Backing up data to DVD disks?

Hi,
I'd like to create an external backup of the most important data on my computer (in addition to the Time Machine backup that I keep on an external hard drive), and I'm not sure what would be the best way to go about this. Is there a way to easily burn large folders (including, but not limited to, my music archive) to DVD disks? I can locate individual folders in the Finder and go to "Burn to Disk.." in the File menu, but there are a few problems with this method, as far as I can see:
1) space on the DVD is used inefficiently if the files are much less than the 4.7 GB capacity of the DVD disk, unless I manually find other files to fill the available space. However, this manual method is tedious and leads to a disorganized backup if I need to recover data later.
2) folders larger than 4.7 GB can't be burned to disk unless I manually partition them, another possible but annoying workaround.
3) when I've tried burning disks using this method in the past, I've met two technical failures. Sometimes, I get an error stating that there is not enough space on the (blank) DVD disk to burn the folder, even when I've reduced the size of the contents to 4.3 or so GB. Other times, the disk will begin to burn but then fail immediately after startup with an unspecified error.
Any advice on a better method for external backup would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Adrian

Retrospect can do everything you want. It will create incremental backups on multisession DVDs. Files larger than 4.7GB will automatically span more than one DVD. It will continuously append new data to the same DVD disc until it is full, and then prompt you to insert a new DVD. Dozens of sessions written to the same disc are possible. It is quite cool.
Downside: It's expensive (about $100 IIRC) and you will rip out most of your trying to figure out how to configure it to do what you want.
Personally, I'd forget DVDs as a backup media. External hard drives are now cheap enough and easier to deal with that it's just not worth it to bother with DVDs anymore.

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