"Hi, does anyone have ever tried copying their DVDs to their computer? I have some old movies on DVD and I was thinking about backing them up. But I've never done this before so I'm going to need a few tips on how to do that. By the way I use a computer that's running Windows 8, if that helps at all."

Getting a DVD backed up, especially old ones, is a wise decision. And it's a piece of cake. You can easily handle DVD backup on Windows 8 with help of specific software. The reason why it's so suggested to back up old DVDs is that they are fragile and can be easily scratched. And once damages are done on them, it's hard to recover and it'll make the movie watching experience terrible. And the worst part is you might not be able to buy a new DVD disc once the old one is damaged, especially the old movie DVDs. So if you don't want to lose your old DVDs, just have them backed up properly. It won't take you a lot of time to do it and it will only do you good.

Why are DVDs so fragile?

After being used for years, a lot of people have noticed how easy it is to scratch a DVD. Once a scratch is left on the surface of a DVD disc, it could cause skips or distortion in the playback. If there are big scratches on the disc, it could even stop the playback. And not only scratches, fingerprints, grease, dust and other debris could also have the same negative effects on the DVD. The main reason why DVDs are so vulnerable is that their data is packed more densely. Even a small scratch could have a big bad effect on the playback of the DVD. So you need to handle your DVDs more carefully if you don't have a backup and want to use it for longer. With time goes by, scratches will accumulate on the surface of the disc which might eventually cause the disc to fail. And that's one of the reasons why it's strongly recommended to have your DVDs, especially old ones, backed up properly.

How to Copy DVD in Windows 8

To copy DVD windows 8 users first need to get a few things prepared and have something figured out in advance. There are different ways to duplicate DVD Windows 8 users could try. First they can choose to copy the DVD to their computer hard drive and another way is to copy the DVD directly to a new DVD. Users will need to decide which way to go and then get the needed things prepared properly.

  • 1. One or two DVD drives, depending on how you want to copy the DVD. And a DVD drive capable of DVD burning is needed in all cases.
  • 2. One piece of DVD copy software capable of copying DVD discs losslessly.
  • 3. Re-writable DVD discs( if you want to copy the original DVD to a new DVD disc)

If you just want to save the copy of your DVD movies in your hard drive, then only one DVD drive is needed. But to perform a directly DVD to DVD copying, you are going to need two drives and one of the drives should support DVD burning. The program that I'm introducing to you would be able to help you perform both tasks.

2.1 What program to copy DVD Windows 8 users could try

We will be using a program called Leawo DVD Copy. The reason why it stands out as our first choice for DVD copying is that it can copy DVDs with no quality loss. The program can help users create a 1:1 lossless backup of their DVDs in several different forms. It can save the DVD folder to your computer hard drive. It can convert the DVD into an ISO image. You can also use it to directly copy DVD to DVD in Windows 8 using two DVD drives. If you need, you can also use the program to burn the DVD folder or DVD ISO file to a blank disc using the program to create a new DVD disc. What it means is that you can copy one DVD disc to a new disc using one drive as well. But it will be slightly more complicated than directly copying a DVD to another DVD disc with two drives. In the content below I will show you how to copy DVD to hard drive as well as to a new disc.

2.2 How to Copy DVD Windows 8 with Leawo DVD Copy

First I will show you how to copy DVD to hard drive and later how to copy DVD to DVD directly with two drives.

Note that Leawo DVD Copy is bundled with 7 other products of Leawo's inside a program called Prof.Media.

   

Step 1. First start Prof.Media and click DVD Copy from the interface to kick off DVD Copy.

Launch DVD Copy

Step 2. Put the original DVD disc in your DVD drive and it will usually take a few seconds for the computer to recognize and be able to read the disc. And then back in the program, click Add Blu-ray/DVD to display a drop-down menu with 3 options: Add from CD-ROM at the top, Add from folder in the middle and Add ISO file at the bottom. Here we would choose Add from CD-ROM and a new menu would show up. Click on the new menu to import the DVD to the program.

Load DVD Content

Step 3. The following panel will have everything in the disc shown in front of you and you need to decide what content to save to the copy. There are 3 main things you need to choose: videos, subtitles and audio tracks. You have 3 buttons to help choose them quickly. Full Movie, without doubt, chooses all the content at the same time. Main Movie will only have the main movie chosen and along with it is one set of subtitle and audio track. Custom Mode gives you the chance for choosing them manually. After that, click the button in the bottom-left to choose a format for the copy. You will see DVD-9 and DVD-5 from the drop-down menu. Choose one according to the format of the original disc and the re-writable disc you have if you are copying the disc to a new disc.

Select content to copy

Step 4. You should find a green Copy button in the upper-right corner. Click on this button to call out a sidebar. On this sidebar you can choose to copy the disc to your hard drive and to a new disc at the same time. On the top there are 3 options you can check. If you check Folder, the program will copy the DVD folder to your hard drive. If you check ISO file, the program will convert the DVD content to an ISO image and put it in your hard drive. If you have had the other DVD drive connected to your hard drive, you can find it in the drop-down menu of the third-option. Put a re-writable disc in the drive and you can select it as the target to copy the original disc to it. The three options can all be chosen at the same time, meaning that you can copy the DVD to a new DVD disc and at the same time copy it to your hard drive. You can choose which options to check according to your needs.

Start copy

Note that the DVD folder and DVD ISO file can be burnt to a new disc using Leawo DVD Copy. All you need to do is import them to the program and repeat the above steps to burn the DVD folder or ISO file to a rewritable DVD disc.

Other programs to copy DVD

Although Leawo DVD Copy offers the best features as a DVD copy software, there are other alternative software programs that you could try. The list is as follows:

1. CloneDVD 2

It is a cloning and backing up solution for DVD discs, developed by Elby Elaborate Bytes. It spots a very intuitive and easy to use interface. It gives you the option to create backups which preserve 100% of the original quality, or transcoding them to other formats which can also compress the videos. It also allows you to select your audio and language settings while you determine the final target size (the target size is freely adjustable). The main features of this software include a visual bar, which will show you how configuration affects the quality of the final backup or copy. The video preview shows an overview of all selectable DVD titles. Chapter trimming and splitting is available, and you can also include or exclude the original menu. You can also take picture snapshots while transcoding. The downsides of this software are slower copy speeds, the lack of decrypting technologies and the lack of a built-in video editor. This software is also only available on Windows, therefore macOS users can try other alternatives.

clone-dvd

2. BDlot DVD ISO Master

This is a free DVD ripper for users who want to backup any DVD disc to an ISO file, which can be burnt onto another DVD or Blu-ray Disc. It can rip common and encrypted DVD discs to ISO, without support from a third party DVD decrypting software. It has the ability to remove both DVD region codes and DVD protections like CSS, CPRM, CPPM, APS, UOPs, ARccOS, Rip-Guard, and Disney X protection. While its decryption technology is very powerful, you have to note that this application was last updated around 2013 which means decrypting might not work in some instances. Moreover, the output of files is only limited to ISO. As such, you will need a third-party DVD to video converter for converting ISO files to videos playable on portable devices.

bdlot-dvd-iso-master

3. DVD Cloner

DVD-Cloner is a DVD copier, decrypter, and a DVD shrinker that will enable you to copy DVDs of any kind quickly and easily onto your computer or blank discs. Apart from the DVD disc copy, this software will also enable you to burn your stored DVD folders and ISO files to blank DVD discs, at the same original quality. Multiple copy modes are selectable for different needs, and they are 1:1 disc to disc copy, Movie-only DVD copy, Customized DVD Copy, DVD-9 to DVD-5 compression, etc. At the same time, DVD Cloner offers other features, like the ability to split DVD-9 discs into 2 DVD-5 disc, the ability to select subtitles and audio tracks, the ability to keep/remove DVD menu, etc. We think this software could meet your needs, but it is the most expensive among the 4 software tools mentioned in this guide.

dvd-cloner

How to better protected DVD discs so that they can last longer

There are a lot of things you will do when handling the DVD disc that might damage or leave scratches on the disc. What you should do is handle it more carefully and try to avoid those situations from happening. Here are a few tips on better handling the DVD discs.

  • 1. To prevent leaving scratches on the surface of the DVD, remember not to lay the disc down on a table or other places that might have a rough surface.
  • 2. Keep the disc clean at any time. Avoid grease, dust and dirt. Put it in a suitable case that could protect the disc from the abovementioned threats. When getting it out of the case or in other situation, try using just two fingers to handle it: one on the edge of the disc and one in the hole. That'll avoid touching on the surface of the disc thus preventing leaving grease on the surface.
  • 3. If you must clean a disc, use the cleaner that comes with your DVD player or get one from stores. Clean it gently from the center to its outer perimeter.
  • 4. Don't put the disc under intense direct light as it might cause damage to the dye layers inside and cause the disc to fail.
  • 5. Some unplayable discs are fixable. So when finding a problematic disc, try using commercial cleaning or scratch-repair products to fix it before tossing it away.

Clean DVD

To copy DVD Windows 8 users have a lot of choices but Leawo DVD Copy is absolutely one of the best. And remember to handle your original discs carefully to prevent accidents.