Hello I am looking for a good, free, program that will allow me to back up a large amount of information onto DVDs without having to manually sort it all out into sizable chunks first.

Hi, Matthew813!

What kind of information is it, please?

Thanks!

It is pretty much everything. Books, music, movies, games, pictures, etc.

Are they already organized into separate files or folders, please?

Some are and some aren't. Basically I'm wanting to backup most of my hard drive. I'm sure I could separate everything into more comprehensible sub folders it's just that it would take me quite a while. The total amount of space that it takes up is about 70 gigabytes. I tried using the backup program that came with my computer(a t3414 e-machines running windows xp) but it won't allow me to put the files onto dvds.

Just for clarification here...

Are you writing about a DVD player and burner or one that only does CD's, please?

I don't have anything for playing or burning DVD's, and you mentioned that the computer won't allow you to do the back-up, so that's why I'm asking the question, just to be sure.

When I do a back-up, I organize and burn files to a CD. Sometimes, I will also attach another hard drive onto my main hard drive and transfer everything over to it.

It is in fact a dvd player/burner that I'm using. Also the whole process would be amazingly simpler if I had another hard drive to transfer the information to. However I do not have access to one or the funds to purchase one at the moment.

Okay. What are the most important files that you would like to save, please?

If it were me, I would be saving any documents that I've formatted and written as well as images about my life and family.

By the way, my present hard drive is about to crash! I'm serious about that!

Please see the following link.

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/hard-drives/uh-oh-474123.html

For me the most important is my library of thousands of books and comics I've gotten over the years as well as correspondences with numerous friends. My music would be the next most important thing, and more or less the movies are the absolute least important to me.

What would happen if you were to drag some of the files to the DVD drive while having a blank DVD in the drive, please?

If it was a low enough amount that it wouldn't overflow the dvd it would allow me to start the burn process. The only real problem with me doing it that way is laziness on my part. I've been putting off organizing my computer in a comprehensible format for years now.

What about compressing the files?

Zip or unzip a file - InfoPath - Microsoft Office (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/infopath-help/zip-or-unzip-a-file-HA001127690.aspx?redir=0)

Free File Compression Utilities - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=Free+File+Compression+Utilities&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=)

That's a pretty good idea for when I get everything sorted out.

Well, then how are you going to sort things out, please?

Do you have a plan?

I suppose that I'll just separate the most important out first and clearly label what dvd contains which files after I burn them. Other than that I'm not sure what to do.

Do you have a gmail account?

Yes I do. Why do you ask?

You can back up many types of files on gmail. I do that all of the time. I also send files to the email of a friend.

IDrive.