DVD write?

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

Does your typical Dell laptop with DVD write capability write DVD's
the same as it writes CD's (guessing : recognizes inserted blank DVD?
but that's too late, since the DVD doesn't get inserted until after
write-to-cd is clicked; what's the procedure?)?
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Hardin ]
Posted At: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 5:13 AM
Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Conversation: DVD write?
Subject: DVD write?

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

Does your typical Dell laptop with DVD write capability write DVD's
the same as it writes CD's (guessing : recognizes inserted blank DVD?
but that's too late, since the DVD doesn't get inserted until after
write-to-cd is clicked; what's the procedure?)?
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Depends on the program you're using. As I recall the Windows
drag-n-drop that you can do to a CD is not supported to a DVD.

A DVD natively supports 4.7GB, but some will likely be sacrificed to
overhead.

I backup to a USB2 hard drive and also to another machine on my network.

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:13:13 GMT, Ron Hardin
wrote:

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

Does your typical Dell laptop with DVD write capability write DVD's
the same as it writes CD's (guessing : recognizes inserted blank DVD?
but that's too late, since the DVD doesn't get inserted until after
write-to-cd is clicked; what's the procedure?)?

I believe that drag to disk works for DVDs, but it is something that
many people have found very unreliable.

Here's a link to a Roxio forum topic:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/inde...howtopic=23803

In addition to that topic, select the search link in the upper right
of that page and enter "d2d" or "drag to disk" and you will see a lot
of discussion regarding that.

As Tom said, the capacity of a normal DVD is 4.7G. If your DVD
recorder supports it (most new ones do I think), you can use a dual
layer DVD that has twice that capacity.

As Tom said though, backing up to a USB external hard drive is much
more convenient. It goes a lot faster, and you don't have to worry
about glitches in DVD software.

It's a good idea to have an offsite copy of your data. This reminds
me to do that. I need to get a safe deposit box conveniently located
in which I can store data outside of my residence.

Now that external DVD drives are way down in price, it's feasible to
use both my onsite backup and offsite backup to external disk drives
(assuming that safe deposit boxes don't have mangnetic problems that
would erase data on an offsite backup.

Hopefully this is food for thought that can point you in the right
direction. Definitely check out the link above and then read the
posts on the subject -- it's the fastest way to cut to the chase and
is a better source of real usage information and not company
marketing.

Ron Hardin,
You can approximately get 4.5GB on a DVD disc, some of the factors on the
final size is the way your "third-party" dvd writing program formats the
disc. And what you are storing on the discs, music, video, image, data.

If your dell came with a DVD Writer installed, you should have a third party
DVD Writing program already installed on the HDD, unless you reformatted the
HDD, or the Reinstallation Disc for that program. Usually its a lite version
of the program offered for retail. You should not use the Windows program
that came with PC, it's very stripped down version. And might not have all
the features that you need.
--
Have A Good Day
Rich/rerat
(RRR News) message rule
Previous Text Snipped to Save Bandwidth When Appropriate


"Ron Hardin" wrote in message
...
I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

Does your typical Dell laptop with DVD write capability write DVD's
the same as it writes CD's (guessing : recognizes inserted blank DVD?
but that's too late, since the DVD doesn't get inserted until after
write-to-cd is clicked; what's the procedure?)?
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

"Journey" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:13:13 GMT, Ron Hardin
wrote:

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

Does your typical Dell laptop with DVD write capability write DVD's
the same as it writes CD's (guessing : recognizes inserted blank DVD?
but that's too late, since the DVD doesn't get inserted until after
write-to-cd is clicked; what's the procedure?)?

I believe that drag to disk works for DVDs, but it is something that
many people have found very unreliable.

Here's a link to a Roxio forum topic:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/inde...howtopic=23803

In addition to that topic, select the search link in the upper right
of that page and enter "d2d" or "drag to disk" and you will see a lot
of discussion regarding that.

As Tom said, the capacity of a normal DVD is 4.7G. If your DVD
recorder supports it (most new ones do I think), you can use a dual
layer DVD that has twice that capacity.

As Tom said though, backing up to a USB external hard drive is much
more convenient. It goes a lot faster, and you don't have to worry
about glitches in DVD software.

It's a good idea to have an offsite copy of your data. This reminds
me to do that. I need to get a safe deposit box conveniently located
in which I can store data outside of my residence.

Now that external DVD drives are way down in price, it's feasible to
use both my onsite backup and offsite backup to external disk drives
(assuming that safe deposit boxes don't have mangnetic problems that
would erase data on an offsite backup.

Hopefully this is food for thought that can point you in the right
direction. Definitely check out the link above and then read the
posts on the subject -- it's the fastest way to cut to the chase and
is a better source of real usage information and not company
marketing.

Drag to disc programs are unreliable. However you can burn open session
DVD's or CD's for offsite backup. I have critical backups on DVD and
duplicated on a harddrive...both stored in the Safe Deposit box

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

~4.4Gb (4483Mb) for a single layer DVD written as a data disc.

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:51:56 -0500, Journey wrote:

Now that external DVD drives are way down in price, it's feasible to
use both my onsite backup and offsite backup to external disk drives
(assuming that safe deposit boxes don't have mangnetic problems that
would erase data on an offsite backup.

Above I meant "external drives" (USB) not "external DVD drives".

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:54:22 +0100, Colin Wilson
o.uk wrote:

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

~4.4Gb (4483Mb) for a single layer DVD written as a data disc.

I've always heard 4.7GB, and I think the disk packaging says that. I
wonder what accounts for the difference?

Journey wrote:

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:54:22 +0100, Colin Wilson
o.uk wrote:

I'm getting to the point where I want to consider backing up to DVD
instead of CD. How much data can I write on a DVD? It's 702 MB
for CD. My planning program needs to know this.

~4.4Gb (4483Mb) for a single layer DVD written as a data disc.

I've always heard 4.7GB, and I think the disk packaging says that. I
wonder what accounts for the difference?

You can never tell what a size means. I have this trouble all the time with
partitioning software, whether K means 1000 or 1024, whether M means 1000*1000
or 1000*1024 or 1024*1024, and whether G means 1000*1000*1000 or 1000*1000*1024
or 1000*1024*1024 or 1024*1024*1024. You see all versions.

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

~4.4Gb (4483Mb) for a single layer DVD written as a data disc.
I've always heard 4.7GB, and I think the disk packaging says that. I
wonder what accounts for the difference?

Possibly the overhead for track / data layout (i'm no expert on it
myself, I simply made a note of what Nero said was available on the
standard DVD-R) - without some sort of disc / track layout, it
wouldn't know where a particular file starts or ends.