Software for back ups onto CD-R(W)?
 

Any ideas on software optimised for backups to CD-RWs and/or CD-Rs? My 100Mb Zip drive has been great but is now way too short on capacity. The Adaptec software which came with my CD Writer doesn't seem to have the capacity to just add the last few days of changes as an additional file, which the Zip could do and is pretty cumbersome for the task.. .Also, any thoughts on which config or system files are useful to include in a backup set to make life easier in the event of a recovery?

You could use Briefcase (arrgh!) or something similar and config it so that Briefcase or similar would write to your CD drive.

I would suggest using the zip drive to just back up the data files on a daily basis and then use something like Norton Ghost to do a complete system image periodically as a recovery disk

Providing you are not using XP a combination of Second Copy 2000 and a Packet Writing program like Prassi abCD works fine. You can, using Second Copy 2000, schedule what you want copied to a CD, be it a folder or a file, when you want and the program will look for what has changed since its last activation and copy that over. The Prassi program does not work with XP, there may however be one that does.

Roxio do a program called CD Creator Platinum edition. It allows you to copy your entire hard drive on to as many CDs as required.

But not if you're using XP.

Have you tried using Microsoft Backup. Seems to work fine for me.

Joe, my version of MS Backup [bundled with W98 Upgrade] won't recognise my CD writer as a storage device. Dumb, but that's Microsoft. I'll have a look at the others. Thanks for all the ideas.

Norton Ghost and Drive Image are perhaps the two most common programs. I have used Ghost to successfully backup the entire hard disk partition, and it restored fine.

It was comfortingly idiot-proof for me <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> :. .Boot with the Ghost floppy and backup directly to CDRW. It will automatically "span" CDs - i.e. detect how much space if left and bridge between CDs. Exactly how many depends on the size of the partition being imaged.

Although I haven't used it, Drive Image looks like it works in the same manner.

One important note is that you need both floppy drive and a CDRW drive attached to the PC. Probably not an issue for a desktop, but for my laptop (which has either/or) I need to investigate if a USB floppy drive will suffice.

Good luck.