Can I use CDRW for Daily Backup?

"Anonymous Joe" wrote in message t.net...
"jpt" wrote in message
...
Sorry for the basic question, but I'm looking for a daily backup option
for
my next computer. I've had trouble with zip drives in the past, so I'm
looking for something different. Do CDRW's operate just like another
drive
or directory in Explorer? I mean, can you just drag files over to the
disc
at any time? My only experience is with CDRs, which are not suited for
daily backups.

Thanks.

--
Regards,
jpt

When you format a CD-RW disc in the UDF or MRW (Mt. Rainier) format, yes, it
becomes like a "large floppy" as the analogy always is. You need to use
DirectCD or InCD (made by Roxio or Ahead, respectively) to format it like
this.

You will want to have a faster rewrite speed. This might mean paying more
for the 52x32x52 instead of the 48x24x48 drive, where you get a 32x rewrite
instead of the 24x. Mind you, it isn't quite linear, as it uses CAV
(constant angular velocity, which means the drive spins the disc at a
constant speed, and as you move towards the outer edge, there are more
sectors there due to circumference, so you are writing more sectors per
second, thus the speed increases, and the speed given is how fast you are
writing at approximatly 74 minutes on the disc, or the end of the disc), so
a 32x might not be 33% faster than a 24x, like the speed would lead you to
believe. In truth, it is somewhere in between, perhaps 16-20%?

Regardless, the media out now for CD-RW is largely High Speed (10x/12x), and
there is Ultra Speed (16x) out, too. The other Ultra Speed discs (24x) are
hard to find, but are out, mainly in internet shops. The necessary discs
for the newest drives with 32x rewrite isn't out yet, expect it to be out
sometime this month. However, a 32x rewrite speed drive can use any disc,
normal CD-RW (1/2/4x), High Speed (4-10x, sometimes 12x), Ultra Speed
(16/24/32x).

Be aware that when you format these discs, a 650MB becomes 550MB, and a
700MB becomes 590MBs or so.

The other option you have is since a CD-RW is rewritable, and erasable, you
can actually use these discs like a normal CD-R, so you can make a project
in nero or ezcd and do it like that, and you can use all 650 or 700MBs.

Another thing you can do is use a backup program, most of them do support
CD-RW drives.... or atleast you can choose what to backup and then split it
across discs (if larger than 700mb), either with the program if supported,
or by zipping it and having it make 650 or 700mb parts, then you can combine
the parts, unzip it, and restore. It becomes tricky to restore things if
you can't use DOS. Any program that can only restore from within Windows
tends to require you to setup a version of Windows, then restore, which is a
hassle. Although, if you know of another way, I'd like to hear it

The 'other way' is to image your os partition, so now you've heard it.
Take a look at bootitng.com for the most affordable options, ghost
(Symantic) or Drive Image for alternatives. In any event, only buy if
you can evaluate first.
It's really a good idea to separate your os(s) and data into their own
dedicated partitions. I back up my data using a file backup program
(disk2disk). To backup to cd directly would require packet writing, so
I use a file on a partition then to cd. To date a full backup
(compressed) doesn't fill a cd-r. Full backup is infrequent, between
times use differential backup.
The os, once fully configured changes very little. Keep a backup of
that on cd-r. If all gets lost it's easy enough to reinstall whatever
may be missing from the backup.
Dave Cohen

"David Cohen" wrote in message
om...

It's really a good idea to separate your os(s) and data into their own
dedicated partitions. I back up my data using a file backup program
(disk2disk).

Why is it a good idea?

"Paul" wrote in message
news

"David Cohen" wrote in message
om...

It's really a good idea to separate your os(s) and data into their own
dedicated partitions. I back up my data using a file backup program
(disk2disk).

Why is it a good idea?

If you have to completely wipe your OS partition your data is fine.