By Martin Brinkmann on May 19, 2015
Some burning programs support the burning of data across multiple
discs. This can be useful if you want to burn data that does not fit on a
single optical disc.
While you could try and divide the data manually on multiple discs,
using a program that supports this natively is usually the better option
as it saves you a lot of time.
I have to admit that I'm not burning that much data or other contents
on optical discs as I did several years ago. The core reason for this
is that other options such as Flash drives are often the better option
now, especially when it comes to backing up data.
When I do burn data on the other hand, I notice more often than not
that it exceeds the disc limit of recordable DVDs. The Ghacks server
backup for instance has a size of more than 10 Gigabytes packed which
means that it won't fit on a single-layer or dual-layer DVD anymore.
The following two burning programs support disc spanning.
BurnAware Free
Note:
The main installer of BurnAware Free includes OpenCandy and thus adware
offers. You find an OpenCandy-free installer on the download site as
well near the bottom of the page.
BurnAware Free displays a wizard when you start it up. You find the span disc option under data in the wizard.
The actual job configuration window looks similar to the regular job
data burning interface but with the difference that you find a number
listed next to the selected medium.
This number changes based on the data that you add to the job and indicates the number of discs that you need to burn data to.
This is more or less an automated process and the only thing that you
need to make sure is that you have enough blank discs to burn the data.
Once you hit burn the process starts with the first disc. The log
indicates the overall progress, e.g. disc #1 of 4, and a dialog to
insert a new disc is displayed when data has been burned successfully to
one of the discs required for the process.
CD Burner XP
Note: CD Burner XP just like BurnAware Free includes adware offers in
the main installer. You can download a portable version of the program
that ships without these offers from this directory.
Select data disc after you start the program.
This opens the data compilation dialog that you use to add files and
folders to the job. Add as many files and folders as you like.
The program displays information about the overall size of the
compilation, the space that is available on the disc that you have
inserted, and the space that the medium lacks.
Click the burn button once you have added all the files and folders
that you want to burn. The program indicates that the type of disc that
you have inserted into the writer has not enough free storage space for
the burn job.
While you could insert a disc with more storage if available, you may
also click on the disc spanning button instead to split the data on
multiple discs.
You may switch from using as few discs as possible to "do not split
folder contents unnecessarily" instead. The advantage of the former is
that you will end up using the fewest number of blank discs possible. If
you use the folder option instead, you may end up using more discs
because the program tries to avoid splitting up folders.
A click on split starts the process. CD Burner XP prompts for discs
whenever the burn job requires another disc and all you have to do is
insert them whenever the program requests that.
Closing Words
Both programs are comfortable to use and can burn data to multiple
discs. BurnAware Free is a bit simpler to use though and if you don't
have a preference for the other program, you may want to give it a try
first because of that.
Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2015/05/19/how-to-burn-data-across-multiple-discs/