[ale] Organizing large files on small media

[David Tomaschik]

Thompson Freeman wrote:
> I know that this has been discussed before, but my search  
> approaches haven't given me results. I approach the group  
> in search of enlightenment.
>
> Q: Is there a general tool suitable for organizing a group  
> of large files on relatively small media. That is small  
> relative to the total storage needs, not the individual  
> files.
>
> Background. We just had a family reunion and I have gotten  
> the video tapes transferred to disk. Now I want to ship  
> those (raw) files out to my son who lives out of state. I  
> see two possible approaches here: purchase a new hard disk,  
> transfer files, and ship carefully or burn the files to a  
> series of DVD's and mail. With a price differential of  
> about $100, the prefered choice is obvious. Go with the DVD  
> set.
>
> The "challenge" is getting the files packed somewhat  
> efficiently onto the various DVDs under program control, as  
> keeping track of what is where and when is more pain than  
> I'm interested in.
>
> Is there a general programatic solution, or should I just  
> fall back upon my quite limited scripting abilities and  
> slash madly at the challenge?
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>   
In terms of an algorithm, all you need is a relatively simple "greedy" 
algorithm.  Define an upper bound for space and select the largest 
unused file that fits in the remaining space.  Repeat.

Alternatively, tar it all, and the split the tar files into perfectly 
equal chunks.  This would, of course, require reassembly on the 
receiving end and thus take quite a bit of HD space.  (Possibly not a 
problem, depending on systems involved)

David