Freeware CD Backup Utility

[greymalkin]

Hello,

I am trying to build an automated backup solution for my sisters office. I am trying to do this with freeware. Here is what I want to do:

1. Backup certain files from all computers to a "backup" folder on the server.
2. Have the server erase a cdrw
3. Have the server write the contents of the backup folder to the cdrw.

I was able to automate this process on the command line using robocopy and a dos based cd writing utility, but unfortunately the .iso's it wrote did not handle long file names.

I am looking for a freeware application that will write to an .iso and support long file names. The ultimate goal will be to incorporate it into a .bat file that will copy all the files to the backup folder, prompt to insert the cd/rw, blank it, then write the backup folder to the cd.

If anyone knows of a free utility that will do the .iso/cd burning part please let me know! I know magicISO would work good for that part but it's not free .

thanks.

[Soopafresh]

Did you try CDRtools ?

http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?CDRTOOLS_with_DVD_Support


http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?download=cdrtools_complete.7z

This will quick erase the RW

cdrecord -dev=1,0,0 -v -blank=fast

Conversely, this app should be able to do it all

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/CreateCD.htm
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

[greymalkin]

I'll try the cdrtools. oh yeah..i should have clarified, this will be used on a win2000 pro machine.

actually i think this is what i was using in the past...perhaps I just didn't know the switches to make it support long file names :P.

[Soopafresh]

I'm sure you already know that wrapping names in " " usually allows for spaces and long names

[greymalkin]

yep..thanks for posting though!
In the past I was using mkisofs or something like it to make an .iso from a directory. When I would make the .iso and burn it to cd, however, I noticed it was truncating the file names. I either had an older software package that didn't allow the newer file structures or didn't know enough about the program to use the appropriate switch. I love make these automated files to do somewhat complex tasks that the people in the office would never remember or know how to do on their own. At the same time, though, these are things that NEED to be done.

I think between mkisofs, cdrtools, robocopy, and some remote shutdown tools I'll be able to make them the sweetest backup .bat file there ever was. It will:

1. open the cd tray and prompt to insert todays cdrw.
2. copy the accounting data from the upstairs pc (used for quickbooks) to the server.
3. copy the relevant data from the owners pc (other client data) to the server.
4. make an iso of all relevant backup data on the server.
5. blank the cd
6. write the iso to the cd
7. remotely shut down the accounting and owners pc
8. shut down the server

sweet!

When they introduce new CDRW's into the cycle i'll have a seperate .bat file for the first time format.

[Soopafresh]

Why R/W, when blank media is a dime a CD ?

[greymalkin]

I supposed you are right...they are only open 4 days a week..that would cost them about $24 a year .

This would definitely cut down on the time and possible problems that could be encountered by formatting/blanking a cd/rw.

[AlanHK]

Instead of making an ISO directly from the files, you could use Rar to make an archive. Rar supports long names so that would solve that problem.

Many files, like documents, compress by 75% or more; you might not worry about the space, but it will be faster to burn a smaller file.

Also, you can use recovery records in Rar, and if you want to go further, get Par, which will let you recover data even with segments missing by adding a number of Par files to your archive.

[greymalkin]

interesting idea, .rar the folder then burn in normal ISO9660 mode. I think the issue there would be that .rar'ing alone would probably take more time than making a joliet/UDF .iso image and burning to CD-R combined.

I'll try my original plan with mkisofs and cdrecord with cd-r's and see how it goes.

thanks!