DATA Backup (hard drive files)

[pestyjoe]

Hello,
First post here, please help me. I've been doing a lot of reading and still cannot figure out how to do a backup of my hard drive on DVD. I know I can store up to 4.7 GB of data on a DVD. I have been doing it on CD-RW but now I want to use DVD-RW. Can someone guide me here. I've been trying with the latest version of Nero (data backup) but it was unsuccessfull.

Everytime I insert a DVD-RW in my drive, it will ask me to format it. Do I need to format it like I was doing with my CD-RW's. How long should it take to do the format ?

Please help

Thanks,
Pestyjoe

[nwg]

Look for a product called Norton Ghost. It can backup to a CD/DVD's or another hard disk.

It will create a image file that can be restored later on.

[pestyjoe]

Thanks for the reply. I've look on Norton Web site and it looks that this Ghost software does a complete image of the drive. I don't want to back up all the drive, I just want to do specific directories and files. Can this Norton Ghost do as I want ?

Thanks,
Pestyjoe

[nwg]

If the files don't have any system files that would be in memory then you could use Nero Burning Rom. All you need to do is to create a data DVD and drag the directories over and burn to the DVD.

The disc will need formatting so data can be written to it for the first time (just like a hard disk needs formatting prior to installing windows). If there is data on the disc already (DVD -/+RW), then Nero wil just erase the disc before burning.

I haven't had the need to use data backitup.

BTW, a DVD can only hold 4.36GB of data. It is actually 4.7 million bytes.