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There are several ways to backup a movie, however, it can depend on the limitation of your hardware, a typical DVD movie size can be from 4.7gb to over 9.4gb, on top of that, you will also need enough space for the temporary files, the disc images, and other factors which come on the way. I've included in this guide several methods, some of them require you to copy the DVD Movie files to your local HDD, which will require a lot of space, and other methods which will encode directly from the DVD Drive itself, however, it is NOT recommanded to encode from the drive itself, because of the constant access, your drive will heat up considerably, and may result in damage to your Drive and/or Movie itself, so only use those methods if you fully understand the risk!

Encoding directly from a DVD Drive!

Using these methods may cause damage to either your drive and/or movie because of the constant access to the drive and media. Here I have included programs that are capable of decrypting the movie on their own and encoding internaly or by the use of plugins, please make sure you have installed all the required programs for the path you choose.

Dr. DivX - Shareware, DivX Encoding (with subs). Nero Recode - Shareware, encodes to DivX (with subs) EasyDivX - Freeware, encodes to an AVI file (with subs) EasyVCD - Freeware, A GUI to many programs at once. DVD2SVCD - Freeware, A GUI to many programs (with subs) DVDx - Freeware, provides good quality, and supports subtitles. DVDx - Using VideoServer and CCE SP for Frameserving and Encoding (with subs). FlaskMPEG - Freeware & Shareware, provides great quality, and supports subtitles. DVD2MPG Squeezer - Freeware+Shareware, provides great quality but no subtitles. ImTOO DVD Ripper - Shareware, provides great quality and full control. (with subs).

Backing-up DVD files to local HDD!

Using these methods will require you have enough free HDD space to contain not just the movie files, but also enough space for the MPG file which will be created later on and their temporary files, take into consideration atleast 6gb for a typical movie, and over 10gb for long running movies. To copy the DVD movie files into your HDD you will need a DVD Decryption utility, also known as a ripper, below you can select the program you have and/or are most familiar with it.

CladDVD CladDVD XP DVD Decrypter DVD Master 2002 Sector Extractor Smart Ripper vStrip + GUI

Backing-up DVD to DVDR Media!

This section will cover the program which allow you to backup your DVD Movie to a DVD Recordable media. NOTE: These methods REQUIRE  a DVD Recorder, as you CANNOT record a DVD media using a regular CD Recorder!

These tools can Backup your DVD into a DVDR, however, some of them may require you first copy the contents of your DVD movie into a location on your Hard Drive since they cannot access Copy Protected discs. Use "DVD Decrypter" in File Mode if required. You can also use "AnyDVD" which enables every program to copy a DVD with Copy Protection, however, it is not a freeware.

ReJig DVDFab DVD2one CloneDVD DVD Shrink DVD Copy 2 Nero Recode 2 DVD Copy Suite

Burn a DVD-Ready Folder/Image to DVDR Media!

This section will cover the programs which allow you to Burn your DVD-Ready Folder (VIDEO_TS) to a DVD Recordable media. NOTE: These methods REQUIRE  a DVD Recorder, as you CANNOT record a DVD media using a regular CD Recorder!

DVDFab CloneDVD CopyToDVD Nero Burning-Rom