Dual layer media is just too expensive right now, and I don't want to compress with Shrink to have my large dvds fit onto a single dvd. I was wondering if I could backup my dual-layer dvds by creating the ISO with decrypter and copying the resulting ISO across two single-layer dvds as data, using some sort of spanning software. Possible? The idea is that if I need it, I could just copy the ISO back unto the hard-drive, and back it up on dual layer media when the price comes down, or just watch it directly by mounting it with Daemon Tool [edit: found DVDFab http://www.mrbass.org/dvdfab/ Has anyone used this?] [edit again: Well, turns out that DVDFab will create two dvds from the one (yeah!) BUT, I can't find a way to then put them back together again. Not good.]
I'm still looking for (free) spanning software, that will allow me to backup a large (over 4.5 G) ISO file to two single-layer dvds. I'm having a hard time finding this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Hmm. Well, I guess no one knows how to do this. I purchased WinZip v9 because the website said they could span, but it turns out they could only span on rewriteable media, ie floppies. Customer Support told me they are working on being able to span across dvds, but nothing yet. It's getting a tad urgent. My drive is getting too full of 7GB ISO/MDS files that I have to backup. If anyone can think of anything, please respond. Thanks.
Hi Ipew, Do you want to be able to use this file while its spread across the discs? I assume not if you are thinking of WinZip. You can use WinACE or WinRAR to split across multiple volumes... never tried it over DVDs though!! You can just split it to your harddrive and set the size of the files. And then burn then. Not sure if you can set the file size large enough though... Adder.
Adder01, Thanks for the reply. Turns out that I can get it done with WinZip, although it's a long process. First, I split the files into two, which takes 20+ minutes. Then I burn each file onto a dvd (another 20+ minutes). When I want to watch it, I copy the file from the dvd onto the hard drive (20 minutes), then unzip (10 minutes). I then have the original ISO, which I can watch or backup on dual layer at a later time. Boy, I wish this were simpler!
If you want an alternative to WinZip try searching google with "split file", it will give you several freeware options that may be faster. Adder.
Hi lpew - Forgive me but this approach seems very inefficient. Ok I understand that you want to span DVD's, in theory there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but what if you get just one (count em 1) error in either spanned volume? You are best served by investing in a larger primary HDD, or secondary HDD if you don't have one. Depending on the chassis a tirtuary HDD. Only reason for internal preference is speed else go with a USB (or better yet SCSI). Somehow I doubt I'm going to get a lot of flack for this suggestion from others, it just makes sense. added commentary: I see little reference to SAN on this forum, or maybe I just haven't seen the threads. But creating a personal SAN (Storage Area Network) (and I'm not talking about a real bonafide $$$SAN with terabytes of storage) is a great and relatively cheap solution to storage issues wrt video. Fast, safe, back up your personal SAN to DVD, yes absolutely). R
regor, Inefficient? Absolutely. Costly? No. My options at the moment (limited by financial considerations) for the 34 movies currently on my two 200G drives (prices reflect the best deals at Tiger Direct): 1. $510 CDN to burn 34 movies on dual layer media, freeing up space for more backups. 2. $200 for another internal 200G drive (taking up all internal drive capacity) so that I don't have to move the 34 files. 3. $300 for a USB 200G external drive (leaving my last internal slot for a really big drive in the future). Again, I wouldn't have to move the 34 files. 4. $13.60 total to zip them and put them on dvd+R (at 40 cents/dvd), leaving room for more backups. In my case, the $13.60 total is worth the time it will take.
Regor, Yeah, I was quite surprised when I did the math. I had no clue the data dvds would be so incredibly inexpensive in comparison. Again this morning we discussed getting more drives instead (at $1/Gig, it just sounds so cheap), but then it turns out to be about $7-8 per movie, which isn't all that cheap after all! And I'm definitely the GIG-A-VACUUM... I suck them up faster than you can say cheese. Let's see... 200G in the PVR computer, 24 left. 250G on the work computer for data backup.. 200G on the music computer (not much left there), 2x200 on the cinema computer, with 40G left on each, and so on... Gee, maybe that's why I'm so poor all of a sudden But if I'm good for Santa...
Found a new more efficient method. Just create 4GB max files with decrypter, then copy them as data. The end. No zipping then zipping again into smaller chunks to fit on a data dvd... Just decrypt and burn. See http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/126856 for details (where I posted my original question again after no one responded in this forum).
I agree with your general point. I don't see the point of compression when blank dvdr 4's are so cheap. moving to the next disk on a 5 disk palyer or swithcing disks halfway through is well worth keeping the orignal compression. disks I compressed with cce show the compression on my better equipment. I could care less about extras so I just split the main titles, but having decrypter spit out two iso's is a good stopgap method of keeping full disk while waiting for dual layer to come to a decent price. (I've done this for a while myself since modded xbox htpc'ers know the file system only works to 4gb so you want two iso's for >4gb anyway.) But I do think your math on hdd space is off: "2. $200 for another internal 200G drive (taking up all internal drive capacity) so that I don't have to move the 34 files. 3. $300 for a USB 200G external drive (leaving my last internal slot for a really big drive in the future). Again, I wouldn't have to move the 34 files. " In US dollars hhd space is about $0.35 a gig, not $1/gig. eg this seagate 200, a fine drive is $70, similar prices on 200 to 250 gig drives can be foudn every day.: http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4008252?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG So a 7gb film uncompressed is about $2.50 and a 5 gig film is about $1.75 to store on hdd. a packed dvd9 is $3.15 if you are out of bays, a usb external enclosure costs less than $20 and it will take you all of six minutes to stick a hdd in one and be up and running, so a 200 gb external is NOT $300, it is about $90 plus a few minutes labor. keep in mind that hdd prices just keep going down and in 12 months we will likely be at $0.25 a gig. If you have ever used an htpc or modded xbox you will realize it is very good to keep iso's on the hard drive as they are instantly available anywhere and whenever you want you can make a compressed dvd5 or for thatmatter a more compressed version for handheld videoas they replace portable dvd devices.
I got my prices by looking at the least expensive prices from Tiger Direct in Canada, which tends to have the best deals, as far as I know. And buying from the US is never a deal: add the difference in the value of the $ (although ours is seriously rising of late), add taxes, add duty, add shipping. And after all that, you find out that many places will not ship to Canada anyway, even if you wanted to buy from them. It's unfortunate, but my math was right on the money, according to last week's deals on the Tiger Direct site. Except perhaps for your idea about adding "a usb external enclosure". I will look into that.
I am not canadian and it took me about two minutes to find hdd at Canadian $0.46/gig: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1074952 I am sure there are even better deals out there for better drives. You are comparing rock bottom prices for the cheapest (and probably high percentage coaster) blank dvd media and the highest pricing for hdd media, whether you are talking canadian OR US. The ratio is about the same US or canada. It costs about four times as much to put a dvd onto hdd as it costs to span two moderate quality blank dvd5 disks, not 15 or 20 times as much.
I appreciate the time you took to look into the price of harddrives. The drive you found is, indeed, quite inexpensive (although it is only 120G). To store 100 backups, 7 of these drives is required. How would I go about connecting all of them to my computer without incurring addtional costs (or at least not to much more money)? You mention USB enclosures... I can add 7+ hdds with this method? If cost is someone's bottom line, then even at the price of this inexpensive hdd you have found, it is still less expensive (although more time-consuming) to put the 8 Gig films on 2 DVD+R disks. 7 of the drives you mention cost $386. For $128 or less (HP 4x DVD+R--no coasters here) or $160 (HP 8x DVD+R) I can put them on dvd. I don't mind the extra work involved, and I like the price. I also like the idea of easily storing them at another location keeping them safe against fire etc. Prices: $55 for 120 G http://media.fastclick.net/w/get.me...ns/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1074952 $41 for 50 HP 8x DVD+R disks (They were cheapter than this when I bought them a month ago) http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=994631&CatId=406 $64 for 100 HP 4x DVD+R disks http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1061271&CatId=406
