Hi, I've been backing up dvds for several years now, and unfortunately have learned the hard way the pitfalls of using second-rate blank media. What I'm looking for is the best dvd-rom reader out there for the express purpose of making copies of my 2-3-year-old crappy burns. In other words, I want to back-up my back-ups. Many of these discs will still play OK in one of my standalone players, but others won't. When I try to make new copies from them sometimes the three burners I have will do the job, sometimes I'll just get tons of errors. Can anyone advise on a good drive for this purpose? It's got to be able to do a bit of off-roading, so to speak. Thanks.
Old adage - Garbage in - Garbage out. If your source data is crap, it is highly unlikely that you will achieve better quality by recording again no matter what reader or media you use.
Thanks, but if I can read the data (as I can with many of them still) I can make a better, and longer lasting, backup. There's nothing wrong with the video quality of the discs, and as I noted many will still play completely through in my standalone players. This won't always be the case, I'm sure, hence my request. So, if anyone actually has an answer to my question I'm still listening. Thanks.
Still listening but obviously not comprehending. Second adage: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Many DVD players are more tolerant of poorly encoded media compared with computer DVD players/burners and will often sporadically play same. The problem remains: Crap in - Crap out. The only way you can correct this is re-rip the originals using appropriate techniques and quality media. I would try ripping using DVD Decrytper in ISO - Read mode. If this completes successfully you will have a strong chance of replication your original. If it fails you are stuffed. Perchance that you are successful with ISO-R, then use ISO-W to burn the disk.
The adages aren't necessary, the point is obvious. Nonetheless, crap in, crap out isn't cut and dried. Example: I have a backup of a certain movie made on a lousy dvd-r three years ago. It plays fine in my Sony standalone but not in my other set-top players. In another couple of years it probably won't even play in the Sony. When attempting to rip it to make another backup one of my drives stumbles over a certain VOB file while another drive doesn't (yet this second drive can't rip a different VOB file which the first drive can). Between the three drives I have I can rip every file on the disc and make a perfect backup, but none will do the whole disc by itself. I have many movies which fit this profile. Obviously I am using file mode in this case since iso mode won't work for any of the drives. In the end I am able to make a new, perfect copy on TY media which will last years, but I had to waste a lot of time and use three drives to do it. I think my desire to find the best ripping drive out there is obvious. Perhaps there are drives which are more likely to rip the entire disc in cases like I detailed above, thus saving me time. It's not as simple as crap in , crap out, since each of my present drives sees different files as "crap," while the others don't. In other words, all the data is still there, but the tolerances of the drives vary with regards to being able to read the different files or sections of the lousy disc. Certainly I have some old discs which can't be ripped by any drive. In these cases I clearly have to rerip the original disc. But when I can I'd prefer to avoid reripping the originals of around 300 discs and would rather invest in the best ripping drive out there.
I have four drives , three burners and one ROM. All of different makes.The best reader is my BenQ DW 1640. I too have had bad copies that were hard to read. The BenQ 1640 is hard to find now, but the DW 1650 drive should be out next Month. At around 50 dollars in U.S. Good luck on getting them backed up...
