DVD Backup Strategy

[Steve Mills]

(For purposes of this discussion, may we assume that the DMCA allows backing up legally owned DVDs. Thanks!)

I'm getting to the point in my life that downsizing is in my future.

I haven't got a huge DVD collection - 200 or so I would guess - but conversion to digital makes sense. I've gotten behind the curve here and was wondering what others are doing. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

As I looked at this, I really liked the MKV format, for speed and quality given the size and the old standby, Handbrake, still does a great job, BUT no menus. As far as I can tell, converting to in iso and using a virtual player continues to be the only option if menus are to be kept and I find them a necessity for most magic DVDs.

For my collection, a terabyte would probably be sufficient. I'm considering a local 4 TB mirrored setup(I have stuff other than magic) with some sort of cloud storage.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

[Ian Kendall]

Are you on a Mac or PC?

I back up my discs using DVD Decrypter, but it's hard to find these days. I then take the files and archive them on a NAS box. They play normally in a DVD player app (just open the .IFO file).

If you have a Mac, someone else should be able to help.

[Steve Mills]

Thanks Ian,

I'm on a PC. I hadn't thought about DVD Decrypter in years. It's amazing that a program, last updated in 2004 I believe, still functions well. It was a regular part of my toolbox for years. Thanks for bringing it up. I'll have to get it out and put it through its paces.

Oh, if you don't mind, is your NAS a RAID box or do you have cloud backup or are you lust willing to live with possible failure.

Thanks again.....

[Ian Kendall]

I have two 2TB network drives sitting behind my sofa, linked to my gigabit backbone. I don't use a cloud backup because ugh.

I'm not excessively worried about drive failure; if for some reason things _do_ go pear shaped, I still have all the DVDs, so it's just a matter of transferring them again. I have a whole bunch of downloads, but I can always go and get them again, as well.

Having said all that, I used to run the backups for the fourth largest bank in the world, so I'm not ignorant to the procedures

[AJM]

I bet that bank is no longer the 4th biggest in the world.

[Ian Kendall]

Nope, but that happened after I left

In fact, back in 2001, I was responsible for keeping the place open Fact.

[AJM]

I've worked for them for almost 37 years so I'm guessing it's all my fault.

Anyway, to get back on topic, I move my files to a NAS drive and keep a copy on a separate external hard drive.

Cheers

Andrew

[Doug Thornton]

I'm no Luddite (or technophobe) but I'm not able to follow this discussion.

This is off-topic but connected: Is it possible to put a download on a DVD?
I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop.

[Tom Gilbert]

Doug I believe you can, you can copy it directly and make it like a data DVD. But you might want a number of files to use up the DVD. I've placed downloads on a DVD and or a thumb drive.

[Ian Kendall]

Depending on the format of the download, yes; it's quite easy. You'll need a DVD mastering app, and then you just add the MP4 file as a video clip, and set up a menu as needed. Then compile and burn the project.

[MaxNY]

I work in NYC television Post-Production, my house still has over 1,000 VHS, and about 3,000 DVD's. I don't trust hard-drives.

[AJM]

I wouldn't trust video or DVD.

[Richard Kaufman]

I back up on multiple hard drives because I've had DVDs "rot" and develop pin holes in the reflective layer and lock up.

[Gordon Meyer]

Mac users interested in this should investigate "DVDremaster". I use it to convert DVDs for watching on my iPad, but it also has settings that preserve the original format and menus.

[erdnasephile]

I back up on multiple hard drives because I've had DVDs "rot" and develop pin holes in the reflective layer and lock up.

Richard: Just curious: were those commercially pressed DVD's that went belly up? (I've had some movies on DVD since the very beginning and I'm wondering if they will eventually go dead.)

[Ian Kendall]

There's a big difference between pressed and burned DVDs when it comes to longevity.

While I've had several burned discs fail (usually after ten to fifteen years), I've had no pressed DVDs fail through old age (scratching is another matter...)

[John LeBlanc]

(For purposes of this discussion, may we assume that the DMCA allows backing up legally owned DVDs. Thanks!)

Let's not assume that.

Whether or not the DVDs are owned legally, there is currently no provision in the law to allow for circumventing DRM protection on a DVD for the purpose of making a backup. It remains illegal to do.

John

[Ian Kendall]

Playing Devil's Advocate, very few magic DVDs have DRM...

[John LeBlanc]

There are already a load of exceptions to DMCA. I hope one day soon EFF has success getting an exception for this.

It's ironic that the "C" in "DMCA" refers to Copyright, yet it's circumventing DRM that criminalizes what would be, in this case, perfectly acceptable behavior with respect to copyright law. This is yet another law to get you to your "three felonies a day."

John

[Richard Kaufman]

I've had burned DVDs that have rotted.
I've had burned CDs that have rotted.
I've had pressed CDs that have rotted.

No pressed DVDs yet, but I bet you're going to see it in another 5 years. Multiple backup drives is the only safe way. Screw the cloud.

[Steve Mills]

Playing Devil's Advocate, very few magic DVDs have DRM...

That's totally the point. Thank You!

Why people persist in bringing this crap up is beyond me.

[John LeBlanc]

Steve didn't state he has 200 magic DVDs. He stated he had 200 DVDs.

I understand the drivers that caused him to ask the question. Putting your DVD collection on a NAS box sets up your own personal Netflix. Who in his right mind wouldn't prefer that to shelves/racks of DVDs?

He started this with an assumption. The assumption makes perfect sense to reasonable, rational human beings, but it's still wrong and I stated such.

So, yes, there's crap involved.

John

[Daniel Bain]

I convert many of my DVD's to digital format and stream to my iPad or tv. I usually use handbrake (or similar program) on the Mac to rip the DVD's and often will also create a disk image of the entire DVD using Disk Utility on the Mac.

I highly recommend using a Synology network drive to store manage everything (including other personal files, music, photos and backups). Once you buy the network drive system, you then buy (usually for very good prices) individual hard drives. It's always on and allows you to easily access your entire DVD library (after ripping) from anywhere (whether from home or not) and easily stream and watch remotely from anywhere. Also allows to have a RAID or similar configuration to ensure data integrity.

[Bill Duncan]

I too have many hundreds of VHS, and DVDs (TV/Film/Magic) and would love to have them as digital, but the one problem no one has solved to my satisfaction is that making digital copies of my existing media is work. I can't see spending 1000 hours creating digital copies of them all.

[Ian Kendall]

Starting from scratch is a daunting prospect! I tend to do things in the background on a different machine (the advantage of having seven or eight computers...). I'll set something going in the corner, and then get on with my life.

I did the same with VHS tapes; set the capture system up, run the tape and come back to it an hour later. There's slightly more work involved, but not insurmountable.

Ironically, ten or fifteen years ago I started to archive my VHS tapes to DVD. Now I'm ripping those DVDs to my NAS

[erdnasephile]

I concur with Bill.

I was going to burn all my VCR tapes to digital (and bought a Hauppauge to do it), but the process of creating chaptered DVD's/Blurays is time consuming and not terribly user friendly. Eventually (given L & L's frequent sales) it became easier just to pay the $10 to get the DVD's and dump the tapes.

Now that L &L's electronic service is up and running, I'll probably end up repeating the cycle again as the price drops even lower instead of copying all my DVD's onto my server.

The other thing I have noticed is that while it would be nice to have a personal magic Netflix (to quote Mr. LeBlanc) for road trips, I don''t find it all that arduous to reach behind me and pop a DVD into my computer when I want to watch a DVD. I just spend a lot more time with books than I do video, and digitizing everything doesn''t save me any space since I have to store the DVD's anyway. I'll probably feel differently when they all start to rot...

[Steve Mills]

I convert many of my DVD's to digital format and stream to my iPad or tv. I usually use handbrake (or similar program) on the Mac to rip the DVD's and often will also create a disk image of the entire DVD using Disk Utility on the Mac.

I highly recommend using a Synology network drive to store manage everything (including other personal files, music, photos and backups). Once you buy the network drive system, you then buy (usually for very good prices) individual hard drives. It's always on and allows you to easily access your entire DVD library (after ripping) from anywhere (whether from home or not) and easily stream and watch remotely from anywhere. Also allows to have a RAID or similar configuration to ensure data integrity.

Synology gives you a lot of bang for the buck. A 4 TB RAID box for under $400 - not bad.

I continue to come back to by original conundrum. When ripping DVDs like this, don't you lose the menus? Right now I'm just converting to iso's and figure I can rip further at some point.

[John LeBlanc]

Based on my list of must-haves, after comparing Synology (which used to be the default choice for years) against QNAP, I went with QNAP. The software packages are comparable, but QNAP offers more CPU cores and upgradable RAM, which is important to me because I use the NAS for more than just storage.

If you're ripping to ISOs, you can load XMBC onto an Intel NUC running OpenELEC, point it to your NAS, plug the HDMI cable into your TV, and go. Full menus, extras, etc. If running other apps -- like Netflix, Amazon Video, etc. -- are important, you can run XMBC on Windows on the Intel NUC.

John