Backup Computer to DVD

Backing up your computer to DVD discs is fairly simple, as all you need is your computer (duh!), a DVD writer device (which are present in all modern computers) and some blank DVD-R discs.

There are three ways to back up your computer to DVD discs, both having some advantages and disadvantages.

The first way creates a mirror backup, which means that you’ll have an exact copy of the files and folders backed up. To do so you should select the files and folders that you want to back up and add them to a DVD layout, which can easily be done using a DVD burning program like Nero or EasyCD/ DVD. You can keep adding files and folders until the DVD capacity is maxed out. For single layer DVD-Rs it means that you’ll be able to store about 4.5 Gb of files. Then just insert a DVD-R disc and let the burning process start. This way is easy and almost fool-proof, but it has some drawbacks, like that the filesystem structure on the DVD might be different from the one on your computer, therefore you have to remind which file goes where. It can also take a lot of DVDs when you’re backing up huge amounts of data.

The second way involves using a disc imaging program. A disc imaging program will take a full “snapshot” of your hard drive, and will split it into several files (so that you can fit each file in a DVDR disc). This can take several hours and will require lots of extra hard drive space, as the regular process will involve creating the full image file (which will be equal in size to the amount of space used in your hard drive) and then splitting it into smaller files, so it’s safe to say that you will need up to three times the amount of space currently in use. Disc images are handy if you need to fully restore your computer to a previous state, as they will keep an exact copy of all files, including the operating system, however there’s no easy way to restore just some files.

The third way involves using specialized backup software to create a backup either full, incremental or differential of the files and folders you want to back up, this programs will create the backup files (sometimes like mirror backups, and sometimes using propietary file formats) and will allow you to restore them later using the same program.