I've used "Mondo Rescue" (http://www.mondorescue.org) to create backups on multiple CDs/DVDs, and, if I recall correctly, you can restore any number of individual files or directories without restoring a giant tar archive. As an added bonus, you can create bootable restore disks in case you want to backup the OS itself. sm On Jan 20, 2008 7:36 PM, Isaac Atilano wrote: > I have 27GB of files that I'm trying to back up using tar and my DVD > writer. > I am able to do this by creating the tar volumes in my home directory > then burning them aftwerwards. I'm using the following command to create > the tar volumes: > tar -L 3906000 -cpMf backup.tar dirtobackup