[PLUG] Backing up data to DVD

Steve Bonds 1s7k8uhcd001 at sneakemail.com
Fri Aug 27 12:55:02 UTC 2004


On Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Roderick A. Anderson raanders-at-acm.org |PDX Linux| wrote:

> Long ago and far away but I do seem to remember this. It has now become
> important.  I have client/friend that would like a quick backup/restore
> method for, actually, a very small amount of data.  They have a tape drive
> and we'll be moving it to the server soon (don't ask and I won't tell --
> it is a twisted story).

> I'll probably vary this a bit to meet their needs of slipping a CD/DVD
> into a workstation drive and copying over the bogus files.

If you have a choice, use CD-R media instead of DVD.  I've had much lower
read error rates with them.

Also, the script I gave is not specific to DVD other than the -B parameter
it feeds to the dump command.  It backs up locally to /backups/levelX,
leaving the choice of copying out to DVD up to you.

Here's how to do that:

growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/dvd -R -J -udf file1 file2 file3

The "-dvd-compat" writes a long lead-out to ensure maximum compatibility
with DVD-ROM drives.  Some of them might choke if the disk is only
half-burned since they sometimes do a power calibration at around the 2GB
mark.

-r: Generate "rationalized" rock ridge extensions.  If you have specific
owner/permission needs then use -R instead.

-J: Generate Windows Joliet extensions

-udf: Don't make an ISO9660 filesystem, make a UDF filesystem

Unlike the DVD-patched cdrecord, there are no speed or burnfree options on
growisofs, however it works with both DVD-R/-RW and DVD+R/+RW media.
(cdrecord only works with DVD-R/-RW)

You can also use K3b, but all it does is call growisofs.  ;-)

To back up to CD instead, change the -B parameter to 665600.

  -- Steve




More information about the PLUG mailing list