How to backup a big folder to dvd?

mtb · 06-17-2013, 01:54 AM

Hello everyone,

i would like to make a backup of a folder that is quite big (about 10 gb).

So far i haven't found a solution, except manually splitting the folder into three parts and burning them one after another, and this isn't imho a great solution.

Is there a software / burning program (with a gui) that can do this easily and out of the box?

E.g. telling me i need 3 normal dvd, automatically splitting the content and asking for the 2nd and 3rd dvd after the first?

Thank you in advance.

p.s. no tar but preserving the directory structure (must be easily readable on every platform).

jdkaye · 06-17-2013, 02:34 AM

Sorry but why don't you just copy the file onto a usb stick. You can get a 16GB stick from Amazon.it for about €10.
Ciao,
jdk
P.S. Isn't Debian Etch a bit old (if you're still running it)?

mtb · 06-17-2013, 03:39 AM

Thank you for the idea but i need and i want to write them to dvd.

Ok, mint 14.

frankbell · 06-17-2013, 06:27 PM

Double-Layer DVDs max out at about 8.7 GB capacity. Can you compress the folder into a tarball so it will fit?

lleb · 06-17-2013, 07:30 PM

yup what frankbell stated, if you can not compress the data down under 4.7G (in reality that would be 4.5G) for a standard DVD.

if you are unable to compress the data down via tar, or some other compression software then you will have no choice other then to split up the directory and use no less then 3 DVDs uncompressed with the size you mentioned.

if not, then buy a USB device and perform your backups to flash drives. to be blunt DVD backups will have roughly a 40-60% failure rate depending on the media and your lazer drive.

mtb · 06-18-2013, 06:38 AM

Ok thank you all!

Seems to understand that there isn't a Linux software that is able to perform such a (basic?) thing.

So i'll split them manually, but what a pain in 2013...

lleb · 06-18-2013, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtb

Ok thank you all!

Seems to understand that there isn't a Linux software that is able to perform such a (basic?) thing.

So i'll split them manually, but what a pain in 2013...

well lets see DVD+-RW and W are from the 1990's so yeah its 2013 tech problem with linux. uh huh.

try again. you asked what to do. the answer is to compress the data. guess what no OS is able to make 10G fit on a storage media that is only 4.7G without some form of compression. If that compression is unable to get the 10G down under 4.7G to fit, it too will fail.

Welcome to computers since day 1.

Firerat · 06-18-2013, 02:39 PM

looks like you are after something not unlike this

https://launchpad.net/dargui

GUI for http://dar.linux.free.fr/

propofol · 06-18-2013, 10:34 PM

I am not sure what you mean by manually splitting the file. You could just use split.

Code:

# Create tar archive
$ tar czvf - ./my_large_folder/ | split -d -b 4G - backup.tar.gz.

# Uncompress
$ cat backup.tar.gz.* | tar xzvf -

Regards,
Stefan

John VV · 06-18-2013, 10:41 PM

depending on what is in this 10 gig folder
the newer xz compression dose a GREAT job on code and text
if it is photos ???
jpg's - forget it
png's compresed at 6
resave at max compression - that might buy you about 1 less gig
Videos - out of luck, except to re-encode to mp4 ( and loose quality )

Firerat · 06-19-2013, 02:52 AM

Not sure we understand what mtb is really after

I have written a very basic script

Code:

#!/bin/bash
DVDSL=4700000000
DVDDL=8547000000

Dir=$1
TmpDir=$(mktemp -d)

SAVEIFS=$IFS
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")
Disk=1
CuSize=0
for file in $(find $Dir -type f | sort );do
# Edit 2013-06-26
# Below is broken, as $Size doesn’t exist any disks after the first are too large
#    CuSize=$( expr $CuSize + $( stat -c %s "$file"))
    Size=$( stat -c %s "$file")
    CuSize=$( expr $CuSize + $Size )
    if [ "$CuSize" -gt "$DVDDL" ];
    then
        Disk=$(expr $Disk + 1)
        CuSize=$Size
    fi
    echo $file >> $TmpDir/Disk$(printf "%.3d" $Disk).list
done

IFS=$SAVEIFS
unset SAVEIFS

echo "Requires $Disk dvd(s) ( dual layer as I haven't bothered to set up selection )"
read -p "Press [Enter] to continue ( ctrl + c to quit, too lazy to do anything else here )"

for disk in $(ls $TmpDir/*.list);do
    read -p "Please insert blank for $(basename $disk .list) and Press [Enter]"
    growisofs -Z /dev/dvd -joliet-long -r `cat $disk`
done

rm -r $TmpDir

It is really dumb,
The sort is basic, would make sense for anything that needed to be in a sequential order but not space efficient
It checks practically nothing
Oh, hardcoded to dual layer dvd, + no menu, + no help
but it is simple

Edit
the genisoimage options might need tweaking, it has been a long time since I used it

John VV · 06-19-2013, 03:27 AM

if you just want to split them then 7zip will auto do that
bigFile.7z.001
bigFile.7z.002
bigFile.7z.003

almost every distro has it built in or in there repos

Firerat · 06-19-2013, 03:59 AM

@John,

I think the mention of 'backup' in the OP is throwing you off the trail

They don't want a backup, but rather a working copy on DVD

No archives or compression

mtb · 06-19-2013, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lleb

well lets see DVD+-RW and W are from the 1990's so yeah its 2013 tech problem with linux. uh huh.

try again. you asked what to do. the answer is to compress the data. guess what no OS is able to make 10G fit on a storage media that is only 4.7G without some form of compression. If that compression is unable to get the 10G down under 4.7G to fit, it too will fail.

Welcome to computers since day 1.

Yes, it is indeed a problem with brasero, xfburn, k3b and so on.

Year 2013, we could also use a BluRay, and the problem would be the same with bigger folders (maybe even worse, i haven't yet tried to burn a BluRay with Linux). There isn't an easy and working software to backup e.g. my home directory to current optical media.

By the way i know i could use tar, 7zip xz or so and split the archive but i want it to be readable also from dvds, and of course i know that i can't fit 10 GB on a single 4.7 GB dvd (read my first post).

mtb · 06-19-2013, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firerat

Not sure we understand what mtb is really after

I have written a very basic script

Code:

#!/bin/bash
DVDSL=4700000000
DVDDL=8547000000

Dir=$1
TmpDir=$(mktemp -d)

SAVEIFS=$IFS
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")
Disk=1
CuSize=0
for file in $(find $Dir -type f | sort );do
    CuSize=$( expr $CuSize + $( stat -c %s "$file"))
    if [ "$CuSize" -gt "$DVDDL" ];
    then
        Disk=$(expr $Disk + 1)
        CuSize=$Size
    fi
    echo $file >> $TmpDir/Disk$(printf "%.3d" $Disk).list
done

IFS=$SAVEIFS
unset SAVEIFS

echo "Requires $Disk dvd(s) ( dual layer as I haven't bothered to set up selection )"
read -p "Press [Enter] to continue ( ctrl + c to quit, too lazy to do anything else here )"

for disk in $(ls $TmpDir/*.list);do
    read -p "Please insert blank for $(basename $disk .list) and Press [Enter]"
    growisofs -Z /dev/dvd -joliet-long -r `cat $disk`
done

rm -r $TmpDir

It is really dumb,
The sort is basic, would make sense for anything that needed to be in a sequential order but not space efficient
It checks practically nothing
Oh, hardcoded to dual layer dvd, + no menu, + no help
but it is simple

Edit
the genisoimage options might need tweaking, it has been a long time since I used it

Thank you Firerat, i'll take a look at the script.