Burning a large library to DVDs

After some lost photo issues this week, I'm trying to create yet another copy of most of our photos in iPhoto. The issue is the library is huge (almost 60K photos) and so is too large for a single disk.
I am planning to walk thru the events, adding 4.7GB worth and burning as I go. Is this a method which makes sense?
I burned the first one, and when I looked at it, it doesn't seem to retain the events that were there in the library. Will I get any of the albums and things if I follow this method?
I'm hoping this is merely a disaster backup, but after this week, that doesn't seem impossible.
Thanks to all willing to share their expertise!

derring do
My post was a response to Philreeth.
FWIW:
I used to back up my library to DVD every autumn. But I gave that up a couple of years ago. Why? I felt it was pointless. Optical Media corrodes and gets damaged. I think even the best quality really only claim a life of maybe 20 years or so. Guess what, in 20 years (in 10?) our Macs won't have optical drives. The CD and DVD are rapidly going the way of the Floppy Disk and the vinyl LP.
So, my solution, is multiple back ups on different HDs and in different locations.
Backing Up
My Library lives on my iMac.It’s Backed up to two external hard disks every day.
These disks are permanently attached to the iMac. These back ups run automatically. One is done by Time Machine, one is a bootable back up done by SuperDuper
It’s also backed up to a portable hard disk when ever new photos are added. This hard disk lives in my car. For security, this disk is password protected. For this job I use DejaVu because it makes a simple back up that is clear and can be tested easily without doing an full restore.
I have a second off-site back up at a relative’s house across town. That’s updated every 3 or 4 months.
My Photos are backed up online. Personally I use SmugMug but there are many options including flickr. However, check the terms of your account carefully. While most sites have free uploading, you will often find that these uploads are limited in terms of the file size, or the bandwidth you can use per month. For access that allows you to upload full size pics with no restrictions you will need to pay.
Every couple of months I test the back ups to make sure they are working correctly. It’s very easy to mis-configure a back up application, and the only way to protect against that is to do a restore.
This system should protect me against
hardware failure - how likely is it that 5 HDs will go down at once? And even if they do I have the online
one...;
Theft or Fire - there are three offsite back ups...
And as the back ups are on HDs they are easy to update, easy to recover from and - as technology advances - should be easy to manipulate to whatever comes next down the line.
Fingers Crossed...
Regards
TD

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Can I burn my iTunes library to DVD or back it up some other way?

Hi, I'm about to do a system upgrade, so I wanted to burn my I-tunes library to DVD for back-up. I have over 600 songs, so using CDs would not be practical. I also don't have an external storage device and all my other backed up stuff on DVD, so the I-tunes library would be the last thing I'd still need to back up.
If using a DVD isn't possible, is there a way to upload the songs into I-cloud perhaps? I have an Ipad with I-cloud, but my old computer doesn't have it (2008 Imac, Leopard, using Itunes version 10.6). It's about 3.6 GB worth of songs and one 50 min TV-show.

How to back up your media in iTunes - Support - Apple
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When Burning my whole Library to DVD (The new Backup Feature), iTunes 7 tells me about an unexpected error (-8785) while throwing out the 2nd DVD to burn. The first DVD is already finished. Any Ideas how to fix it?

For me the problem is solved:
On oct. 17. I bought this song:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=14929468& s=143443&i=14929691
In iTunes it has the following track information:
Title: We Are the World
Interpret: Ars Canto G. Verdi, B.B. King, Boyzone, Gianni Morandi, Gloria Estefan, Guatemala Choir, Joe Cocker, José Molina, Laura Pausini, Lionel Richie, Luciano Pavarotti, Mariah Carey, Marianne Tatum, Melanie Daniels, Orchestra Sinfonica Italiana, Pino Palladino,
On my harddrive I can find the file in my iTunes Library folder, but even spotlight isn't able to locate the file.
In iTunes on the information dialog of the song it reads "nicht verfügbar" wich is "not available" but the song plays fine.
I removed the song from my library and the backup worked!!!
After the backup completed successfully I added the file again and the backup throwed Error -8785 again.
Solution: I renamed the the interpret tag to "Various", the filename/directory changed in the finder and the complete name/path shows up in iTunes. Backup now works fine including this tune!!!
Look at the iTunes Tags for suspicious long names in the tagfields that are used the generate the filename on the harddisk. Inspect these files in iTunes on the information tab.
In conclusion I would say: This is an iTunes Bug!
cU
macwillis
P.S.: Let me hear, if the solution worked!

Backing up iphoto library to dvd when size is enormous

this community has helped me every time and once again i am stuck and have searched for the answer with no luck yet.
i have a 20GB library and have already copied it to an external HD and switched my default library position to free up space internally. i manage the two different locations with iphoto library manager.
i would like a hard copy of the library in case (knock on wood) my external HD would crash. too many memories lost. but i have yet to discover a way to do this and am assuming i am overlooking something. how can i burn that massive library to dvds???
thanks for listening.

so i was entirely unaware of backup. i figured it was something extra and had not yet explored it. i have now downloaded backup and have a few more questions about this process.
my iphoto and itunes folders are on my external hd, yet they are both set as the default library for both programs. i have not yet seen a quickpick or pre-installed plan that will back those up (only available for home folder). so i looked through the custom settings as well and was unable to determine how to back up my external hd. it seems everything is for my mac hd. my external hd never appeared appeared on the desktop as an option to backup.
any thoughts because i would love to back up the folders and files to dvds and then schedule regular backups as well. thanks again for the back up info, and any further help.

Error in burning iTunes library to DVD as back up

I'm keen to make a back up of my iTunes library onto DVD.
When I try to do this, having followed the instructions to the letter, the system chugs through, checks the playlist, tells me it is initiating the burning, then I get a message canceling the operation reading 'unknown error 4251'.
Now, I can't find anything relating to this error on the Apple website, however, there are other users with the same problem using other forums. The problem is though, there don't seem to be any answers resolving the problem.
Any help would be great, thanks.
Evesham Windows XP
Evesham Windows XP Pro

Well....You do not absolutely need to Use iTunes for Backing up your Music. Any program that burns DVDs can burn music files as data disks.
iTunes can work fine for music files BUT: I prefer more control and completeness over my backup process. It is also very important to note that a large limitation of using iTunes to manage the backup is that the iTunes method does not maintain the two meta-data files (iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml) where your Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. are stored. See: What are the iTunes Library files?
If you are heavily invested in your Library data (Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings, Last Played, Date Added, etc.), it is critical that you also make and archive multiple backups of your ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file.
If your music is located under one common Folder (e.g.-‘iTunes’), then it is easiest to physically copy that folder and all its sub-folders in one simple process. It can be done quickly, and incrementally – several times a day, when necessary. In the case of any data loss, just re-copy your entire (or partial) music library back to wherever it was, placing it in the main Folder that the previous iTunes expected. Along with the .ITL meta-data file, this completes a full ‘restore’ of your music to the time of your last backup.
Use of a backup software program will greatly help. It will allow you to easily perform incremental backups of only the files that have changed. WinXP has such a facility built-in. I use a free program called FileSync ( http://www.fileware.com ). There are many out there. Some use Zipped files or proprietary formats, others use standard file formats. I like FileSync as it uses normal file formats that can be viewed/managed via any Windows program or utility.
Here's a list of possible ways to copy your music files from your main iTunes computer to another storage medium for backup purposes.
1) Use an External Hard Drive to store the complete iTunes meta-data files and underlying Music Folder structure and songs from your main computer. They are quite cheap now, for their storage volume. This is my preferred main medium.
2) If you have two computers:
2a) Connect them through a router
2b) Connect them using a Direct (w/Mac) or Crossover (PC/PC) Ethernet cable (See: http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3001.html)
2c) Connect them via a USB-to-USB Network Bridge. See: here as an example.
Copy the files and folders from one computer to the other. Use the second PC as your backup repository.
3) Burn several DVDs (at 4.7+ GBs each) with the music data files and store them safely. Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your DVD drive can manage these).
4) Burn 6x more on CDs (at 700MB each) than in #3 above and store them safely in more space Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your CD drive can manage these).
5) Use a larger USB Flash drive (1GB – 4+GBs) to store the files only if you have a small amount ripped music or have multiple and/or jumbo USB drives at your disposal that will fit your music library.
6) Use the second internal hard drive (if available) of your PC -- not optimum, as you really want to physically separate the storage of backups from the originals, but good as a tertiary storage device.
By keeping only one copy of your music (other than on the iPod), you are not truly 'backed-up' and are running a high risk of losing your music. Music files on just the iPod and the computer is not considered having any backup. If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer, then create and maintain two external sets.
You need at least three sets of your music:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
It is a good policy to backup all your important data. It is a very smart policy to back it up on more than one medium.
External hard drives now run less than $100 for 200-250GBs of storage. Very cheap backup insurance, indeed. See This Link

Burning iPhoto Library to DVD

I had a lot of new photos and wanted to back up my iPhoto Library. I burned the library it to a DVD in iPhoto. Over 2600 photos. All seems to have gone fine, but it took over 1/2 hour. Is that about right? I didn't expect it would take nearly so long (although I really don't know why I think that).
In the future, am I okay not burning the whole library---just the newly added photos not on the DVD I burned today? I did lose the whole library a few months ago and gratefully had backed it up.
Thanks.

It mostly depends on the speed of your DVD burner and the media it is using, but does not sound unreasonable to me!
I agree with the first response that an external HD is a good idea. I have and older "mobile disk" external hd case which has firewire 400. It works great with a 120 gb WD HD, and runs cool.
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I have just started using RAW images and keep them in a separate folder from iPhoto. Once, I have gone through these RAW images and exported the "keepers" to iphoto as JPEG's the original RAW files are periodically transferred to a DVD for archiving. I always have the original image to work with, like keeping the "negatives" from a film camera.
Well...that's my strategy anwyay...and I am sticking with it!!!
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Hi All:
I am using a trial version of Adobe Elements 12. I am trying to burn a large (30+ GB) project to DVD. I need to burn this to multiple DVDs; is this possible with Elements?
Thx,
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OK, I re-opened the project in PE and the watermark seems to have gone!
Attempt 1 to burn it to a BD disc failed - at first, there was a message about a transcoding error @ 1% through the process. I ignored it, came back an hour or so later and got the infamous 'unexpected Error / application needs to be restarted"
Attempt 2 is in progress right now - again at 1% I see a transcoding error. am letting it run overnight (or until it crashes, whichever comes first).
Needless to say, after dropping $250 on this and Adobe nickel and diming me for $99 just so that I can "try out their product without the darn watermark" I am not impressed. Heck Adobe, just give your customers a limited use license!
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Sent from my iPhone

Problems with burning iPhoto library to DVD

When I try to burn my iPhoto library to a DVD, iPhoto eventually always crashes.
iPhoto will prepare to burn and the window to select output drive, spee, etc. will com up. After clicking on "burn", iPhoto is always end.
What could be wrong?
Is my iPhoto library maybe corrupted?
If yes, can I do something about it?
Infos:
iBook G4, 640 RAM, HD 30GB (3.72 available), OSX Tiger, external LACIE d2 DUAL DVD+-RW DRIVE, iPhoto library: 3.53 GB
Thanks for any help!

Hi iRose,
Thanks for giving all your info. Your free space on your hard drive is not enough to do a successful burn of the entire iPhoto Library. Do you have an external drive? Is your drive supported for iPhoto burning? usually on the internal that comes with the computer is supported.
Try instead to burn the entire iPhoto Library folder in the Finder using your external burner.
Close iPhoto
I can't burn a Cd or DVD
The next info is from iPhoto FAQ on the Apple site
Question 5: Can I burn a CD or DVD to back up my iPhoto library?
Answer: Yes, you can easily back up your iPhoto library by using the CD burning capabilities of Mac OS X. Simply insert a blank CD into your internal or external CD-RW drive and copy the iPhoto library to the CD icon on your desktop. When you drag the CD icon to the Trash/Eject button in the Dock, you are given the option to burn the CD. Click Burn and the CD is created. To burn a DVD backup of your digital images, use iDVD and a SuperDrive-equipped Mac.
Lori

How do I burn iTunes library onto DVD-RW? I'm a schmuck.

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If you look at the "Terms of service" agreement, it states in section 9 under Usage rules.....
"You shall be entitled to export, burn (if applicable) or copy Products solely for personal, noncommercial use. You shall not be entitled to burn Video Products."
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/service.html
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What is the best software for burning a large slideshow with 500 photos and music to DVD?

What is the best software for burning a large slideshow with 500 photos and music to DVD?

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http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
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Burn library to DVD

Sorry if this has been asked . . .
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I've tried copying them to HD and still the same problem. I've tried puttin them into a folder and adding the folder but still same problem.
I burned the originals MPEG 4's as data unto the DVD but I don't think that would effect things.
Any suggestions would be G-R-E-A-T-L-Y appreciated.
Thanks!
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The last time I burned my library, was in iPhoto 5. Now, immediately after upgrading to iPhoto 6, I wanted to make a copy of the complete library from within iPhoto, but I get an error message. It prepares to burn, then immediately says finishing burn, then an error sheet pops out and says:
Burn Failed
The burn to the Matshita DVD-R UJ-835F drive failed. The device failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry.
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Hi All,
Please help, im very new to the MAC world but as all my collegues use them and worship the ground they walk on i jumped ship. During this process i offered to produce my friends wedding DVD, i had three cameras and have chopped it all together and found Imovie really easy to work with. My problem now is after reading the forum IDVD no longer exists (although confusingly the export to IDVD is still on the software.
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And here is a post from Creative Techs describing how to use Burn.
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Of these, I would say that iDVD is known for being able to create very professional looking DVDs with intros, menus, lots of interesting templates. It is no longer sold by Apple, but you can find it on sites like Amazon and eBay as part of the iLife 11 retail package. The iDVD application has not been updated since 2006, so past versions back to iLife 06 should work.
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Burn can make a simple DVD, but does not have the menu flexibility or the templates of iDVD. If you only need to make a one-off DVD, Burn is sufficient and free. If you make a lot of DVDs, get one of the paid packages.
Each software package is a little different, but in general, in iMovie, you can use the SHARE menu to SHARE/MOVIE in Large size. Save the movie to your desktop or someplace you can easily find it. Then drag it into the tool of your choice. You can also use SHARE/MEDIA BROWSER/LARGE if you have iDVD or Toast.
I very rarely make DVDs anymore, because I make my videos in high definition. With any DVD software, your movie will be reduced to standard definition and will look pretty bad on most large screen TVs. I have to remind myself that many people still have small TVs.

Burning a large library to DVDs

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