Suggestions for software to easily copy large numbers of digital images to CD and DVD

Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one disk, if
necessary)? Following some suggestions from this group, I did buy a program
a couple of years ago that I thought was just what I needed -- Archive
Creator. I even tried out the demo version first, and every *seemed* to go
smoothly. It was only after purchasing the full version (non-refundable)
that I learned that it created major problems with my system. I use Win
XP-Home edition on a Compaq Presario 8000 computer, and my first inkling of
a problem was that System Restore would not work after installing Archive
Creator. I made many attempts and communicated with the publishers, but
nothing helped. Finally, I uninstalled Archive Creator -- and then all of
my options under "Help and Support" literally disappeared from the screen.
I finally used System Restore by going a different route (through
StartAccessories, etc.), restored to a date earlier than when I had
installed AC, and then everything worked fine. Recently, I had to reformat
my hard disk and reinstall everything. So, I decided to try AC again -- and
had exactly the same results.

So, can anyone recommend an alternative program that will carry out the type
of functions that AC was actually designed for? I went into such great
length about AC because it does have exactly what I wanted -- easy to use,
fairly fast, and can be used to copy both image files and data files (in
fact, any type) to both CDs and DVDs. I also like using a "tree" of my
computer files that I can quickly click so that only those files I select
will be copied. It's unfortunate that AC is obviously completely
incompatible with my system.

Thanks,

MaryL

It would be too difficult to group your material into 4.5 GB chunks?
From there, Nero (or almost anything else) gets the job done.

MaryL wrote:
Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one disk, if
necessary)?

"Robert Barr" wrote in message
om...
It would be too difficult to group your material into 4.5 GB chunks? From
there, Nero (or almost anything else) gets the job done.

MaryL wrote:
Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one disk,
if necessary)?

I have both my data files and digital images categorized into a great many
folders (similar to the "directories" I used back in my DOS days). This
works very well for me. I can easily find exactly what I want. For
example, each class I teach has a folder with some subfolders, also
organized by topic. The end result is: this is very efficient for me, but
the different folders with varying numbers of files of greatly different
sizes would, indeed, make it very difficult to group material into specific
chunks for backup. I would like to be able to click on the parent folders
(often with *many* files or photos) and simply copy those to CDs or DVDs if
I can find the "right" program that will automatically span more than one
disk. Colin mentioned PowerDesk, and that looks very interesting. I sent
e-mail to customer support to see if it spans multiple disks. I don't have
any objection at all to paying for software if I can find a product that
will do what I want. Freeware is nice, but almost everything on my computer
is a commercial product that I bought -- again, no objections as all, as
long as it works well.

Thanks,
MaryL

MaryL wrote:

"Colin D" wrote in message
...


MaryL wrote:

Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one disk,
if
necessary)?

A file manager like Powerdesk or ExplorerPlus, which are considerably
more powerful versions of Windows Explorer will do it. Or, if you don't
mind a dos-like command-line interface, xxcopy is brilliant, though
there is a learning curve,there are over 200 cammand variations.
Googl;e for any of them. The first two are like about $US40, xxcopy is
free.

Colin

Thanks for the suggestions. PowerDesk looked "great" for awhile, but I sent
email with a couple of questions -- and learned that it will not span
multiple disks. So, it's back to the drawing board... I still need to look
into ExplorerPlus. The one web site I checked didn't have much information
about it.

MaryL

I would think twice about spanning multiple disks, Mary. In my
experience with multiple-disk spanned backups, one has to insert the
first or last disk into the drive for it to read the backup contents,
and then insert the required disk. If for any reason the last disk
cannot be read, you may not be able to recover anything from the disk
set. For this reason, I back up image files disk by disk, each one
stand-alone. Then, if a disk cannot be read, that one is the only one
lost, and file recovery will be much easier than recovering from a
spanned set.

Colin

"Colin D" wrote in message
...


MaryL wrote:

"Colin D" wrote in message
...


MaryL wrote:

Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy
large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one
disk,
if
necessary)?

A file manager like Powerdesk or ExplorerPlus, which are considerably
more powerful versions of Windows Explorer will do it. Or, if you
don't
mind a dos-like command-line interface, xxcopy is brilliant, though
there is a learning curve,there are over 200 cammand variations.
Googl;e for any of them. The first two are like about $US40, xxcopy is
free.

Colin

Thanks for the suggestions. PowerDesk looked "great" for awhile, but I
sent
email with a couple of questions -- and learned that it will not span
multiple disks. So, it's back to the drawing board... I still need to
look
into ExplorerPlus. The one web site I checked didn't have much
information
about it.

MaryL

I would think twice about spanning multiple disks, Mary. In my
experience with multiple-disk spanned backups, one has to insert the
first or last disk into the drive for it to read the backup contents,
and then insert the required disk. If for any reason the last disk
cannot be read, you may not be able to recover anything from the disk
set. For this reason, I back up image files disk by disk, each one
stand-alone. Then, if a disk cannot be read, that one is the only one
lost, and file recovery will be much easier than recovering from a
spanned set.

Colin

I suspect that I simply don't understand how to facilitate this process.
How do you determine, in advance, which files will fit on a disk? I know
the size of the CDs and DVDs I use, and of course I can see the size of each
individual file. For that matter, it is easy to use Properties to determine
the size of each folder. However, I have numerous folders (some with
various sets of subfolders), and some have many files or digital images of
different sizes. So, is there some relatively easy to determine in advance
(that is, before starting to copy) which specific files and folders will fit
on a disk? I am using XP-Home Edition.

Thanks,
MaryL

Kibo informs me that "MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER
stated that:

I suspect that I simply don't understand how to facilitate this process.
How do you determine, in advance, which files will fit on a disk? I know
the size of the CDs and DVDs I use, and of course I can see the size of each
individual file. For that matter, it is easy to use Properties to determine
the size of each folder. However, I have numerous folders (some with
various sets of subfolders), and some have many files or digital images of
different sizes. So, is there some relatively easy to determine in advance
(that is, before starting to copy) which specific files and folders will fit
on a disk? I am using XP-Home Edition.

Not if you want to keep them grouped on the target disk, no.

I am in the process of writing a program to perform this exact task, but
don't hold your breath waiting for it, as I'm only working on it when I
have spare time, which is kind of rare.

(If anyone knows of a tool that can select a group of files to best fit
a specific target disk size, while retaining the original directory
structure, please let me know, as it'll save me from having to reinvent
the wheel.)

--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------

MaryL wrote:

Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy
large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one
disk,
if
necessary)?

I suspect that I simply don't understand how to facilitate this
process. How do you determine, in advance, which files will fit on a
disk? I know the size of the CDs and DVDs I use, and of course I can
see the size of each individual file. For that matter, it is easy to
use Properties to determine the size of each folder. However, I have
numerous folders (some with various sets of subfolders), and some
have many files or digital images of different sizes. So, is there
some relatively easy to determine in advance (that is, before
starting to copy) which specific files and folders will fit on a
disk? I am using XP-Home Edition.

This program offers a complete display of directory and file sizes. It
won't solve your problem, but may make the eventual solution easier to
see or implement.
http://www.jam-software.com/treesize/index.shtml

I have a not-pro edition from a while back, free quick and easy. I don't
know if such is still avalable.


--
Frank ess

I normally use Nero Burning ROM to back up my photos - I don't like the
idea of spanned disks at all, because of the aformentioned problems
with the "index" disk going bad. Some programs apparently can recover
gracefully from this, but many have no idea what to do if the first or
last disk is bad or goes missing.

I have to say, with the price of media being what it is, I usually just
accept a bit of wastage. I will often leave 50-100 MB empty on a CD-R;
I'll put a couple of months of photos on the disk, and then if the next
month doesn't fit, I just go on to the next disk. It's 10-20 cents a
disk, so what? I'm even getting good quality DVD-R for $0.40 now....
ECM

MaryL wrote:

"Colin D" wrote in message
...


MaryL wrote:

"Colin D" wrote in message
...


MaryL wrote:

Can anyone make some suggestons for software that can easily copy
large
numbers of digital images to CDs and DVDs (and span more than one
disk,
if
necessary)?

A file manager like Powerdesk or ExplorerPlus, which are considerably
more powerful versions of Windows Explorer will do it. Or, if you
don't
mind a dos-like command-line interface, xxcopy is brilliant, though
there is a learning curve,there are over 200 cammand variations.
Googl;e for any of them. The first two are like about $US40, xxcopy is
free.

Colin

Thanks for the suggestions. PowerDesk looked "great" for awhile, but I
sent
email with a couple of questions -- and learned that it will not span
multiple disks. So, it's back to the drawing board... I still need to
look
into ExplorerPlus. The one web site I checked didn't have much
information
about it.

MaryL

I would think twice about spanning multiple disks, Mary. In my
experience with multiple-disk spanned backups, one has to insert the
first or last disk into the drive for it to read the backup contents,
and then insert the required disk. If for any reason the last disk
cannot be read, you may not be able to recover anything from the disk
set. For this reason, I back up image files disk by disk, each one
stand-alone. Then, if a disk cannot be read, that one is the only one
lost, and file recovery will be much easier than recovering from a
spanned set.

Colin

I suspect that I simply don't understand how to facilitate this process.
How do you determine, in advance, which files will fit on a disk? I know
the size of the CDs and DVDs I use, and of course I can see the size of each
individual file. For that matter, it is easy to use Properties to determine
the size of each folder. However, I have numerous folders (some with
various sets of subfolders), and some have many files or digital images of
different sizes. So, is there some relatively easy to determine in advance
(that is, before starting to copy) which specific files and folders will fit
on a disk? I am using XP-Home Edition.

Thanks,
MaryL
Powerdesk and ExplorerPlus allow you to right-click on a folder, and
under 'properties' you can see the aggregate size of the files in that
folder.

If you open the folder with a left-click and see the files listed in the
right-hand pane, the total bytes of the files can be seen at centre
bottom. To the left of that you will see 'Objects selected' and the
aggregate bytes. Selecting one or more files with shift/arrow will show
the aggregate bytes of selected files, which you can then copy to your
backup disk For a 700MB cd, I put a maximum of about 660 megabytes, to
allow a bit of headroom for the disk to finish writing. If the entire
folder is less than about 660MB then simply copy the folder to the cd.

Colin

wrote in message
...
SNIP
(If anyone knows of a tool that can select a group of files
to best fit a specific target disk size, while retaining the
original directory structure, please let me know, as it'll save
me from having to reinvent the wheel.)

The easiest/fastest way is to sort the files by size (large to small),
copy the largest file(s) that fit(s) the remaining space, if it
doesn't fit move to the next smaller file in line until it fits or
there are no smaller files. If there are still files to be written,
proceed with a new disk and begin with the largest unwritten file,
etc. until the total file list has been written.

Bart