How to backup hard drive to cd

[Tigerlily]

I have been trying unsuccessfully to back up my hard drive to cd.
I have adaptec software with a plextor 16/10/40 burner and have not been able to figure it out yet. So far it has formatted a cd and then locked up in the process of burning the back up. I have finally gotten it to start burning but then got error message saying the disc ran out of space. Is there a way to do this or do I have to buy some other software.

 

[slipe]

You are obviously using packet writing which uses over 100Mb to format a CD-RW. Since you seem to think there is enough space on the CD for the HD then you might consider using your mastering software (EZ CD Creator) rather than your packet writing software (DirectCD). This will give you almost the entire amount of space listed on the CD for data rather than use so much for formatting. If you want to continue to work in Windows Explorer you can format a CDR in DirectCD and it takes only about 15Mb for the format and close out.

I take it this is a secondary HD you are trying to copy. If it is your boot drive and you want to make a backup that will allow you to restore the whole system then you would do best to buy either Norton Ghost or PowerQuest Drive Image. Both will compress the drive and span CDs if necessary.

If it is your boot drive and you don’t want to purchase software your best bet would be to just back up the data. You can do that with the software you already have. If there are programs on your computer you no longer have the installation CD for then you will need Ghost or Drive Image to be able to restore programs from your backup.

I know of a pretty good deal on Ghost. Direct Deals has the Norton System Works Pro CD for both 2001 and 2002. They are both the retail program without the box and can be registered and have full updates. They aren’t OEM. I got the 2001 version early this year and it works fine with full updates for the AV. The 2001 version is $11 + about $5 shipping and the 2002 version is $35 + shipping.

2001 version:
Ghost
Norton Anti-Virus
Norton Utilities
WinFax
Cleansweep
http://www.directdeals.com/product.asp?id=376

2002 version:
All of the above plus GoBack 3.
http://www.directdeals.com/product.asp?id=1756

If you decide you want Ghost get back and someone will point you toward a tutorial. Both CDs have manuals on the CD, but the Ghost manual is hard to follow.

 

[Tigerlily]

Slipe, thank you for your reply and help I was not sure about the method I was using and now understand what i was doing wrong. I was trying to back up my entire hard drive wich I was sure would not fit on one disc but thought that it would automatically request another disc. So i will check out your suggestions and give a try with one of them.
I am overall trying to save everything because i am going to replace my existing hard drive and thought that this was a way to assure myself of not losing anything that I might want without going to the trouble of actually sorting through all the junk I have loaded. It's called being lazy and obviously has gotten me nowhere.
Thanks again