"Destination Path Too Long"

[broiyan]

That is an excellent idea. A little risk of corruption. Zipping would preserve my folder tree and I can go back to using Explorer as my DVD burner. Thank you very much. I'll do it that way when I next backup on Saturday.

It will be interesting as I'll be zipping 1 GB and I don't know if it is even possible or if it takes forever.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Is a DVD the only backup media you have access to?

Zipping 1 GB of data shouldn't take long at all.

 

[broiyan]

Yes, the DVD is my only backup. Do you have suggested alternatives that are free/cheap?

 

[DeaconFrost]

Hard drives are very cheap right now, so I would definitely get an external hard drive. Then you can use SyncToy to keep a running backup of your data, with intact folder structures, and a one click restore option.

 

[DanielHieb]

That is an excellent idea. A little risk of corruption. Zipping would preserve my folder tree and I can go back to using Explorer as my DVD burner. Thank you very much. I'll do it that way when I next backup on Saturday.

It will be interesting as I'll be zipping 1 GB and I don't know if it is even possible or if it takes forever.

1 gb shouldn't take too long at all, maybe 5-10 minutes using legacy compression supported by the zip program. I usually stick to legacy compression, because I've occasionally had bad experience using higher/other compression methods (more so when compressing large amounts of data 2-3 gb +, in that case i'd split the zip upon adding to archive): Usually seems quicker when using (the programs proprietary) legacy compression, higher compression usually doesn't much matter for size when i have a 4.X gb dvd, and legacy method supported by the program seems to be more stable, corruption wise. (-based on preference and opinion)

 

[fseal]

Second for backing up to external USB harddrive. You can frequently find 1TB USB drives for like $100 or less at Frys. THat's cheaper than buying enough DVD-R disks to store the same amount

You could even get two and rotate them, keep one off site for extra security.

Besides my having WAY more than 4.5 gig of data to back up requiring multiple burns, the folder structure problems do not exist at all. Backups are fast. You can use either robocopy or synctoy to keep the backups up to date or even just copy/paste in explorer.