"Splitting" 40 Gb user file system into ten 4 Gb "chunks"

[James2000]

"Splitting" 40 Gb user file system into ten 4 Gb "chunks"

Hi All,

Is there an easy to "split" a 40 Gb user file area into ten 4 Gb "chunks", for the purpose of backing up onto ten DVDs? In other words, is there an easy way to copy a 40 Gb file area onto ten DVDs?

Operating System is Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit).

Thank you for your time and help,
Best regards,
James

 

[alan10]

Perhaps if you save to a FAT32 formatted partition.
This is automatically done by image backup software such as Macrium and Acronis.

 

[Night Hawk]

Depending on the size of the entire installation along with user files included you could possibly fit a full system image onto about a dozen dvd-rs. That's when going to use the create system image option in the Control Panel>Backup & Restore section there.

Imaging wares like Acronis are good at keeping things like images and backups smaller where you could use a few less blank disks or see less drive space taken up on another drive or partition(other drive best for system images).

 

[mjf]

Hi All,

Is there an easy to "split" a 40 Gb user file area into ten 4 Gb "chunks", for the purpose of backing up onto ten DVDs? In other words, is there an easy way to copy a 40 Gb file area onto ten DVDs?

Operating System is Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit).

Thank you for your time and help,
Best regards,
James

I know you have a specific question but I'm not sure what specifically you are trying to backup. Backing up to multiple DVDs is Risky Business. You are best to backup up to an external USB HDD. You can simply drag & drop or use a Product like Macrium Reflect. The free version gives partition backup and the paid adds a number of features including backup at the file level . Macrium gives compression and is quite fast.

 

[Night Hawk]

For backing up user files and settings the Windows Easy Transfer tool will tend to that easy enough. With a clean install of Windows as well as the reinstall of all programs you simply restore the backup to see all files and settings the way they had been on the previous Windows install.

As far as data dvds even those can be shaky at times! When going from custom build to the next following a full upgrade even when not running a new version of Windows many disks were found to be unreadable on the new machine while they all seemed 100% on the machine they were made with!

In chain of disks if one sees a bad write for any reason the backup is made useless showing just what mjf was pointing out as being "risky". I've tossed many a data disk into the trash until I simply gave up on that method! Optical media as well as how each optical drive will read and write even with the same brand will vary as well at times. Some become "fussy" on just what they will read at a later time.

 

[F5ing]

Ditto on all the DVD cautions mentioned. Not very reliable media compared to most other options.

 

[Night Hawk]

Anyone want a disc tossing contest?! :roflmao: If you saw all of the data cds as well as data dvds I had to toss we could have held a contest!

The most frustrating thing is getting into a new build and wanting to copy back what is on the disks and you can only get a few to work for you. It's not the most reliable option over a lengthy period of time.

With the WET or backup options in many programs you can customize what will be in a backup as far as folders as well as have more then one backup over a period of time. That also works for having a few full system images if you have the drive space available.