Out of curiosity and pure necessity how would you back up a 9.8GB installer? or is the Witcher 2 installer actually 8.4GB plus 1.4GB of patch exe?

--edit-- by this I mean put on dvd

--edit-- nvm just bought the game and found out its in pieces

---

If I used the GOG downloader will it remain in parts as well?

Yes, check it up when the GOG downloader finishes its..*download* and verifies the files.

(Patience!)

Since you're in Canada:

This:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071


or this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066
+
A dirt cheap hard drive.

Then Ctrl+C
Then Ctrl+V

It's already compressed, and further compressing won't do any good. (Expanded, it takes up 18GB.)

Burn it to DVDs (you'll need 3)

Copy it to a flash drive (you'll need a 16GB; it wont fit on an 8GB)

Copy it to an external hard drive (easiest)

You don't need to back up the .chunk files (which the downloader tends to leave lying around). Just the .bin and .exe files.

Thanks for the responses. Since its in 2GB parts I should be able to burn it into 2 dual layer dvds (including the extra content).

Sure. I am not convinced that consumer-grade DL DVDs written on consumer-grade drives are much good as an archival medium, though. Single layer is less likely to be unreadable when you absolutely have to get the files back from the DVDs.

Even though single layer is more reliable, because you have to use more DVD's there is also a higher chance of failures or disc damage.

And dual layer DVD's can be reliable if you get a decent brand like Verbatims made in Singapore.

I have burned hundreds of them, and only a couple have failed years later.

But I burn them slow at 2.4x, and store them properly.

Yeah I'd probably burn the installer first and back it up on my second drive then test the disc out on the spot to make sure the backup is not really corrupt. On the other hand, is there actually a way to make sure the disc burned properly, short of burning it at the slowest speed possible and hoping for the best? Perhaps MD5 has check of each individual archive that has been burned? (I use the default Windows 7 dvd tool, its not done a poor job so far)

Most decent burning programs have a verify feature.

Or you can install the game after burning to test it.

With GoG games that only fit on multi DVD's, you don't have to copy the DVD's to a folder to install them.

Just skip the file integrity test or it will fail if all the files aren't on the one drive.

Then insert the next DVD durning install as required.

Or you can use BluRay if you want everything on the one disc.

Something like ImgBurn or InfraRecorder will do a better check than the Windows tool. Just be sure "Verify" is checked when you burn. These also give you a lot more options to control burn quality, especially ImgBurn.

One way to check the quality of the burn is to try to read the disk on several different drives. DL is more sensitive to drive calibration differences than single-layer.