Before moving into how to backup a DVD it is worth stating that you must understand copyright laws and how they apply in order to keep from finding yourself in a situation where you may be facing fines or jail time. This being said make sure that you legally own any DVD that you wish to backup. I’m not a lawyer nor do I pretend to be, so be sure of what your about to set out upon.
I for one do not like the idea that I have a DVD collection that contains a number of films that I still enjoy watching today. Years ago it was not a problem as a DVD typically played on either my computer or my DVD player. Fast forward to today and I have a number of my Android device, iPad, wi-fi blue ray player and a number of laptops. With all of these different electronics I was to be able to stream my DVD of choice to any device that tickles my fancy. In that I mean inside of my home and only on my personal devices.
There are a number of products that fit the bill of ripping your DVD, but the product I have settled upon is Handbrake. Handbrake is open source software and the it is cross platform which means you can download a build for Mac OSX, which is my preferred operating system, as well as Windows, Ubuntu, and Fedora. I cannot speak from experience, but I have read numerous write-ups from folks running Handbrake on Windows that is was extremely slow. In fact some references I have came across made claims of 6-12 hours to fully backup a DVD on Windows. I’m not entirely positive that I buy into blaming the Windows operating system as much as I would tend to lean to hardware as the problem.
So head over to Handbrake’s web page and download your copy. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the software, you’re ready to start backing up you DVD collection!
How to Backup DVDs to Your Mac (other operating systems vary)
Basic DVD back ups is fairly simple. In truth is is so simple anyone can do it with little or no technical knowledge:
- Insert your favorite DVD into your Mac. Apple’s DVD player will start and when it does, just close it.
- Fire up Handbrake.
- First, Handbrake opens the selection screen. Make sure the DVD Volume is selected, and click Open.
- At this point in time Handbrake begins to scan the DVD in order to to determine the various titles and chapters.
- Now, go to the Destination section. Handbrake’s default destination is your desktop. To make life a little easier, though, you can select any location you like. Also, choose a name for your backup file.
- Click start to begin importing your movie. Sit back and relax it may take a little while!
Now plug up your iPod, iPhone or iPad and sync or if you manually transfer from iTunes, drag the movie on to your device. Thais all there is to it! Now you’re no longer tied to that DVD and you favorite movie is now as mobile as you are.