A program for copying a boot disk. How to copy from disk to disk

Introduction

Today, drives that can write DVD discs are moving from the category of exotic devices that cost crazy amounts of money to the category of completely ordinary devices, and the army of happy owners of DVD recorders is growing rapidly. A recordable DVD can be used for a variety of purposes - from archiving data to recording home videos on them. But, almost every owner of such devices sooner or later asks the question: why not copy a regular DVD video disc. However, although such a desire is quite natural, it is at odds with the same natural desires of the manufacturers of those same DVD video discs, who are interested in exactly the opposite, so that their discs are not copied. Moreover, they are not just passively interested, but also actively prevent this using the technical means available to them. I won't go into too much detail about the why and how from a moral or legal point of view. You can understand both users and producers. I'll just tell you about the technical side of the matter. How the reader decides to use this information is a personal matter for the reader :-)

What exactly are the problems?

This question is often asked by people who are far from DVDs. After all, there is a DVD disc, there is a DVD burner drive, put one in the other and copy for good measure. But, in fact, it doesn’t work that way. The problems that a person who decides to copy a DVD will encounter can be divided into three stages.

Stage one. Protecting the original disc

As you can see in our PC-DVD FAQ, DVD Video was designed with the utmost attention to content protection. The protection is multi-level, and is designed to solve several problems: it is the impossibility of watching a disc in another region of the world before it is shown in cinemas (and at the same time allows you to sell the same film in Europe at twice the price of America and Canada, although Hollywood it is not recognized that the factor was taken into account at all when creating regional protection), and the impossibility of unauthorized copying of DVD content by any method.

Stage two. Dimensions

Current DVD recording standards, regardless of the specific format, provide for a maximum recording capacity of 4.7 gigabytes per side. That is, even if you see on the box with a recordable DVD disc the proud inscription 9.4 gigabytes, know that you will not be able to record such a volume of data IMMEDIATELY. Only two times 4.7 gigabytes. Which, you see, is not at all the same as 9.4 gigabytes once. But a huge number of industrial DVD discs double-layer, which means exactly one time up to 9.4 gigabytes. You don't need to be a math genius to understand that 9 gigabytes cannot be crammed into 4.7 so easily.

Stage three. Record

Despite the fact that DVD video is quite strictly standardized, there is a huge difference in how exactly the disc is recorded. The method by which the files are written greatly determines how compatible your disk will be. There may be many reasons why different programs and methods have compatibility problems, but the main one, in my opinion, is one. The DVD Alliance does not give away its specifications for free. You have to buy them, and they are not cheap at all. Some of the developers software to work with DVDs cannot (and some may not want) to afford it, so everything they know about DVDs is often obtained exclusively through Reverse Engineering. I’m not saying that this is bad; on the contrary, thanks to such people we have a bunch of very high-quality and inexpensive (and often completely free) useful programs and utilities. But alas, this does not guarantee that the files or disks obtained with their help comply with every letter of the specification. As a result, not all “homemade” DVD discs can boast of high compatibility with stationary DVD players. In general, when they talk about the incompatibility of a hospital with a “homemade” DVD (no matter what format, DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW), it is extremely rare that anyone mentions that this incompatibility can be of two types.

Firstly, it happens that the DVD player’s drive is simply physically unable to read the disc being recorded (with new players this happens very rarely. But if it does happen, then there’s really nothing you can do about it). Secondly, it happens that the player can physically read the disc, but the hospital software is not able to figure out the logical structure of the not quite correctly assembled or recorded disc (but this happens much more often, and the problem can be solved). Usually, testing of players is limited to slipping into it an unknown how pre-mastered and incomprehensibly recorded disc; if the player refuses to read it, then a profound conclusion is made about the player’s inability to work with this type of recordable DVD in general. But I have had cases when I “revived” hospitals, which, according to the owners, had been checked and rechecked, and were not capable of reading DVD-R in any form, by simply slipping it a correctly made disk, which, to the surprise of those around them, began to work perfectly:- )

Stage one. Protecting the original disc

They began to struggle with the protection of DVD video discs back when the recordable DVD was so exotic that few people seriously thought about copying discs to DVD. But even then people were worried about the problem of copying DVD contents to hard drive computer. The main problem along this path was CSS (Content Scrambling System), a technology for encrypting disk content. The essence of this technology is that the contents of the disk are encrypted with using the key, which consists of several parts. One part is stored on the disk, and depends on the second, which is stored in the drive firmware. If the content is not decrypted, then instead of a video there will be a jumble of colored squares. It is impossible to copy a protected disk 1 to 1 with modern recording drives. The key is stored in the service area, which on modern recordable DVDs (again, regardless of the format) is firmly registered during the production of the disc and cannot be written down again. This was done on purpose, and precisely in order to exclude the possibility of copying protected disks.

But, as I already said, they began to fight this “scourge” a very long time ago, and today this technology has been developed almost to perfection. DVD Decrypter will help us copy DVDs of any complexity. This program can do quite a lot, and in order to decide which of its functions to use, you must first study the contents of the DVD disc. Or rather, its total volume. This can be done either using standard Windows tools or directly from DVD Decrypter. To do this, you need to switch it to file viewing mode (Mode – File menu, or just press F), and select all the contents. The volume will be shown in the lower right corner of the program window.

Depending on what we see, we decide whether it is possible to copy the disc without additional tricks (and then we go straight to the final part of the article, which talks about how to burn a DVD), or whether something needs to be done with the size. What and how exactly?

Stage two. Dimensions

We have several options for dealing with excess volumes. This:

Method one. Throw away everything “unnecessary” (additional materials, unnecessary audio tracks, etc.).
Method two. Divide the contents of the disk into two parts and write it onto two disks (or from two sides to one double-sided one, if one is found).
Method three. Somehow compress the contents to 4.7 gigabytes.

As is usually the case, each of the above options can be performed in several ways and with different programs. In this article we will look at several of them.

Structure of a DVD video disc

Before copying DVD video discs, you need to understand what exactly they contain. One of the concepts that often baffles newbies is that with modern DVD video discs there is NO linear relationship between the length of a movie and the amount of space it takes up. Therefore, you should not pay attention to inscriptions like SP120min, which can be found on some recordable and rewritable DVD discs. On the vast majority of modern DVDs, video is recorded at a variable bitrate. This means that the amount of data per second (for example) of video varies depending on what you want to show. That is why, any calculations of the length/volume relationship made for a constant bitrate (when you always know exactly how much data is required for one second of video) usually do not work on DVD video discs. At all. And if you consider that the volume is also influenced by additional audio tracks, the format of these tracks, the presence additional video(which is necessary for the multi-angle option), then it becomes completely clear that figuring out whether a film will fit into 4.7 gigabytes, focusing only on its duration, is an absolutely pointless exercise. But you need to estimate by studying the contents of the disk directly.

DVD files come in three types: IFO, BUP and VOB. VOB (Video OBjects) files, like archives, store a whole set of data: video, sound, subtitles, and all this may not be in one copy. IFO and BUB are service files containing information about what and where is inside VOB files, and in what order it should be played. Of these, IFO (InFOrmation) is the main file, and BUP (BackUP) is simply a backup copy of the IFO file. Since the IFO file contains information about a specific VOB (or a set of them), it should be named exactly the same (except for the extension, of course) as the VOB associated with it. The names of files that can be on DVD are standardized no less strictly than the formats of the files themselves. This was done so that stationary DVD players(devices that are not distinguished by great intelligence) could figure out what was what. The first file the player accesses is VIDEO_TS.IFO, which is located in the VIDEO_TS directory. This file may or may not correspond to VIDEO_TS.VOB. If there is a VOB file, then it usually contains formidable warnings about the prohibition of copying the contents of the disk, and terrible punishments for those who do not listen. Sometimes you can see a screensaver from the company that released the disc or film. And sometimes you may not see anything, because as I said, having a VOB file called VIDEO_TS is not at all necessary. Next in line are files with names similar to VTS_01_0. They contain exactly all the interesting things for which the disc was made. The file size on a DVD disc is usually limited to 1 gigabyte. The size of any long film is much larger, so it has to be split into several files. What belongs to what is easily determined by the file names. First digit in the name: VTS_ 01 _1 indicates the number of the video sequence, and the second VTS_01_ 1 file number if the movie is divided into several files. So, for example, VTS_01_1.VOB and VTS_04_1.VOB are different video files, but VTS_02_1.VOB and VTS_02_2.VOB refer to the same video file. To find out exactly what is where, you need to play the file in a DVD player that can play individual VOBs (for example, the latest versions of PowerDVD). But, usually, everything is clear: the largest set of gigabyte files related to the same video is the film. The movie itself begins with VTS_XX_1.VOB, VTS_XX_0.VOB usually contains the disc menu.

Stage two, method one. Throwing away everything unnecessary

This is the name of a small program designed to work with IFO files. Its main feature is that it is perhaps the only program of its kind for which they do not ask for money. It's absolutely free. Despite being free, the capabilities of this program are very wide. Their full description is far beyond the scope of this article, so I will limit myself to only those that are directly related to copying. This:

The ability to create full-fledged DVD content only from the files that make up the film itself.
The ability to remove unnecessary audio tracks and subtitles from a film.
Possibility to divide the film into two parts.

Each of these possibilities is suitable for a specific case. Let's look at it in order.

IfoEdit. Create a DVD without menus or additional materials, just from the movie.

Sometimes all you have to do to fit a movie onto a disc is toss out the extras and/or menus. There are several ways to do this. The simplest one is not to write video fragments to disk that are not related to the film (as we remember, a video fragment is a set of three types of files: VOB, BUP and IFO, united by one name). Such a disc can work, along with all the menus, but if you select an item that should call up the missing video fragment, the player will either throw you back to the main menu or simply freeze. To check the functionality of such a disk, use a software player that can play files on the HDD like a DVD (for example, the already mentioned PowerDVD). Another method, and even more effective, is to burn a test RW disc.

But this method, although the simplest, is not the best. Why drag out screensavers with company logos, screensavers with threats of terrible punishment, if the contents of the disk will be used for other purposes (for example, copied)? Why do you need a menu if not all items from it will work? That's right, there's no need. Moreover, Ifoedit allows you to make a full-fledged DVD from files related ONLY to the film. We only need a set of VOB files and the corresponding IFO. For example:

VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_3.VOB
VTS_01_4.VOB
VTS_01_5.VOB

Note: Please note that VTS_01_0.VOB is not listed. As mentioned above, this file usually contains a menu in the form of a chaotic set of static pictures or animation, and no useful information related to the film.

After that, launch Ifoedit, and load the IFO file into it with the Open button in the lower left corner. The program window then looks something like this

After that, in the VOB Extras menu, select the Create new IFOs item, and we see this window:

By default, almost everything you need is selected in this window. All we have to do is indicate the Destination directory (where the finished files will be stored. It can be anything, just make sure that there is enough space there and that the directory actually exists). In addition, if the size of the film is slightly larger than the space on the recordable DVD, then you can save money by throwing out unnecessary audio tracks and unnecessary subtitles (although you can’t save much on subtitles, but why waste too much time), then check the Strip Stream’s checkbox. All you have to do is click OK. If Strip Stream’s is selected, then the following window will open:

Here you can see the list of audio tracks and subtitles that are in VOB files. Check the boxes that you want to KEEP in the finished film. Anything not marked will be thrown away. All you have to do is click on Strip it, and you can go make yourself a glass of tea. IfoEdit rustles hard drive, and after 10-20 minutes (depending on the speed of the computer’s disk subsystem), a set of VIDEO_TS files will appear in the directory that you specified as Destination. We copy VOB files to them, rename them to VTS_01_X.VOB if they were called differently, and the job is done.

At this stage, you can already accurately assess whether the film will fit on disk or not. If just a little bit is missing, then you can use a method that has long been known to those involved in DVD-Rip, namely, cutting off a piece from the subtitles. For this we need the VobSplitter program - 340 kb.
We launch it, we see the window:

By clicking on the small button with the folder icon, we indicate from which VOB we want to cut a piece (Original File(s) section), and where and under what name we should place the already cut VOB (Destination section). As always, keep an eye on available space.

Let's go to the Split tab, where we see the following picture:

Here we MUST make sure that the Copy 4k-header checkbox is checked, and use the two sliders below to select the required starting and ending points of our VOB file. The initial one, in our case, should be 0, and the final one will have to be selected “by scientific randomness” :-) More precisely, not exactly at random, but by the value in the Size to copy section. There is no way to find out what exactly is being cut off (unnecessary credits, or they have already crawled onto a piece of the film). However, readers with experience in Divx encoding know that a constantly changing picture with a bunch of small details (which is what titles are) requires a considerable bitrate, so, usually, titles take up a very significant amount of space. This means that you can cut the last VOB quite safely :-)

All you have to do is click on the Start Process button, and you can admire this picture:

Put together the files you have. As a result, we should now have a set of files that look like a DVD disc. But don’t rush to burn what you received onto a DVD, we still have a few important steps left.

Load into IfoEdit (Open button in the lower left corner) VIDEO_TS.IFO, which was obtained as a result of previous manipulations. After this:

1. Click on the Region Free button. This will remove regional code(although it shouldn’t be in newly created IFOs, but just in case).
2. Click on the Remove P-Ups button. This will remove all restrictions from the disc (restrictions on switching audio tracks, turning on/off subtitles, etc..). As in the previous case, everything should be unchecked in newly created IFOs, but it won’t hurt to check it again. After all, there is no menu on our disc, and the only way to switch audio tracks or work with subtitles is through the player itself. And if there are P-Ups (Prohibited user operations) for any of these actions, then there is no way to get to them.
3. Click on the Get VTS Sector button. The most important of the preparatory stages. After clicking this button, IfoEdit will correct the VTS sector table, which is necessary for some players who, without this, will not be able to figure out where one VOB ends and the next one begins. If the previous two points can be skipped, then this one must be done MANDATORY.

Now we should have not just a set of files, but fully functional DVD content. You can check it with a software DVD player, the same PowerDVD. If it is not there, then you can get by with IfoEdit (DVD Play button). But for the “purity of the experiment” it is better to use an external player.

Immediately after loading VIDEO_TS.IFO, the movie should start playing, without delay, without menus, without anything extra. Such a disc should behave in exactly the same way in stationary players. Unfortunately, many hospital models are much more discriminating than computer programs for playing DVDs, so normal operation on a computer does not guarantee the same trouble-free operation of the resulting disc in hospitals. Moreover, even correctly created files may not work in a hospital setting if they are not burned onto a DVD disc correctly. One of the following sections of this article is devoted to how to burn DVD discs.

Stage two, method two. Where there was one, there will be two

Although it is good to throw out everything unnecessary from the disk, it is not always sufficient. There is only one way to copy such a large disk without losing quality - to divide it in half. The already familiar IfoEdit will help us with this. As usual, first we need to have all the files that were on the DVD on the HDD with the protection removed. We load into IfoEdit VTS_XX_0.IFO related to the main movie (let me remind you that this is usually the largest set of VOB files related to one video fragment) and in the VOB Extras menu select the item Split to 2 DVD-Rs. The following window will open:

The options selected here can be left unchanged; everything you need should be selected by default (but, just in case, compare what is shown for you and what you see in the screenshot). The only thing that needs correction is the File/Directory Paths section, where you need to indicate where the resulting files should be stored. Please note that IfoEdit cannot create any directories, so if you specify a non-existent folder as the path, the program will simply crash with an error. If you need a menu, then check the box AutoCopy menu files to destination. In addition, if desired, you can also mark Strip Stream’s. As the reader knows from the previous part of the article, this checkbox allows you to discard unnecessary audio tracks. When dividing a disk in half, this is not at all necessary (there is certainly enough space on two disks), but if the desire arises, there is such an opportunity. All you have to do is click OK. A window will appear.

This window indicates at what point the film will be divided in half. By default, the movie is divided by the place where the layer changes, which is not always in the middle. You can roughly determine this by looking at the total time of the film and the minute at which the division point falls. We have two exits. If there is not a bunch of additional materials on the disk that you definitely want to save, then you can leave everything as is. No matter how you choose the IfoEdit partition point, half will definitely fit on one disk. Or, if there are additional materials, and you definitely want to fit them on the first disk, the division point can be moved manually. Unfortunately, IfoEdit does not provide any information on the volume of the resulting pieces, so you will have to rely only on common sense and experience. Having selected everything you need, click on the Strip it button, and you can relax a little, IfoEdit will do the rest. First, it will divide and scatter VOB files into the specified directories, then it will go through them again, changing the navigation within them, and finally it will copy VIDEO_TS and the disc menu (VTS_XX_0.VOB) into both sets (of course, provided that the AutoCopy menu files to checkbox destination was marked).

As a result, you will have two directories, each of which will contain a set of files for the movie. And these sets will play almost like the original disc. When loading a disc, a menu will launch where you can select disc options (language, subtitles, etc.). Select the start of the film, the film will start. You can check how it works from IfoEdit itself. To do this, load VIDEO_TS.IFO from the desired half of the movie, and click the Play button. The simplest player included in the program will launch, and you can see what we have achieved. Everything should work, except for additional materials. This is true for a huge number of DVDs, but not all. Sometimes a situation occurs. when the newly divided halves just don’t want to be played in the player. Or they play incorrectly - for example, the first level is loaded from a multi-level disc menu, but it is not possible to go further. This happens due to the fact that on complex discs the menu can be divided into several video fragments. So we just take and copy video fragments one by one (a set of IFO, BUP and VOB files, united by one name). The required fragment can go under any number, so everything will have to be checked “by hand”. After copying each fragment, we try to start the disc in the player. Sooner or later it will start playing :-) The size of the menu, even the most beautiful and animated one, rarely exceeds 100 megabytes, so copying gigabyte video fragments in the hope of reviving the menu is not worth it, this is clearly not it. Most likely, this is some of the additional materials. The disk will work fine without them. Therefore, you only need to copy them onto one disc (I usually copy to the first one) in order to get a full menu on it, with all the features and bells and whistles of the original DVD. Don't forget to keep an eye on the volume!

If you don't need a menu on the second disc (or both), and you want the movie to start playing immediately after you insert the disc, then you can use the technique described above. Load the VTS_XX_X.IFO corresponding to the desired half of the film into IfoEdit and create the necessary IFOs via VOB Extras.

Whatever method you choose (with or without a menu), you should finish working with IfoEdit using the three buttons already described above.

1.Region Free
2. Remove P-Ups
3. Get VTS Sector. Remember that if the previous two points are advisory in nature (usually, there are no restrictions in IFOs that have passed through DVD Decrypter and IfoEdit), then this point must be done MANDATORY.

All that remains is to write the received files to disk, and how to do this will be written below.

Stage two, method three. "Move, please..."

The last method to deal with the size is to re-encode the DVD content. For a long time the process of such alteration was very labor-intensive. It was necessary to decompose VOB files into components, recompress the resulting m2v file with video, then assemble it all back into a DVD, and after that you could write the result to disk. Fortunately, those times are in the past. Today, utilities have begun to appear that can work directly with VOB files, and do everything necessary. But they ask for money for them. One of these programs is DVD2One.

The basis of this program is an encoder that compresses the content. The recompression is not complete (apparently, the program only works with quantization matrices), so the process occurs very quickly. On an average, by modern standards, computer (1.5 - 2 Ghz), everything takes 15-20 minutes. To work with VOB and create the structure of a DVD disc, algorithms that came with IfoEdit are used. The entire process is automated and simplified to the maximum. We should start working with the already familiar DVD Decrypter. This time we need to dump only the files related to the movie to disk; everything else is not needed. To do this, make sure that in the Tools – Settings menu, File Mode tab, the Select Main Movie Files checkbox is checked (and it should be checked by default).

Now we switch DVD Decrypter to File mode (Mode – File, or just F) and dump onto the hard drive those files that will be selected (this should be a movie).

We launch DVD2One, we see this window:

We choose where we have the ripped files (Source Directory), where we need to put what we get (Destination Directory), the size we want to get (DVD+/-RW, which by default is what we need), click on Next. In the next window

We select which video sequence we need (usually the longest one), click on Next again. Another window will appear:

In which you can choose which audio tracks, which subtitles, and which angle (angle, if there are several of them) we need. All you have to do is click on Start, and the process will begin.

After some time, a set of files will appear in the Destination Directory that can be written to disk. The newly created disc will not contain any menus or additional materials. The movie will start playing immediately after the disc is inserted into the player (or VIDEO_TS.IFO from the HDD is loaded into the program).

Obviously, there are no miracles in the world, and for additional video compression, and at such an accelerated pace, we have to pay in quality. How much we pay depends directly on the source material. The main criticism that can be leveled against DVD2One is the “squares” that begin to appear in the midtones, especially in the shadows. Therefore, the situation with quality can be characterized as follows: on a very good, clean source - quite satisfactory. If there was already noise in the source and squares appeared in dark places, then they will become even more noticeable.

Pinnacle Instant Copy

DVD2One is essentially the brainchild of just one person. This is understandable, because the topic DVD copying very “slippery” (we all remember how many copies were broken around a very harmless (by modern standards) program called DeCSS, which was the first to encroach on the integrity of DVDs). However, there are not only individuals, but also quite large and well-known companies that have decided to test their strength in this field. I'm talking about Pinnacle with its Instant Copy, which is developing very successfully, and has grown (today) to version 7. One of the purposes of this program is exactly the same as the DVD2One described above - to take a two-layer DVD and “stomp” it down to the size of a regular 4.7 Gb disc. Pinnacle's resources are not comparable to those of the DVD2One author, so Instant Copy's capabilities are an order of magnitude higher. The most significant of them is Instant Copy makes a complete copy of the disc, with all the menus and additional materials!

What Instant Copy has in common with DVD2One is that neither can copy protected DVDs. Therefore, with Instant Copy we cannot do without the good old DVD Decrypter. We launch it, put it in file mode (Mode – File, or just F). This time we select ALL the files that are on the DVD and copy them to the HDD.

We launch Instant Copy, and the main program window will open in front of us.

Note: To display additional options, click the Details button.

The program is very easy to use, and in many cases, configuration can be limited only to choosing where and where to write. This is done mainly program window, Source and Destination sections. Since the files that we want to upload to DVD must already be on the HDD, we right-click on its symbolic image in the Source section and select Select image in the context menu that opens. By the way, do not be alarmed that the program always shows only one HDD, regardless of how many physical or logical disks there are in the system. The window that opens by Select image will display all available drives. Point to the directory where you dropped the files from the DVD, and select VIDEO_TS.IFO there. In another part of the main window, Destination, you need to indicate where Instant Copy should put the results of its work. There are several options, you can select HDD again, right click mouse indicating in which folder and under what name the disk image should be saved. In the case of DVD, this will cause Instant Copy to create a set of PQI files there. Which are intended for recording the same Instant Copy. There is no big sense in recording more than 4 gigabytes on the HDD a second time; it is much more reasonable to specify a direct DVD recording drive as the Destination.

After this, you can go to the Profile tab. Here you need to select the type of DVD disc you are going to write to. In fact, there is no difference between the profiles for different DVDs, so you can choose any one.

Next tab, Write.

This tab appears only if the result of Instant Copy is written directly to DVD. This tab controls the recording process. In order to get the most trouble-free DVD video disc, the recording parameters should be like this.

Write method – Disk at once
Closing method – Close CD
Write speed – this item determines at what speed the disk will be written. Usually, everything works fine with Automatic (Recommended), which is equivalent to setting the maximum write speed, which Instant Copy believes the drive supports. If you do not want the disc to be written to maximum speed, you can change this. Unfortunately, you cannot select an exact speed, only Low Medium or High.

There are a few checkboxes left.

Overwrite rewritable media without confirmation – if you check this, non-empty RW disks will be overwritten without any questions asked. Be careful.

Write to hard disk first – when copying directly from DVD drive(only possible with unprotected disks) this checkbox will force you to first reset the files to the HDD. Since we already write with hard drive, it is not available.

Simulate write progress if possible – if you check this checkbox, a simulation will be performed before directly recording the DVD. If you are sure that there are no glitches with your computer, then this is just a waste of time, leave it empty.

DVD bookmark. This tab controls the process of compressing and creating the contents of a new DVD.

The most important section this tab Copy method. It determines how Instant Copy will work with DVD content.

Automatic Resize. This item must be selected if you want to copy the entire disk, with everything. what's on it. Everything will be done automatically.
Customized Resize. Probably the most frequently used method. With its help, you can throw out unnecessary audio tracks, and thus. increase the space available for video, which will have a beneficial effect on its quality.
Direct (not recommended). This item ONLY works when copying from DVD to DVD. The data is not compressed at all. If you enable it when copying from HDD to DVD, Automatic Resize will work. And even if the size of the files on the HDD could easily fit on a DVD without recompression, they are still recompressed with a corresponding drop in quality. Therefore, you SHOULD NOT use Instant Copy to burn files to DVD that do not need to be compressed.

Preferred Destination section. Here we determine what we want to get in the end.

Automatic (Recommended). The program assumes that we are making a DVD.
DVD. The program knows exactly what DVD it is.
Super VCD. Instant Copy can make such discs from a regular DVD.
VCD. Instant Copy will turn DVD into VCD (if anyone has such a strange desire).

CD Aspect Ratio section. This section only works if the DVD is made into Super VCD or VCD. When copied to DVD, the Aspect Ratio remains the same as the original.

Automatic (Recommended). The edges of each frame are cut off to ultimately achieve 4:3.
Letter Box (4:3). Similar to the previous point.
Anamorphic (16:9). The frame is compressed horizontally until the ratio is 4:3. To ensure that when viewing everything in the frame does not turn out very thin and tall, the player must stretch the picture back.

The Advanced button remains on the tab. If you click on it, the following window will open:

On the first tab you can check two checkboxes.

Remove region code. If you check this box, Instant Copy will make the resulting DVD multi-zone. It can be noted, but it is wiser to set this option in DVD Decrypter (more precisely, do not change it, which is set by default).
Remove PC content. This checkbox will allow you not to copy PC features that can be found on some DVDs. This is only useful when copying DVD to DVD directly. After all, when resetting DVD content to HDD, no one resets unnecessary PC content.

In addition, this tab contains a section responsible for Instant Copy's work with the online database. In theory, it should help in encoding a film that has already been encoded by someone else, but I seriously doubt its real usefulness.

The remaining tabs of this window allow you to remove various languages, subtitles, or restrictions from the DVD, and are unlikely to require detailed consideration. I usually leave them untouched; everything can (and should) be done using other programs or methods in Instant Copy itself.

General tab.

When ripping a DVD, most of the options on this tab are not available. You can only choose how many copies we need to make (one by default). The Options button is more interesting. There is a window hiding behind it:

Disable Screensaver while writing. If this checkbox is checked (and it is checked by default), then no sophisticated screensaver (some can compete with 3Dmark in the number of resources involved) will ruin the disc recording process.

After simulation: If the Simulate write progress if possible checkbox is checked on the Write tab, then here you can select what Instant Copy should do after the simulation ends.

Start writing after confirmation – after the simulation, waits for confirmation from the user to start real writing.
Start writing without confirmation – writes immediately.

Programming interface type. Determines how Instant Copy works with CD and DVD discs. There are two options, ASPI and ASAPI. Pinnacle recommends using ASAPI.

Write Cache. How many RAM used as a buffer during recording. In theory, the more, the better for recording (but worse for everything else). The default value is fine for most normally configured and functioning computers.

Temporary Directory. Where should Instant Copy put temporary files. In our case, their volume reaches the size of a DVD (4.7 gigabytes), so make sure that there is enough space on the selected disk.

Processing tab.

The bookmark is designed for fine-grained control of CD copying. With its help, you can avoid copying certain sections of the disk. For our task (burning a DVD) there is absolutely nothing useful here.

After setting all the options, all that remains is to click on the Start button in the main program window. If everything is set correctly, the process of video analysis and encoding will begin immediately.

But, if the Customized Resize method was selected on the DVD tab, we will have to go through another window.

On the left side we see the contents of the disk, on the right you can correct some things. Each Title on the left is some kind of video fragment. You can choose any one and customize it individually. Unfortunately, Instant Copy does not allow you to throw out unnecessary videos.

At the very bottom we see a section that shows how much volume is obtained (the setting is made for a DVD disc, and if the volume exceeds 4.7 gigabytes, the green bar will turn red, and the OK button, which continues to work, will become unavailable).

Of the information that is available for a video fragment on the first tab, the most interesting for us is the slider, which shows how many percent of the video can be accommodated. The higher this number, the closer to the original the quality of the finished film will be. On the Preview tab you can even try to see what it will look like, but due to the small size of the window, this function is not relevant for DVDs. What is relevant is the Audio tab.

We remove checkboxes from audio tracks that we do not need. We do the same with subtitles. As a result, we have additional space that can be used for video. To do this, simply move the slider on the first tab until the DVD capacity reaches its maximum. On unnecessary video fragments, the video quality can be reduced, which will provide additional space for the main film. But here it is important not to overdo it. The fact is that Instant Copy cannot transcode videos below a certain volume, and if you simply move all the sliders to minimum, the program will refuse to do anything at all. This limit is individual for each video, and you can only find it out at random. Typically, the volume should not be less than 50%. Having selected everything you need, click on OK, the analysis of the DVD content will begin, then encoding, and it will all end with recording.

The encoding process using Instant Copy takes much longer than with the DVD2One described above, but it still cannot be compared with what is required to transcode an Mpeg2 stream using more traditional means (software, of course). On a 2 GHz processor, the time required for encoding is half to three quarters of the length of the film. The quality produced by Instant Copy is usually noticeably better than that obtained with DVD2One. Although the squares do fit, they are much smaller. Among the features of the image obtained with Instant Copy, one can note the increasing artifacts of DCT compression (especially on small details). In addition, apparently the Instant Copy image is processed with noise reduction, which can blur small details somewhat. But in general, it’s very, very decent.

What can be considered a huge plus of Instant Copy is the standard nature of the DVD video discs obtained with its help. The most fastidious players happily swallow and play discs made in Instant Copy. Some may be put off by the absence of the AUDIO_TS directory in the DVD root, but the widespread belief that it is required is most likely wrong. This can be confirmed not only by the excellent playback of discs made using Instant Copy, but also by some branded discs that do not have this directory (for example, Aliens, Special Edition of the first zone).

Discs made by many other programs do not always boast such high compatibility. It would seem that there is a direct way to do everything and always using Instant Copy and not have to worry about anything else. Unfortunately, this is not the case. When you need to burn a protected DVD that does not need to be resized, then Instant Copy is no longer suitable (after all, it cannot write directly from such a disk, and when working with files on the HDD, it will certainly compress them, even when this is not necessary), and you have to turn to other methods.

Stage three. Burning to DVD

Let's start with the simplest case. When the DVD capacity is less than 4.7 gigabytes, and it can fit entirely onto a recordable DVD, then you can get by with just one program. Well known to us DVD Decrypter. For this it has an ISO mode. First, we read the contents of the DVD disc and write it to the image (Mode – ISO – Read, or simply R). Then we take the finished image and burn it to DVD (Mode – ISO – Write, or simply W). All. The discs obtained by this method are quite correct; there should not be any big problems with their operation on stationary players. Unfortunately, this method is suitable for a limited number of disks. How to deal with the rest is described above :-)

Whatever method you use to deal with excess megabytes and gigabytes (with the exception of such “harvesters” as Instant Copy), the end result is the same. You have a set of files that look like the contents of a DVD video disc and are played by software players like a DVD disc. How do you get the correct DVD from this set of files?

There are several ways. But they can all be divided into two subsets.

Creating a disk image and burning it any program, which can do this (the same DVD Decrypter).
Burn DVD component files directly to DVD.

Creating an image is a more labor-intensive process, but more “correct”, as practice shows, disks made in this way work on more players. Of course, provided that the image is created correctly. There are many methods for creating a disk image, I will describe only one. Let's use the already familiar IfoEdit. To create an image, create the VIDEO_TS folder in the root of any HDD, and drop the files that make up the DVD disc there. Load VIDEO_TS.IFO from this set and click on the Disk Image button. A window like this will open

The image creation mechanism has not been fully debugged, so it is not necessary to enter real data in this window; it will not be used anyway. Click on OK and we will see another window.

This is the main window of the program. Fill in all sections of the window.

We choose where and under what name the image should be placed.
Select the disk in the root of which VIDEO_TS with the necessary files is located.
We write what the disk should be called.

The program interface is somewhat unusual. To get started, simply check the Create Disk image checkbox. That's all. There is no need to click on anything else or make other body movements. As soon as you check the box, the image creation process will immediately begin.

The resulting image can be written to disk in any way you like. For example Nero Burning ROM.

But Nero is suitable not only for burning ready-made images; with its help you can write full-fledged DVD discs simply from a set of files. Before you begin, be SURE to update Nero to the latest version. This will help you get rid of unnecessary problems with the compatibility of your disks (which, as of today Nero 5.5.10.15a, although good, is not ideal). After the update, launch Nero and select DVD recording. Next we have two options. It is most logical to use the DVD Video template.

In this case, Nero will automatically create the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directories in the root of the disc project. The files that we obtained earlier should be placed in VIDEO_TS. From the project settings, do not forget to uncheck Joilet and Relax ISO Restrictions.

In addition, the disk must be written in No Multisession and Disk-At-Once modes. IN latest version Nero installs this automatically.

All that remains is to click on the Burn button. Nero will check the integrity of the files and begin recording. Sometimes, for some unknown reason, Nero does not accept perfectly functional files. And then you have to deceive him :-) Perhaps this is due to the fact that the file system on DVD is absolutely the same for all types of disk (data, video, music, etc.). And Nero's DVD Video template doesn't do anything special other than create directories and check files. Therefore, exactly the same results can be achieved by creating a simple DVD-ROM (ISO). All that is required is to create the VIDEO_TS directory on the disk, place the necessary files in it and correctly configure the disk parameters

The quality of discs produced using Nero improves from version to version. But, unfortunately, the creators of Nero failed to achieve full compatibility, and there are DVD players that do not want to work with discs created by him, but work perfectly with discs obtained by Instant Copy, or recorded from an image. However, the number of such players with each new version Nero is shrinking, and today the quality of the resulting discs will satisfy many people. The only way to find out if this is right for you is to burn a few test discs and check how they work. Good luck.

Greetings! Although CDs are no longer in fashion, because they are being intensively squeezed out by flash drives, I still decided to write an article today about how to copy an entire DVD/CD to a computer or other CD. I think many this instruction will be interesting and useful. We will copy the contents of the disks using UltraIso programs, thanks to which you can create disk images, write them to flash drives, hard drives, CDs, etc. The program is easy to learn and at the same time functional, so we will use it to copy discs.

Note: you can copy the contents of a disk to a computer and then write it to a blank disc standard means operating system. However, if you copy the contents in this way boot disk, and write to a new blank disk, then the new media will not be bootable.

How to copy DVD/CD to computer

If UltraISO is not installed on your computer, then download and install it first. So, first of all, insert the disc into the DVD-ROM drive. Afterwards we launch the UltraISO program,

Now we need to click on the "Create CD image" button

The image creation window will open, where we need to specify the main parameters. First of all, let’s check whether the correct drive is selected, then indicate the location on the computer where you want to save the disk image (for example, I chose the Desktop). Click the "Make" button

The process of creating a disk image will begin,

When finished, you will see a window like this:

Click no.

The disk image is successfully created and saved on the local disk.

How to copy a DVD/CD to another CD

Using the method described above, we saved the disk image to the computer. Now if you want to make a copy of the disk, you need to burn this image to a blank CD/DVD disk. Well, let's get started.

Insert a blank disc into the drive. Now let’s open the previously created disco image in *.iso format,

Now on the panel we find the “Burn CD image” button and click on it,

The Burn Image window will then open. Select the CD burning speed and click the "Burn" button.

The disc will begin burning, you can occupy yourself for 10-15 minutes. Upon completion, remove the disk and check. It's as simple as that copy DVD disc to another.

Programs for copying CDs, DVDs.

↓ New in the Copy category:

Free
Super Copy 2.0 is a small application to make copying files easier. You can also use the Super Copy application to copy large files from faulty media.

Free
DVD Rebuilder 0.98.1 is intended to help users copy DVD discs. DVD Rebuilder makes it very easy to create a perfect DVD copy, including menus, subtitles, language translations for the movie and other related data.

Free
EasyDivX 0.8.2.0 will help you convert DVD Video to DivX format. EasyDivX is a grabber for DVD discs.

Free
ImTOO DVD Ripper 7.0.0.1121 will help you quickly make copies of DVD movies in more compressed and popular formats. The ImTOO DVD Ripper program supports creating copies in MPEG1, VCD, MPEG4, SVCD, MPEG2, DivX, AVI and other equally popular formats.

Free
Ashampoo Burning Studio 9.21/11.0.2 is a program that provides high-quality recording of discs of any format. The Ashampoo Burning Studio program allows you to create various projects, as well as burn any discs on modern or old drives. The program also supports long file names (127-character DVD or Blu-ray and 64-character for CD discs), it is possible automatic setting parameters and saving or loading the saved project.

Free
CloneDVD 5.5.0.5 - this application can easily create a completely identical copy of a DVD movie or burn it to disk.

Free
CDBurnerXP 4.4.0.2838 is a program that can burn a disc of any size and format. The CDBurnerXP program can burn discs both from images and from folders located on the computer; it can burn data discs or audio CDs with equal quality.

Free
Alcohol 120% 2.0.1.2033 is a program that can not only create backups disks in the form of an image, but also record them on media.

Free
DVDFab Platinum 7.0.3.0 is an easy way to rip DVDs. What makes DVDFab Platinum special is the speed with which it does its job without compromising the quality of the converted file.

Free
DVDFab 8.1.3.6 is one of the most powerful programs for quickly ripping movies from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD while maintaining high quality and full support for PAL and NTSC. It can also dub DVDs into the computer's memory.

Free
CloneCD 5.3.1.4 is a very powerful program that creates backup copies of CDs. The CloneCD program allows you to create perfect copies for most of your existing protected disks.

Free
DVD2One 2.4.1 – makes it possible to compress data from 8 GB disks to 4 GB in size, so you can burn a double-layer DVD onto a standard 4.7 GB disk.

Free
Nero 9.4.26.0b is a large software suite designed for digital media or home entertainment center latest technologies enjoying popularity and trust in all countries of the world.

Free
AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) 2.55 - is a package of programs that are designed for automatic conversion to DivX or XviD formats DVD movies. The software package includes utilities such as: AviSynth/AviSynth Filters, Auto Gordian Knot, VobSub, VirtualDubMod, DGMPGDec, as well as all codecs that may be needed.

Computer technology is rapidly and successfully evolving, delighting users with new opportunities. Technological progress in recent years has also revealed to the world many storage media with impressive memory capacities, especially in comparison with previously existing ones. Among their variety, optical disks are also quite common. Many users at one time managed to accumulate decent collections of films, music, games recorded on CDs and DVDs, which most often gather dust without use. But even now, when their popularity is no longer at its peak, and there are a sufficient number of necessary information, sometimes you have to copy some data to disk. If we are talking about personal files (photos, videos, documents, etc.) that cannot be retrieved from the Internet in any way, the question is especially relevant.

TOP programs for copying CD and DVD discs.

Despite the widespread use of USB flash drives and portable hard drives, which are not even comparable in capacity to CDs and DVDs, but are more compact, reliable and practical, the use of this type of information storage is still in effect. For this reason, working with optical discs requires special software, the functionality of which allows you to create and record images, rewrite information, including from damaged media, and also perform other operations.

All utilities designed to work with disks serve a common purpose, but in addition to the standard set of options that provide for creating copies, some software can recover data from old damaged disks. This possibility can simply be a lifesaver in some cases when it is not possible to return data in any other way, for example, if the information is not public, is not distributed over the network, and is present only in a single copy. Additional options included in the functionality of programs in addition to the main one may be important to the user to one degree or another. Here it all depends on the situation, because sometimes it is enough to achieve a specific goal, but other functions will not be applicable, then there is no point in downloading cumbersome software, so the choice will be individual for everyone.

Probably every user has come across a multifunctional service from a well-known developer. The old-timer in this category of software market is still in operation and offers users a wide range of capabilities that fit into one program. In addition to recording information of any format on different types media, the Nero Burning ROM toolkit includes conversion, cover creation and other options. Despite the huge functionality, working with Nero is simple, the interface is convenient and understandable even for an inexperienced user, the Russian language is supported, and there is also an assistant that makes it easier to master the program. You can customize the toolbar according to your requirements. provide extended media life, which is important when the disk is often overwritten.

After starting, you need to choose which CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc you will work with and determine the type of project. Disc recording can be done in one go or using the multi-session option, which provides the ability to add media as needed while there is free space.

An equally popular product is Alcohol 120%, designed for creating and mounting CD, DVD and Blu-ray images. This powerful tool, with which you can make up to 31 virtual drive and work with them at the same time. Essentially, Alcohol 120% products replace the optical drive, which is only necessary for the first copy of the image. Keeping ready virtual disks to your computer, you can always return to them to quickly record information on CD/DVD discs. The program supports various image formats, and also allows you to create a copy directly from one media to another. Among other advantages, it is possible to bypass media protection. The functionality also includes cleaning CD/DVD RW and checking recording quality.

A powerful tool that allows you to copy CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The package contains all the basic and additional options that the user may need. Impressive functionality that allows you to create images, write on blanks various information, create backup copies and restore information from them, copy directly from one media to another, make covers, disc menus (the ability to create slide shows and overlay sound effects) and much more. Using the software, you can write both in multisession mode, then continuing recording, and without it; the fifteenth version of the program also involves creating bootable disks.

Multifunctional software product from a famous developer. Despite the abundance of options, working with the recorder is easy, the interface is simple and clear. Except standard features recording and rewriting CD/DVD media present in the arsenal of any similar software, the program can create bootable disks, supports test mode, emulating burning before real action, has a laser calibration option and many others interesting features. The recorder writes in one go or starts/continues a multi-session, at the user's choice. Advanced users can use the expert mode and configure certain recording parameters themselves.

A program for copying DVDs, as well as Blu-ray, converting to other formats and processing video files. The tool allows you to copy, convert and compress DVDs so that the information fits on a disc with a minimum of loss of quality. You can split the video file into two discs with the same menu, as well as remove commercials from the film and other useful options. Using the tool, you can copy information to a computer, reformat Blu-ray to DVD, selectively burn files, extract audio tracks from a video stream, and convert video.

A small but quite functional program for burning CD/DVD/Blu-ray media, supporting a large number of image formats. The ImgBurn tool provides detailed information about the disk, its state and all completed sessions in the case of RW. The program can create images from disks or files, write them or individual objects to media, and also check for readability.

A program for Windows OS that allows you to create, edit and convert various image formats, as well as write discs. The tool will copy CD/DVD media, can emulate ready-made images and burn a copy of CD or DVD. The program is easy to use, does not require special skills from the user and, despite its small functionality, still has the necessary options for working with disks.

The program copies DVD movies to media, hard drive or ISO image with full preservation of all data, including menus, subtitles and other elements. At the user's choice, a disk clone can be created, unnecessary data such as advertising, some audio tracks, subtitles, etc. can be removed. Clone DVD allows you to bypass protection, as well as split the file into two disks or compress information to one medium.

An excellent option for copying CDs if there is no need for advanced functionality. The program exactly transfers files from one media to another, allows you to create an image of the copied disk, which is useful when you have one drive. Many users will be interested in the ability to bypass some protection methods.

A convenient tool for quickly copying encrypted DVD data- media to the computer's hard drive. The program has a convenient and simple interface, is easy to learn, so the user does not require special knowledge to use it. Among the software's capabilities are saving data as images or individual files, folders, writing images to disk, cleaning media, cache synchronization and many other options. The program supports many formats; the advantage of using it is also the speed of operation when high quality its implementation.

A popular program that emulates CD/DVD drives. Very useful tool, which allows you to create disk images in different formats and use them as if the optical disk was actually in a real drive. Functional Daemon Tools also supports bypassing copy protection; the option of recording images on physical media is also available, but in the paid version of the software. Free Daemon Tools Lite, its capabilities are somewhat limited, but this does not prevent it from becoming an excellent assistant if CD/DVD drive emulation is required.

Programs for copying from damaged disks

There are carriers that have already seen a lot, are scratched, have other mechanical damage and are often unable to reproduce. There is software specifically designed for the purpose of recovering data from such disks. Of course, the programs are not endowed with magical properties, and do not imply resuscitation of completely unfit carriers, but try to save necessary information with their help it's worth it.

A small but very effective program for copying files from damaged disks and other media; it can be used to recover data from CD/DVDs, memory cards, flash devices and others. The utility can be used on all popular operating systems Windows systems from XP to tens. The BadCopy Pro tool supports a large number of formats, includes the ability to recover data after formatting or damaged disks if the media has been damaged (scratched). The software is characterized by automation of the process, which will be convenient for non-advanced users.

The software is designed to copy data from unreadable, damaged CD/DVD media, hard drives, floppy disks (if any are still in use), memory cards, USB drive and others. The utility puts together the broken file, allowing you to read the information. If any elements cannot be recognized, the lost areas from the damaged disk are filled with random data. You can copy information in three ways: from a medium to a computer, immediately make a complete copy of it, or after copying, write it to a blank. Despite the fact that there have been no software updates for a long time, the program copes with its task quite well, resuscitating information that is often impossible to extract using standard means.

Software for removing copy protection

Sometimes problems can arise when copying DVDs, as manufacturers often try to protect their own products by encoding the media. At the same time, there is software that can remove copy protection, giving the user complete freedom of action.

Any DVD HD

A program designed to remove protection from DVDs. With Any DVD HD, it is possible to watch video from a drive whose region code does not correspond to the given media. According to the developer, the program is capable of breaking any DVD data encryption code, removing protection and restrictions on user actions. The functionality also provides for the removal of subtitles, watermarks reminding that copying is prohibited, etc. Any DVD HD works with any drives, DVD media and disc burning software.

30.12.2010 14:51

This article will teach you how to rip music from an audio CD and save each track as a separate file using Windows Media Player.

Setting up music copying

1. Open Start > All Programs > Windows Media Player. If the Start menu shortcut is removed, press the Windows key + R , type wmplayer.exe and click OK.

2. In the Windows Media Player window (in Library mode), click Arrange > Options.

3. In the window that opens, open the tab.

Here you can specify a folder to save music (the selected folder will be added to “Music”), as well as configure the format and quality of audio files. Available audio formats:

WMA 48-192 kbps;
WMA Pro 48-192 kbps;
WMA (variable bit rate) from 40-75 kbit/s to 240-355 kbit/s;
WMA without data loss 470-940 kbit/s;
MP3 128-320 kbps;
WAV – sound format without loss of quality.

The bitrate (sound quality) is changed using the slider.

Copying tracks from an audio CD

1. Insert an audio CD into the drive.

2. Open Windows Media Player. If the player starts in file list mode, switch it to library mode.

3. Select the checkboxes of the tracks you want to copy.

4. In the player navigation pane, right-click the CD and select Copy disc to library.