script to create dvd sized folders for backup

[Antonio Olivares]

Dear folks,

Is there a way via script to create backup folders for a certain directory.  I have a home
folder with Documents/, Downloads/, Pictures/, Videos/, etc as created by default on
Fedora.  I want to say go to Downloads/ and make several folders (dvd1, dvd2, dvd3, ..., )
as many as are needed to backup the whole directory into 4.3 GB dvd sized ones.  If I can
make iso images of these it would be an added plus.  I want to backup some photos,
Documents, and miscelaneous files that I have into DVDs.  I had a hard drive to do
this(backup) but it is giving read errors :(  This way I can save many files and then
remove everything to try and test out Fedora 16 (alpha/beta) or install from livecd.  

Tia,


Antonio

[Antonio Olivares]

--- On Tue, 9/13/11, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  From: Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt;
>  Subject: Re: script to create dvd sized folders for backup
>  To: "Community support for Fedora users" <users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt;
>  Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 4:58 PM
>  On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 6:42 PM,
>  Antonio Olivares
>  <olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt;
>  wrote:
>  > Sorry Richard,  I tried your suggestions, but it
>  still bombs out:
>  >
>  > [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music
>  --iso-dir ~/tmp/
>  
>  [SNIP]
>  
>  I mentioned it but I guess I wasn't explicit enough. If
>  your running
>  "discspan.py" then your not running the version in the RPM
>  package I
>  provided. I intentionally rename it to just "discspan"
>  since it's
>  going in /usr/bin.
>  
>  Either way I would expect it to run unless there's another
>  dependency
>  I haven't caught. I think you're missing HAL, which is
>  largely
>  obsolete but I'm not enough of a programmer to change
>  discspan to use
>  something else. I checked what hal packages I have
>  installed:
>  
>  
>  # yum list installed | grep hal
>  hal.x86_64             
>             
>  0.5.14-6.fc15           
>            installed
>  hal-filesystem.x86_64         
>       0.5.14-6.fc15     
>                 
>  installed
>  hal-info.noarch           
>           20090716-4.fc15 
>                 
>    installed
>  hal-libs.x86_64           
>           0.5.14-6.fc15 
>                 
>      installed
>  hal-storage-addon.x86_64         
>    0.5.14-6.fc15         
>              installed
>  
>  I don't think you'll need all of them, I would try just
>  installing hal
>  and see if that takes care of the error. Let me know what
>  fixes it so
>  I can add it to the RPM requirements.
>  
>  Richard
>  --  
I have installed hal and I am getting farther

[root@GHSE213-033561 ~]# yum install hal
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package hal.x86_64 0:0.5.14-6.fc15 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: hal-filesystem = 0.5.14-6.fc15 for package:
hal-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: hal-info for package: hal-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package hal-filesystem.x86_64 0:0.5.14-6.fc15 will be installed
---> Package hal-info.noarch 0:20090716-4.fc15 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

================================================================================
 Package               Arch          Version                Repository     Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 hal                   x86_64        0.5.14-6.fc15          fedora        370 k
Installing for dependencies:
 hal-filesystem        x86_64        0.5.14-6.fc15          fedora         31 k
 hal-info              noarch        20090716-4.fc15        fedora         54 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install       3 Package(s)

Total download size: 454 k
Installed size: 1.5 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata
fedora/prestodelta                                       | 2.5 MB     00:07     
Processing delta metadata
Package(s) data still to download: 454 k
(1/3): hal-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64.rpm                      | 370 kB     00:01     
(2/3): hal-filesystem-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64.rpm           |  31 kB     00:00     
(3/3): hal-info-20090716-4.fc15.noarch.rpm               |  54 kB     00:00     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                           158 kB/s | 454 kB     00:02     
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing : hal-filesystem-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64                          1/3 
  Installing : hal-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64                                     2/3 
  Installing : hal-info-20090716-4.fc15.noarch                              3/3 

Installed:
  hal.x86_64 0:0.5.14-6.fc15                                                    

Dependency Installed:
  hal-filesystem.x86_64 0:0.5.14-6.fc15    hal-info.noarch 0:20090716-4.fc15   

Complete!
[root@GHSE213-033561 ~]# exit
logout
[olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music --iso-dir ~/tmp/
Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
Insert disc and wait for drive to become ready...


I pressed enter after I inserted a DVD and then I get:

Unable to detect media, exiting.


will try it again.

Regards,

Antonio

[Richard Shaw]

On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Antonio Olivares
<olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt; wrote:
>  Sorry Richard,  I tried your suggestions, but it still bombs out:
>
>  [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music --iso-dir ~/tmp/ 
[SNIP]

I mentioned it but I guess I wasn't explicit enough. If your running
"discspan.py" then your not running the version in the RPM package I
provided. I intentionally rename it to just "discspan" since it's
going in /usr/bin.

Either way I would expect it to run unless there's another dependency
I haven't caught. I think you're missing HAL, which is largely
obsolete but I'm not enough of a programmer to change discspan to use
something else. I checked what hal packages I have installed:


# yum list installed | grep hal
hal.x86_64                          0.5.14-6.fc15                      installed
hal-filesystem.x86_64               0.5.14-6.fc15                      installed
hal-info.noarch                     20090716-4.fc15                    installed
hal-libs.x86_64                     0.5.14-6.fc15                      installed
hal-storage-addon.x86_64            0.5.14-6.fc15                      installed

I don't think you'll need all of them, I would try just installing hal
and see if that takes care of the error. Let me know what fixes it so
I can add it to the RPM requirements.

Richard

[Richard Shaw]

On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 7:43 PM, Antonio Olivares
<olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt; wrote:
>  Making more progress, but script just sits there, I insert blank dvd
> and then I get :
>
>  [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music --iso-dir ~/tmp/
>  Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
>  Insert disc and wait for drive to become ready...
>  Unable to detect media, exiting.
>
>  I am going to try interactive run and hope that will work. 
It's possible there's just something about your setup the confuses the
media detection... Here's what I get trying something similar:

$ discspan --dir ~/Documents/ --iso-dir /tmp --test
Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
Media found in /dev/sr0
The disc capacity of the disc in /dev/sr0 (DRW-24B1ST   a) is 4.378G.
Calculating discs...
Disc capacity reported by drive is: 4700372992
Building file lists...
Disc 1 will contain 216 files using 167MB.

Number of dvd's required to burn: 1

Sanity Check:

Total files in directory:  216
Total files in all discs:  216
Total discs still: 1

Ready to burn disc 1/1.
Media found in /dev/sr0
The disc capacity of the disc in /dev/sr0 (DRW-24B1ST   a) is 4.378G.
Test write option enabled.
ISO will be written to a file.
...

I'll see if I can troubleshoot the problem.

Run the following command and email me the log file directly (no
reason to send it to the list)

$ hal-device > devices.txt

Thanks,
Richard

[Antonio Olivares]

Richard,

>  --  
Making more progress, but script just sits there, I insert blank dvd and then I get :

[olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music --iso-dir ~/tmp/
Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
Insert disc and wait for drive to become ready...
Unable to detect media, exiting.

I am going to try interactive run and hope that will work.

Regards,


Antonio

[Richard Shaw]

On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 7:38 PM, Antonio Olivares
<olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt; wrote:
[SNIP]
>  [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music --iso-dir
> ~/tmp/
>  Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
>  Insert disc and wait for drive to become ready... 
Ok, once again, maybe 3rd time's the charm. Try running without the
".py" extension if you've installed my RPM package.


>  I pressed enter after I inserted a DVD and then I get:
>
>  Unable to detect media, exiting. 
Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Did you give it enough time to detect the disc?

Richard

[Antonio Olivares]

--- On Tue, 9/13/11, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  From: Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt;
>  Subject: Re: script to create dvd sized folders for backup
>  To: "Community support for Fedora users" <users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt;
>  Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 4:58 PM
>  On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 6:42 PM,
>  Antonio Olivares
>  <olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt;
>  wrote:
>  > Sorry Richard,  I tried your suggestions, but it
>  still bombs out:
>  >
>  > [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music
>  --iso-dir ~/tmp/
>  
>  [SNIP]
>  
>  I mentioned it but I guess I wasn't explicit enough. If
>  your running
>  "discspan.py" then your not running the version in the RPM
>  package I
>  provided. I intentionally rename it to just "discspan"
>  since it's
>  going in /usr/bin.
>  
>  Either way I would expect it to run unless there's another
>  dependency
>  I haven't caught. I think you're missing HAL, which is
>  largely
>  obsolete but I'm not enough of a programmer to change
>  discspan to use
>  something else. I checked what hal packages I have
>  installed:
>  
>  
>  # yum list installed | grep hal
>  hal.x86_64             
>             
>  0.5.14-6.fc15           
>            installed
>  hal-filesystem.x86_64         
>       0.5.14-6.fc15     
>                 
>  installed
>  hal-info.noarch           
>           20090716-4.fc15 
>                 
>    installed
>  hal-libs.x86_64           
>           0.5.14-6.fc15 
>                 
>      installed
>  hal-storage-addon.x86_64         
>    0.5.14-6.fc15         
>              installed
>  
>  I don't think you'll need all of them, I would try just
>  installing hal
>  and see if that takes care of the error. Let me know what
>  fixes it so
>  I can add it to the RPM requirements.
>  
>  Richard
>  --  
I have hal-libs:

[olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ rpm -qa hal*
hal-libs-0.5.14-6.fc15.x86_64

will try a yum install hal and then report back.

Regards,

Antonio

[Antonio Olivares]

--- On Fri, 9/9/11, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  From: Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt;
>  Subject: Re: script to create dvd sized folders for backup
>  To: "Community support for Fedora users" <users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt;
>  Date: Friday, September 9, 2011, 5:00 PM
>  On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 6:16 PM,
>  Antonio Olivares
>  <olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt;
>  wrote:
>  > Thank you Richard.  Had tried to run it, but got dbus
>  error messages :(  I was not sure to send this, but I
>  believe that without proof it does no good.  Here's what I
>  get:
>  >
>  > [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py
>  --dir=~/Music/ --volume-name=MUSIC --iso-dir=~/tmp/
>  > Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
>  > You must enter a valid directory.
>  > Directory option is not valid.
>  > Which directory would you like to backup? (Or Q to
>  quit)
>  > ~/Music
>  > You must enter a valid directory.
>  > Which directory would you like to backup? (Or Q to
>  quit)
>  > Music
>  > Traceback (most recent call last):
>  >  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 383, in
>  <module>
>  >    iso = Iso(interface, s)
>  >  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 193, in __init__
>  >    self.drive = self.system.wait_for_media()
>  >  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 125, in
>  wait_for_media
>  >    drive = self.find_drives()
>  >  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 76, in
>  find_drives
>  >    hal_obj = bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.Hal',
>  '/org/freedesktop/Hal/Manager')
>  >  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py",
>  line 244, in get_object
>  >  
>   follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
>  >  File
>  "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line
>  241, in __init__
>  >    self._named_service =
>  conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
>  >  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py",
>  line 183, in activate_name_owner
>  >    self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
>  >  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py",
>  line 281, in start_service_by_name
>  >    'su', (bus_name, flags)))
>  >  File
>  "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/connection.py", line
>  630, in call_blocking
>  >    message, timeout)
>  > dbus.exceptions.DBusException:
>  org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name
>  org.freedesktop.Hal was not provided by any .service files
>  
>  Ok, first the easy part... Try adding the options without
>  the '='. If
>  that works then I need to update the help :) I can't
>  believe I missed
>  that! Or else something has changed with the optparse
>  module in
>  python, which could be.
>  
>  Second, I'm guessing you pulled the archive from SF and not
>  my rpm.
>  You're probably missing the dbus-python package. I know it
>  works for
>  me on F15 (at least with --test, which really tests ALL of
>  discspan
>  and just passes test to growisofs).
>  
>  I would delete the archive and install the rpm I linked to
>  previously.
>  NOTE: This also gets rid of the .py extension since it's
>  installed
>  system wide as a "binary".
>  
>  Richard
>  --  

Sorry Richard,  I tried your suggestions, but it still bombs out:

[olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir ~/Music --iso-dir ~/tmp/
Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 383, in <module>
    iso = Iso(interface, s)
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 193, in __init__
    self.drive = self.system.wait_for_media()
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 125, in wait_for_media
    drive = self.find_drives()
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 76, in find_drives
    hal_obj = bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.Hal',
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/Manager')
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 244, in get_object
    follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 241, in
__init__
    self._named_service = conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 183, in
activate_name_owner
    self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 281, in
start_service_by_name
    'su', (bus_name, flags)))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 630, in
call_blocking
    message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name
org.freedesktop.Hal was not provided by any .service files


[root@GHSE213-033561 ~]# yum list dbus-python
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
updates/metalink                                         |  14 kB     00:00     
updates                                                  | 4.7 kB     00:00     
updates/primary_db                                       | 4.5 MB     00:14     
Installed Packages
dbus-python.x86_64          0.83.0-8.fc15           @koji-override-0/$releasever
[root@GHSE213-033561 ~]# yum install dbus-python -y
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Install Process
Package dbus-python-0.83.0-8.fc15.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Nothing to do


Any other suggestions.  In the meantime, I will try the other suggestions so I can save
what I can to later put a test version/beta version on this machine.

Thanks for helping though.

Regards,

Antonio

[Richard Shaw]

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 6:16 PM, Antonio Olivares
<olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt; wrote:
>  Thank you Richard.  Had tried to run it, but got dbus error messages
> :(  I was not sure to send this, but I believe that without proof it does no good.
>  Here's what I get:
>
>  [olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir=~/Music/ --volume-name=MUSIC
> --iso-dir=~/tmp/
>  Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
>  You must enter a valid directory.
>  Directory option is not valid.
>  Which directory would you like to backup? (Or Q to quit)
>  ~/Music
>  You must enter a valid directory.
>  Which directory would you like to backup? (Or Q to quit)
>  Music
>  Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 383, in <module>
>     iso = Iso(interface, s)
>   File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 193, in __init__
>     self.drive = self.system.wait_for_media()
>   File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 125, in wait_for_media
>     drive = self.find_drives()
>   File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 76, in find_drives
>     hal_obj = bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.Hal',
> '/org/freedesktop/Hal/Manager')
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 244, in get_object
>     follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 241, in
> __init__
>     self._named_service = conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 183, in
> activate_name_owner
>     self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 281, in
> start_service_by_name
>     'su', (bus_name, flags)))
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 630, in
> call_blocking
>     message, timeout)
>  dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name
> org.freedesktop.Hal was not provided by any .service files 
Ok, first the easy part... Try adding the options without the '='. If
that works then I need to update the help :) I can't believe I missed
that! Or else something has changed with the optparse module in
python, which could be.

Second, I'm guessing you pulled the archive from SF and not my rpm.
You're probably missing the dbus-python package. I know it works for
me on F15 (at least with --test, which really tests ALL of discspan
and just passes test to growisofs).

I would delete the archive and install the rpm I linked to previously.
NOTE: This also gets rid of the .py extension since it's installed
system wide as a "binary".

Richard

[Richard Shaw]

2011/9/5 Jorge Fábregas <jorge.fabregas(a)gmail.com&gt;:
>  On 09/05/2011 09:46 PM, Antonio Olivares wrote:
> >   I want to say go to Downloads/ and make several folders (dvd1, dvd2, dvd3, ..., )
> > as many as are needed to backup the whole directory into 4.3 GB dvd
>  sized ones
>
>  Hi Antonio,
>
>  I've used this script in the past called "split-tar" which I found here:
>
>  http://www.informatik-vollmer.de/software/split-tar.php
>
>  I used it to create tar files of a certain size (e.g. 4480 MB for
>  DVD+R).  What I liked about it was that they're actual tar files.
>  Before that, I used to create a BIG tar file and then used the split
>  command in order to create xaa, xab, xac etc... of a particular size so
>  I can burn them.  The problem with that was that, if I had to restore
>  something, I had to restoer ALL of the files so I could join them
>  afterwards (and eventually get my data). If one of the splitted files
>  was broken you can imagine...
>
>  With "split-tar" you have individual extractable archives of the size of
>  your choice (albeit an approximation). 
Which reminds me, I forgot to mention that discspan doesn't do any
compression or tarring so it's good for media that's already
compressed (music files, videos, etc) and all the files are burned
directly so they stay individually accessible.

Also, if you don't want to install it manually I created an RPM until
I have time to submit it for review to Fedora

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34775202/discspan-0.2.2-1.fc15.noarch.rpm

It's pure python so it doesn't matter what version of Fedora you're
using. Just run "discspan --help" for a list of options. If you run it
without any options it goes into interactive mode.

Richard

[Jorge Fábregas]

On 09/05/2011 09:46 PM, Antonio Olivares wrote:
>    I want to say go to Downloads/ and make several folders (dvd1,
> dvd2, dvd3, ..., ) 
>  as many as are needed to backup the whole directory into 4.3 GB dvd 
sized ones

Hi Antonio,

I've used this script in the past called "split-tar" which I found here:

http://www.informatik-vollmer.de/software/split-tar.php

I used it to create tar files of a certain size (e.g. 4480 MB for
DVD+R).  What I liked about it was that they're actual tar files.
Before that, I used to create a BIG tar file and then used the split
command in order to create xaa, xab, xac etc... of a particular size so
I can burn them.  The problem with that was that, if I had to restore
something, I had to restoer ALL of the files so I could join them
afterwards (and eventually get my data). If one of the splitted files
was broken you can imagine...

With "split-tar" you have individual extractable archives of the size of
your choice (albeit an approximation).

HTH,
Jorge

[Richard Shaw]

On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 8:46 PM, Antonio Olivares
<olivares14031(a)yahoo.com&gt; wrote:
>  Dear folks,
>
>  Is there a way via script to create backup folders for a certain directory.  I have a
> home folder with Documents/, Downloads/, Pictures/, Videos/, etc as created by default on
> Fedora.  I want to say go to Downloads/ and make several folders (dvd1, dvd2, dvd3, ..., )
> as many as are needed to backup the whole directory into 4.3 GB dvd sized ones.  If I can
> make iso images of these it would be an added plus.  I want to backup some photos,
> Documents, and miscelaneous files that I have into DVDs.  I had a hard drive to do
> this(backup) but it is giving read errors :(  This way I can save many files and then
> remove everything to try and test out Fedora 16 (alpha/beta) or install from livecd.
I've got exactly what your looking for but it still a little rough
around the edges. As long as you're comfortable fiddling with command
line programs you should be fine.

It's call discspan[1]. As the co-maintainer I was thinking about
packaging it officially for Fedora. For now you can find it on
sourceforge.

It's only problem is that I'm not an ISO9660 expert and I've tweaked
the logic as far as I know how for proper capacity sizing but a lot of
small files (i.e. more file-system overhead) sometimes trick it. If
that happens, use the --size-factor option. Try something like .98
(98% of stated capacity) and it should work.

Richard

[1] http://sourceforge.net/projects/discspan/files/discspan/discspan-0.2.2/

[Antonio Olivares]

--- On Mon, 9/5/11, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  From: Richard Shaw <hobbes1069(a)gmail.com&gt;
>  Subject: Re: script to create dvd sized folders for backup
>  To: "Community support for Fedora users" <users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt;
>  Date: Monday, September 5, 2011, 7:57 PM
>  2011/9/5 Jorge Fábregas <jorge.fabregas(a)gmail.com&gt;:
>  > On 09/05/2011 09:46 PM, Antonio Olivares wrote:
>  >>   I want to say go to Downloads/ and make several
>  folders (dvd1, dvd2, dvd3, ..., )
>  >> as many as are needed to backup the whole
>  directory into 4.3 GB dvd
>  > sized ones
>  >
>  > Hi Antonio,
>  >
>  > I've used this script in the past called "split-tar"
>  which I found here:
>  >
>  > http://www.informatik-vollmer.de/software/split-tar.php
>  >
>  > I used it to create tar files of a certain size (e.g.
>  4480 MB for
>  > DVD+R).  What I liked about it was that they're
>  actual tar files.
>  > Before that, I used to create a BIG tar file and then
>  used the split
>  > command in order to create xaa, xab, xac etc... of a
>  particular size so
>  > I can burn them.  The problem with that was that, if
>  I had to restore
>  > something, I had to restoer ALL of the files so I
>  could join them
>  > afterwards (and eventually get my data). If one of the
>  splitted files
>  > was broken you can imagine...
>  >
>  > With "split-tar" you have individual extractable
>  archives of the size of
>  > your choice (albeit an approximation).
>  
>  Which reminds me, I forgot to mention that discspan doesn't
>  do any
>  compression or tarring so it's good for media that's
>  already
>  compressed (music files, videos, etc) and all the files are
>  burned
>  directly so they stay individually accessible.
>  
>  Also, if you don't want to install it manually I created an
>  RPM until
>  I have time to submit it for review to Fedora
>  
>  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34775202/discspan-0.2.2-1.fc15.noarch.rpm
>  
>  It's pure python so it doesn't matter what version of
>  Fedora you're
>  using. Just run "discspan --help" for a list of options. If
>  you run it
>  without any options it goes into interactive mode.
>  
>  Richard
>  --  
Thank you Richard.  Had tried to run it, but got dbus error messages :(  I was not sure to
send this, but I believe that without proof it does no good.  Here's what I get:

[olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ discspan.py --dir=~/Music/ --volume-name=MUSIC
--iso-dir=~/tmp/ 
Using /etc/discspan.ini as config file.
You must enter a valid directory.
Directory option is not valid.
Which directory would you like to backup? (Or Q to quit)
~/Music
You must enter a valid directory.
Which directory would you like to backup? (Or Q to quit)
Music
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 383, in <module>
    iso = Iso(interface, s)
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 193, in __init__
    self.drive = self.system.wait_for_media()
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 125, in wait_for_media
    drive = self.find_drives()
  File "/usr/bin/discspan.py", line 76, in find_drives
    hal_obj = bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.Hal',
'/org/freedesktop/Hal/Manager')
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 244, in get_object
    follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 241, in
__init__
    self._named_service = conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 183, in
activate_name_owner
    self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/bus.py", line 281, in
start_service_by_name
    'su', (bus_name, flags)))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 630, in
call_blocking
    message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name
org.freedesktop.Hal was not provided by any .service files


[olivares@GHSE213-033561 ~]$ uname -a
Linux GHSE213-033561 2.6.40.4-5.fc15.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Aug 30 14:38:32 UTC 2011 x86_64
x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Any advice/suggestions/comments are welcome and appreciated.

Regards,

Antonio