Software to choose which files to burn to an 8GB disk or a 23GB bluray to optimize space useage?

[Jubblywubbly]

When trying to save space on my computer I always spend ages trying to find the right combination of files which will fill an 8GB DVD or a 23GB blu-ray with minimal wasted space. I already own two 3TB external hardware drives (and many smaller ones), but this is not what I want for certain types of files and I would not save money as I already have a large spindle full of 24GB blank blur rays.

Does anyone know of any good software which will calculate which combination of files within a specific directory can be burned to a disk while most efficiently using space? I found a couple of shareware utilities, both of which were quite old and poor performers (DVD Span and another I can't remember). It would be preferable if they were standalone rather than being part of a disk burning package (I find IMGBurn perfectly fine for disk burning generally), although I would consider any good utility with this 'knapsack' facility, and obviously free or inexpensive is always preferable too.

Thanks in advance.

 

[WyomingKnott]

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem

If I understand correctly, you want to fill the disks as close to full as possible, selecting from a set of files of given lengths. This reminds me of the knapsack problem, so I provided a link to it.

 

[Jubblywubbly]

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem

If I understand correctly, you want to fill the disks as close to full as possible, selecting from a set of files of given lengths. This reminds me of the knapsack problem, so I provided a link to it.

Thanks, but that is one of the first things I read when I considered this problem and I found links to lots of pieces of code. This is beyond my technical ability - I would have no idea what to start with programming, and that is why I asked for a ready made software solution.

 

[James Mason]

Well, you could RAR all the files and then have it break them up into parts of a certain size like 100mbs each, and then when you want to recover the files you just have to copy all the parts back together on you HDD and extract the one you want.

Or you could just compress your files down with WinRAR anyways and save space that way...

Or you could actually delete that stuff you're not using, because you clearly aren't using it, hence why you're trying to figure out how to store it.
Do you REALLY need to have 6 terrabytes of data in external hard drives?

Also CDs/DVDs and thumb drives are VERY bad ways to "permanently" store data, hard drives are much more reliable for this function.

 

[Jubblywubbly]

Well, you could RAR all the files and then have it break them up into parts of a certain size like 100mbs each, and then when you want to recover the files you just have to copy all the parts back together on you HDD and extract the one you want.

Or you could just compress your files down with WinRAR anyways and save space that way...

Or you could actually delete that stuff you're not using, because you clearly aren't using it, hence why you're trying to figure out how to store it.
Do you REALLY need to have 6 terrabytes of data in external hard drives?

Also CDs/DVDs and thumb drives are VERY bad ways to "permanently" store data, hard drives are much more reliable for this function.

With respect this is irrelevant to the question I am asking. I have my reasons for wanting my data on disk, and asking me if I 'need' hardware I already own does not move me any closer to my goal.

 

[WyomingKnott]

The previous answer is not really irrelevant. If you are willing to have your files in an archive, most archive software will break the output into drive-sized chunks. An excellent suggestion unless you need to have your files on the disks as-is.

 

[popatim]

I used to wish for the same. I always make a disk of my pictures (two disks actually)

Then one day I realized that 2gb of data was going to use 3 cd's and it didn't matter if the last disk was 50% or 99% full. I was better off using software that worked well than something half-baked and tried to reorganize everything to fit better.

I'll keep an eye on this thread in case there is such a product.

I hope you find something that works for you.

 

[Jubblywubbly]

The previous answer is not really irrelevant. If you are willing to have your files in an archive, most archive software will break the output into drive-sized chunks. An excellent suggestion unless you need to have your files on the disks as-is.

No my items are not in compressed archives, and I have no plans to treat them like that as that will not function in the way I want. I wish to continue to burn my items to disk exactly as described. If there is no good software solution to my quickly working out which files can be stored together to minimize disk wastage, then I will continue to do it manually. Thanks