[CLUE-Tech] creating system backups

[jason at matchingmoms.com]

I'm trying to create backups of some key directories (/etc /home /var) and
write them to CD-ROM.

My first attempt was mkisofs | cdrecord, but that throws away the symlinks,
which I want.

My second attempt was tar | mkisofs | cdrecord, but mkisofs does not seem to
accept from standard input, only from a pathspec.

My third attempt was tar > somefile, then mkisofs somefile | cdrecord, but
that requires two steps and (lots of) extra disk work.

Does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks,
Jason