Hi guys! I have spent the day studying how to backup dvds and i have come to this conclusion; Dvd fabdecrypter - Dvd shrink - Dvd decrypter. I dont have a dvd burner drive. Is it absolutely necessary to have 1 or could i do the job with a cd burner? as stupid as this question may sound please help!
you do need a dvd burner to backup the dvd, a cd burner will not work. i guess if you compress the file to a small enuf size it can be done though it wouldn't be practical because the quality would be horrible, below vhs standards.
You can do the burning on CDs, with a CD burner, as long as you have a DVD-ROM to make the rips. However, it's more work, the result isn't as good, and the discs are actually more expensive per MB than DVD. Spend $30-$50 on a DVD writer, you won't regret moving to DVD.
Make sure you get a quality burner. Lots of those burners out there are junk. By junk,I mean low stand alone compatability. I've got 6 drives and my stand alone players tell me which burner's backups they'll play,and which ones they don't. Here's some other reasons why I suggest quality burners: 1) Coaster percentage-less headaches. 2) Lower errors on your backups.Thay may factor in down the road when you may have to make an extra copy. 3) More firmware updates.Firmware controls the writing strategy to control the burn.Some models take forever to update their drives for the newer media coming onto the market. 4) Booktyping-also known as bitsetting: If you plan on your backups to play on a lot of stand alone players/game consoles/and pc drives,this booktyping is a big asset. Helps the compatability of your backups.Also gives you a third format. 5) Longevity- Combine a dvd-rom to do the ripping, and your burner will last a long time. 6) Faster burning. Combine that quality drive with quality media like verbatim and taiyo yuden.Some of these burners perform better at the faster speed! You don't have to pay much,probably cheaper than you think.I've gotten all 3 of my benqs for between $37 to $50. Stick with the big dogs of dvd burner drives: Plextor BenQ-1600 Lite-on LG Pioneer NEC Sony Check out newegg.com They have some great deals on these quality drives.Much cheaper than a local store,if you can wait a few days.
Ok thanx again fo the help. At the moment i have a cd burner/dvd rom. So my best option is to fit another dvd burner/rom? Also Ive seen external drives been advertised, Would this be more convenient?
maca1 , Internal burners are always better but externals will work. If you have a big enough Power supply and enough room go w/ internal burner as they are cheaper
Just to add a bit to Car.Mike's post: Since the drives aren't usually running at the same time, there's little to worry about. Most people aren't playing CDs while burning a DVD in the other drive or vice versa. In other words, don't multitask the drives and there's no fear at all of the power supply being insufficient. With some low output power supplies, running anything extra at the same time as the originally configured hardware can cause issues. The better brands of manufactured PCs nowadays are configured for multiple drives, so the standard power supply has enough extra output for the accessory drives available. So, if not able to figure out the power supply output, at least look at the possible configuration of the system in question. For instance Dell offers 2 optical drives as well as a FDD and card reader on most of their models. So if opting not to get all of them, the system can be upgraded later because the same power supply (along with other things) is still used.
As for DVD burner selection. I've owned Memorex (rebadged Pioneer), Plextor, HP, Samsung, and Asus. Only the Plex is capable of booktyping and it is one of the later acquisitions. The Asus is still untried, but has the option to burn RAM, It was purchased for a new build I'm doing. I can say that the HP reads better than the Plex, but the Plex has burning capabilities that I'm happy with. So, you can have some trade offs according to the burner purchased. I've a few hundred DVDs that are not booktyped and they play well on all my standalone players and those of other family members with one exception. A sister-in-law has a freebie promo player that only plays DVD ROM, so the booktyping option would make the DVDs playable, or should, on her cheapo player. Not a problem for me. It's usually about as expensive to buy a player as it is to buy a special burner to burn for a limited support player. A multi format player is rather inexpensive nowadays. If you think you'll run into a compatibility issue and you want to hedge your bets, buy a burner that will booktype. It doesn't hurt to have it, but it's not considered a must by the industry because some drives have it and some don't. As I mentioned, most players over the past few years support at least one of the recordable formats. I recommend adding the HP to the list that Saugmon has compiled. The one I have has the option to burn lightscribe labels, something the Plex won't do. The discs are a bit more expensive, so I limit those to special projects. As I said, trade offs for those with one drive. I'm one of the luckier people with multiple options. ROMs are cheaper, but you can get some nice burn options with different burner drives, something to think of. The lightscribe option alone is worth having the HP with the Plex instead of a ROM drive, not to mention the better reading ability of the HP, which was a pleasant surprise.
Also if you plan on using multiple drives (beyond 4) its crucial you get a decent PSU (at least 500w).
Both me and my dad bought the same HP 1118xb within a week apart. Both pcs only came with a 250 w ps. My cousin just bought an HP a month ago,and it only came with 250 w. First thing I did within the first week: Replaced that ps with an antec smartpower 2.0/400 wt ps.I then pulled out the crappy HP 640c because too many errors in my backups.Replaced my benq 1620 in it,added my lite-on 167T dvd-rom drive/added another half gb pc 3200,and extra case fans. Can you imagine ripping a brand new pc apart before it's a week old? LOL. HP did throw some pretty crappy stuff in there,just had to be improved. This is an awesome dvd burning pc. I later swapped out that litey dvd-rom with the HP 640c lightscribe. Only for reading and light scribing.It is a very good reader,just poor burner. No fw updates for it since I bought this pc. A fw update may help those issues I get on it. Rip and burn on the fly? No problem. My backup pc use to rip and burn on the fly,until I slapped in that khypermedia +8x drive.Now it don't have that option. I may have to slap that 167t litey in there. Quality burner is a must!! I've got 3 of them here not burning at all. They all play their own backups ok,just many stand alone playback issues. I've got 3 benq's a booktyping away,and A benq 1650 being shipped from canada.
Thanx for the info guys! I know my player plays DVD-R anyway so im not too worried about compatabilty issues nor am I worried about power (I think) coz Im only talking bout 2 drives. The Lightscribing sounds cool but so I'll keep the Hp in mind but, Does anybody have anything to say about the 'Lite-On DVDRW 16x Double layer' ? because I would only have to travel 5 mins to a store that sells them.
