE. It might be useful in this case.

gtaus1
Posts: 8
Joined: 01.10.2015, 21:05

Re: Orgainizing Folders/Files for backing up to DVD/CD/BD et

#4 Post by gtaus1 » 03.10.2015, 08:16

I have been using CDBurner XP for a few years as my main disc burning software. The disc spanning works, to a point, but will split folders between discs, which is what I am trying to avoid. I keep all my related media folders and files on the same disc. After I burn the disc, I catalog the contents and file them in DVD carrying cases, each case holds 288 discs. Anyway, if the discs were only for backing up data, I would not really care about the disc spanning formula. However, since I am backing up, for example, music files, I don't want one music album folder broken up over 2 discs. But, I know that just using the disc spanning option would make my life easier and maybe I need to rethink my priorities.

I have download your other two suggestions and will try them out, but they both describe their multi-disc burning as backup disc spanning which reads the same as what CDBurner XP does. At any rate, I can't complain too much about having to organize the folders/files manually because FC XE makes life much easier with the show folder size. An automated approach to organizing the folders to fill up a disc within FC XE was just a suggestion to think about for a future feature. I don't see anyone else offering anything beyond the disc spanning backup approach.

gtaus1
Posts: 8
Joined: 01.10.2015, 21:05

Re: Orgainizing Folders/Files for backing up to DVD/CD/BD et

#5 Post by gtaus1 » 03.10.2015, 19:58

joby_toss wrote:@gtaus1: Take a look at the File Container feature in FC XE. It might be useful in this case.

Thanks for the suggestion on using this neat feature I was not aware of in FC XE. I tried it out and it, but unfortunately it does not offer what I am looking for on this project. Perhaps if one could set the drive size of the File Container, you could then fill up the File Container with files until full and then burn a disc. That way, you could see exactly how much free drive space you have left to use on the disc. Basically, that's what I do now using the folder size option in FC XE - adding folders/files until I get about 4.36 GB in the main directory to burn. Maybe I can find a program to add virtual drives on the computer where I can preset the drive size and that would work. At any rate, it would still be a manual operation and my suggestion was for an automated feature to do this in the future.

I don't see anyone offering an automated feature to maximize disc usage given a selection of folders/files to burn. Way back in the bad old DOS days, I had a nifty little program that would auto organize songs from a pool of selections to maximize recording time on a cassette. It was smart enough to know that a song should not be split up from one cassette to another, or even from side A to side B. I am looking for something that would work the same way with folders so, for example, an album does not get split over 2 discs. If that makes sense.

In the meantime, someone offered a suggestion that I use a split screen, with one screen showing CDBurnerXP with the files to burn in the directory and the remaining size left on the disc, and the other screen with FC XE showing the other folders with their folder size and just drop them into the CDBurnerXP program. That might work.

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