best split size for dvd ?

I read the following on a post and don't understand it.

"Back up your system with TrueImage, and specify a 635MB image size. This will give you the best space usage on the DVD, and also give you the option of copying your images to CD if you're the masochistic type."

My back up is on one of my partitions at the moment and is in two 3.9 GB (approx) segments.

What is wrong with that ?

Since it's necessary to verify every segment I dread the idea of splitting my hard drive into 635 MB segments and then having to verify every one. Especially as I intend to run a check sum on each segment.

thanks for all the help,

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

Well, it depends on whether you are burning a DVD-ROM (ISO) compilation or a DVD-ROM (UDF) compilation. An ISO 9660 compilation has a maximum individual file size limit of 2000MB whilst the UDF compilation is only limited by the maximum capacity of a DVD. So, for an ISO disk you can burn up to two 2000MB .tib files but would waste approx 500MB per DVD. By splitting the image file into 635MB chunks, you can burn up to seven .tib files per ISO disk giving a total capacity of approx 4500MB (as seen by Windows). If creating a DVD-ROM (UDF) disk then you can chose to split your image file at 4500MB, thereby more or less maximising the capacity of the DVD. Whether you burn an ISO or UDF DVD-ROM is a matter of personal choice. However, it's generally believed that an ISO disk provides a greater range of hardware and O/S compatibilty. Clearly, the extra capacity issue only comes into play if your image file is going to span two or more DVDs.

Using TIs Check Image Wizard isn't as much of a pain as you seem to think. You need only select one of the .tib files and TI then knows it's part of a split image and will proceed to verify the whole of the image in one go. If the image spans two or more disks then, again, you only need to select a .tib file on any one of the disks. The Wizard will then prompt you to insert the correct disk volume in turn as required, proceeding to verify the whole image in the process.

I use Easy MD5 Creator to create a single MD5 file for the .tib files being burnt to each individual DVD. The checksum file is then burnt onto the DVD along with the associated .tib files. After that you can verify a DVD at any time by running Easy MD5 Creator again, browsing to the DVD and selecting the MD5 file that was copied onto it as part of the compilation. If you're interested, check out this post for<detailed instructions and a download link for Easy MD5 Creator>.

Regards

 

Oops, wrong link to previous post. Sorry .

Correct link now incorporated.

Regards