Under Mountain Lion, I want to burn a large (roughly 18GB) folder so as to span multiple (double-layer) DVDs.The files are just various kinds of data -- not any particular kind such as audio or video. Is there some way to do this without having to buy some expensive burning app?
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion, 3.4GHz Corei7, 16GB, SSD + 2T HD
You could manually break it up into 4 folders.
sig wrote:
You could manually break it up into 4 folders.
Yes, obviously, but that's not a particularly convenient method and doesn't really answer my question.
Moreover, I have similar situations where I have a very large .dmg or .zip to burn across multiple DVDs.
(To help matters, I am using DL DVDs.)
Don't believe the built-in burning software on the Mac can span but there are a number of 3rd party options both paid and free.
Google spanning dvd burning mac for an idea of what is out there.
Remember spanning adds a layer of complexity to the situation. So if there is any way to break up the burn into smaller chucks that should be your first consideration.
regards
Frank Caggiano wrote:
Don't believe the built-in burning software on the Mac can span but there are a number of 3rd party options both paid and free.
Google spanning dvd burning mac for an idea of what is out there.
I did that Google search. Most hits were for software that was rather aged. Near the top I found:
I also found the utility Big Mean Folder Machine, which will divide a large folder into smaller ones of user-specified size. (And then the separate folders can be burned in the usual OS X manner.) Unfortunately, BMFM doesn't allow you to specify any sizes other than whole numbers of GB. E.g., it allows splitting into 8 GB batches but not 8.5 GB batches as would fully fill a DVD-DL.
Lots of Windows software turned up, too!
Any other suggestions?
Toast is supose to handle this but its a bit pricey. If it is somehting you do on a regular basis it might be worthwhile.
The OP wanted to do this without expense and keeping it simple. Every suggestion meets with objection. He's spending more time ditzing than simply doing what he wants. 😁
sig wrote:
The OP wanted to do this without expense and keeping it simple. Every suggestion meets with objection. He's spending more time ditzing than simply doing what he wants. 😁
Not really!
There are UNIX solutions depending on how comfortable you are at the command line.
There is a UNIX utility called split that splits a file into chunks. Used in combination with tar you could create a compressed archive of the folder with tar and use spit to break it up, then burn the individual chunks to DVD.
At the back end you would reverse the process, read in the DVDs, cat them together and then un-tar them.
In theory this will work and I use to do it way back when, but I've never tried it in OS X so I can;t say for certain it will work.
Easy enough to test an if Toast is to expensive and you can't find another way around the problem might be worth a look.
Consider that burning large folders of data to multiple DVDs is not an optimal approach to backup or store data. You should consider using hard drives or USB dongles large enough to store your data.
It is in no way convenient to retrieve data from multiple DVDs. Even using single DVDs is ridiculously slow compared to other alternatives. That's one of the reasons why DVD drives are on the chopping block. They're just not that useful anymore.
Lanny wrote:
Consider that burning large folders of data to multiple DVDs is not an optimal approach to backup or store data. You should consider using hard drives or USB dongles large enough to store your data.
It is in no way convenient to retrieve data from multiple DVDs. Even using single DVDs is ridiculously slow compared to other alternatives. That's one of the reasons why DVD drives are on the chopping block. They're just not that useful anymore.
Using DVDs is part of disaster preparation. Same data is also backed up to: (1) Time Machine; (2) another external HD; (3) USB flash drive; and (4) two different on-line cloud services. One of the physical media will be off-site.
What is the value of using DVDs over say USB flash drives? They can both be stored off-site. The USBs would takeup less space, and in the long run, are probably cheaper. Not to mention faster on every account. Plus, consider the number of computers shipping without DVD drives. Why not add 3.5 inch floppies to your list?
Your issue seems like overkill to the Max.
Also consider: If software is needed to span your data to multiple DVDs, software will be required to knit the data back together from the multiple DVDs. You would then take on the responsibility of having to distribute, install and update that software.
Lanny wrote:
Also consider: If software is needed to span your data to multiple DVDs, software will be required to knit the data back together from the multiple DVDs. You would then take on the responsibility of having to distribute, install and update that software.
Not an issue: the DVDs are just for my own backup purposes. Moreover, I don't need to split large files -- just large folders. That means that for restoration I need only copy back the files from one DVD after another.
How burn large folder to span multiple DVDs
