Help backing up to DVD+r

I need a good system for backing up my photos to DVD+r discs.

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My current backup workflow is:

Right now all my photos are downloaded onto my IBM PC laptop (i have no desktop) 90gb hard-drive, ranked and labeled in bridge or lightroom and copied to an external 2tb Hard Drive...

Then I burn them on to DVD+r discs (2 copies of each disk)

After everything is in the discs and in the external hard drive I delete the files on the laptop to make room for more...
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I use roxio creator buisness edition to burn the dvr+r discs (it came with my laptop)

I download all images into folders for each day (ie 2010-09-25). Sometimes the folders can be as large as 10 to 20 gb each.

When I load files to burn into roxio I am limited to 4.4GB of data per disc. If my folder is larger I need to go in and pick and choose how to get it to come in under the available storage space.

This is very time consuming!!!

There must be a way/program to backup files larger than 4.4gb without me having to manualy go in and break them up?????

any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

You're limited to the capacity of the dvd. You could get dual layer dvd's which would get you twice the storage capacity, but your dvd burner would have to support dual layer. Frankly this is why I've given up on dvd's. I'd just get yourself another external hard drive.

I understand I am physically limited by the dvd capacity. But why is the software not smart enough to just keep asking for more disks when one is full?

is there any software that understands I have a whole stack of disks?

There's probably software that can do that, but honestly I think so few people back up large amounts of data to DVD the market is small. Personally I don't back up to DVD, I back up to multiple hard drives, based on both time required and my own experience of reliability. DVDs have regularly failed me, so far a hard drive hasn't, but I replace drives every 2-4 years.

My suggestion is to move to an all hdd backup workflow.

The problem with automatically asking for a new disk is how is the program supposed to know which files you want on each disk? There is certainly software that does it, and a couple come to mind, but I'm not going to name names as I wouldn't recommend using any of it.

The best solution here is to use a second external drive (it would certainly take a lot less time). If you still want to use optical disks then switch to Blu-Ray. 25GB on a single-layer disk, 50GB on dual-layer.

I think external drive would be faster and better solution. You may have specific reason why you want DVDs, but I think you will appreciate the external hard drive in time.

Bluray.......

Handybackup is what I used when I backup my data to DVDs

The feature below should solve you problem (hopefully)
"Spanning data across multiple CD discs. If a disc can’t store the whole data set, Handy Backup will split it and burn the backup to CD discs one by one."

http://www.handybackup​.net/backup-to-cd.shtml

embdude wrote in post #10996092
I understand I am physically limited by the dvd capacity. But why is the software not smart enough to just keep asking for more disks when one is full?

is there any software that understands I have a whole stack of disks?

You didn't mention what version of Roxio Creator Business Edition you have but some (not all) versions have a Backup and Restore Task. Check your version to see if it has it. If it does, use that routine instead of simply burning a copy of your data on a DVD. It will prompt you for the next DVD until all your data is backed up to disc.

Otherwise you will need a true backup utility such as Handybackup kingdavidd mentioned or something similar. Some work well; others are a real PITA. You should also understand that there is a difference between simply burning a copy of data (which is what you are doing) and backing up data.

However, the best solution is a second external hard drive as others have suggested. They're big, fast, reliable, and cheap. Best of all you get rid the time-consuming DVD Shuffle routine. Just my two cents.