Quick and easy method of backing up a directory and all of its subdirectories to a single CD or DVD.

== cdrecord configuration ==

I assume that the default device configured in `/etc/cdrecord.conf` is to be used.
Here's a sample `/etc/cdrecord.conf`:
{{{

#
# The default device, if not specified elswhere
#
CDR_DEVICE=sony

#
# The default speed, if not specified elswhere
#
# Note that newer cdrecord versions do not default
# to speed=1. For MMC compliant drives, the default
# is to write at maximum speed, so it in general does
# not make sense to set up a default speed in /etc/cdrecord.conf
#
#CDR_SPEED=40

#
# The default FIFO size if not specified elswhere
#
CDR_FIFOSIZE=8m

#
# The following definitions allow abstract device names.
# They are used if the device name does not contain the
# the characters ',', ':', '/' and '@'
#
# Unless you have a good reason, use speed == -1 and let
# cdrecord use its intercal drive specific defaults.
#
# drive name    device         speed   fifosize driveropts
#
#cdrom=         ATAPI:0,0,0     -1      -1      burnfree
#sony=          ATA:1,0,0       -1      8m      burnfree
sony=           /dev/dvdwriter  -1      8m      burnfree}}}

== Make an ISO image of the data ==

{{{

# cd /path/to/directory/to/backup
# mkisofs -joliet -uid 0 -gid 0 -file-mode 444 -dir-mode 555 -output /path/with/lots/of/space/mybackup.iso .}}}

== Burn the ISO image to CD or DVD ==

{i} If you are using new rewritable DVD media, you may need to format it first:
{{{

# dvd+rw-format /dev/dvdwriter}}}
(`dvd+rw-format` is included in the `dvd+rw-tools` package)

Burn the ISO image using `cdrecord`:
{{{

# cdrecord dev=cdrom -sao /path/with/lots/of/space/mybackup.iso}}}

<!> For burning OS install images, which have built-in ''mediacheck'' features, it's advisable to add a lot of padding at the end of the disc to avoid spurious ''mediacheck'' failures due to the `ide-cd` kernel readahead bug (see also IsoImageFromMedia):
{{{
# cdrecord dev=cdrom padsize=63s -pad -sao /path/to/install-image.iso
}}}

{i} DVD+R media may need manually fixating after writing:
{{{

# cdrecord -v -fix}}}

== Remove ISO image file ==

Having burned the ISO image to CD or DVD, it's no longer needed and can be deleted:
{{{

# rm /path/with/lots/of/space/mybackup.iso}}}

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