Backup to CD or DVD

Backing up to CD or DVD media has become increasingly common due to mature technology and cheap CD or DVD burners.

If you plan to do a backup to a CD or DVD, please consider our recommendations:

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Do not use the same CD or DVD to store consecutive backup versions. It's better to use different CD or DVD media for each backup version (change the CD or DVD at each backup run). Use a set of CD or DVD media and rotate them periodically (e.g.: take 7 CD media, one for each week day; start with the first CD again every 7 days). The reason for this is that in case the burn process fails or the CD or DVD data becomes corrupted, you still have the previous backup version on a different disc.

•	Rewritable CD and DVD media can be burned only a limited number of times. When strange errors happen you should consider that the CD or DVD might be over-burned (worn out).

•	Always test the backed up data after burning. Backup4all has a special option to automate the test after backup and also in case you are spanning multiple CDs or DVDs, Backup4all test each CD or DVD before writing the next one.

Backup4all makes the backup to CD or DVD process to be easy to perform: just set the backup destination to the CD or DVD burner drive and run the backup. By default Backup4all uses its own built-in burning engine to backup to CD or DVD media (you do not need third party drivers or burning software to be installed).

If you prefer packet writing (using the UDF file system) you can select it in the Write method section.

If the backup does not fit onto one CD or DVD, Backup4all will automatically span the backup over multiple media. Each disc is assigned a different label for future identification. We recommend marking the CD or DVD with this label.

A few recommendations before backing up to CDs and DVDs:

•	Before backup execution, be sure to insert the CD or DVD containing the latest ".bkc" file if you have the option Use local catalogs unchecked (in Backup Properties->Advanced->Backup options section, default is checked)

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On backups to hard disk, you can limit the number of stored zip backups by using the Limit number of file versions, Limit the number of stored backups and Merge stored backup to maintain the maximum limit options. These options do not apply to CD or DVD media, you cannot limit the number of stored backups on removable media.

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A mirror backup copies every file matching the sources and the file filter to CD or DVD. On a mirror backup to hard disk, files that are deleted and excluded from sources can be deleted from destination too if you want so. This is not possible on the CD or DVD, so deleted and excluded files are just left there as they were burned before, but the catalog (".bkc") file is updated and the restore operation will not copy these files back.

•	For mirror backups it is recommended to select Use secondary burning engine from Tools->Options->Backup to speed up the process of backing up.

•	When backing up to CD or DVD Backup4all requires additional free space on the drive where the Temporary Folder is located (at least 700Mb when backing up to CDs, or 4.7Gb when backing up to DVDs)