copy a folder to multiple discs

Question

I want to backup a folder to a 4.7gb DVD+RW cd. The folder is about 8.2gb, too 

large to fit on a single disc. Two questions: 

1. Is there a way -- either with standard Windows(7) tools or with a third-party tool -- to copy the folder to multiple discs? In other words, the resulting folder would span across more than one physical disc.
2. Are there larger capacity discs that are supported by Windows(7)that could 

accommodate the folder in a single disc? 

TIA

Answer 1

Echoing ZigZag's amazement, I find it hard to believe that a reasonably well-managed TB profile could be that large.  Nonetheless, there is a very nice (and free) backup program for Thunderbird and Firefox called MozBackup.  I've been using it for a long time to good effect.   It's a good place to start, and you really should consider using something other than spanned optical discs, which sooner or later will fill you with regret.  USB hard drives are pretty cheap these days and even flash drives are better than optical discs.

Answer 2

Your reply has motivated me to look more closely at what I'm actually trying to accomplish. The folder in question is a TB(Thunderbird) "profile" and I'm now researching available TB tools and extensions that will enable me to reliably export specific subfolders of the profile and, I hope, reliably avoid the 4.7gb limitation.

Many thanks for your help. 

~phil~

(It's clear that your cat-herding skills lead to similar positive results here...pointing me in the right direction.)

Answer 3

Without more info on the script I am just guessing.  Could you not write the script so it compresses on the fly?

I would not use explorer copy paste as it does not error check

There are 3rd party tools that can do that (acronis true image home comes to mind)

In the final analysis since this involves scripting you are probably better off posting this on Technet &/or MSDN

This question is outside the scope of this site (for consumers) and to be sure you get the best (and quickest) answer it should be asked either on Technet (for IT Pro's) or MSDN (for developers)

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/home s/en-US/home

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forum

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If you give us a link to the new thread we can point some resources to it

Keeping the cats in line here {smile}

Answer 4

I want to do the backup using a scheduled script. I couldn't think of any way to do that except spanned discs, because otherwise I'd have to calculate where to split the source folder so that it fits on multiple individual discs. The calculation step could probably be done within a script but I feel it would be more complicated and hard to test properly than I'm willing to spend the time doing. Compression helps (it came to within a 100mb of fitting on a single disc) but of course the folder size will vary and one could never be certain that the compressed folder will always fit on a single disc.

Is it you opinion that no built-in Windows tools (simply Win Explorer copy/paste, for example) and no third-party tools can do the job of spanning?

I'll check out whether the drive supports the higher capacity discs but I'm not optimistic; the drive(s) are several years old and most likely are not "high end."

Zigzag, thanks for your help.

(Good luck on that cat herding project!!)

Answer 5

There are larger DVD'S if your hardware supports either dual layer or BT.

We need more information about what you are trying to do.

You could compress the folder.

Spanning is not the best option.