[ericdha]

Hi,

This is my first post..

At my job I was recently given the task of coordinating the transfer of 10 years worth of videotaped education seminars (VHS) to DVD. Originally I asked our media vendor if we gave them a large hard drive or two, could they return a DVD copy as well as a copy of the video file saved to the drive. They said there were actually two different processes at work and that anything more that a strict DVD transfer would be very expensive.

So I wondered, when I get these transferred DVDs back from the vendor, can I simply copy the Video_TS Folders to our external drive for backup. I know this wouldn't be watchable video at this point, but would these copied Video_TS folders be able to be built back into a watchable video at some point, and what program would be used to do this? My reasoning for wanting to backup these DVDs as Video_TS Folders is that after going to all the trouble and expense of a VHS to DVD transfer, I do not want risk loosing my raw data if the DVD is lost.

In summary my questions are:
1. Will copying the Video_TS Folder from a DVD to an external drive be able to be recombined at some point into a watchable format?
2. What are examples of programs that could perform this?
3. Is there any other inexpensive/efficient way I should be thinking of in terms of backing these transfers up?

Thanks so much for any assistance!

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What you're asking for is easy to do... depending on a few things.

There are many programs that can rip DVD files from the DVDs the vendor makes for you. The rippers will rip everything... the VOB files, the IFOs... everything. So... if you use such a ripper and place the files on a hard drive, then you will have no problems burning new copies of the DVDs when you need them.

What kind of DVDs will the vendor be making for you?

Edited by makai, 12 December 2008 - 10:07 PM.

[makai]

What you're asking for is easy to do... depending on a few things.

There are many programs that can rip DVD files from the DVDs the vendor makes for you. The rippers will rip everything... the VOB files, the IFOs... everything. So... if you use such a ripper and place the files on a hard drive, then you will have no problems burning new copies of the DVDs when you need them.

What kind of DVDs will the vendor be making for you?

Edited by makai, 12 December 2008 - 10:07 PM.

[ericdha]

Hi Makai,

Thank you for your response.

In our office we use MACs, I have a Macbook Pro. I do not know exactly what kind of DVDs the vendor is making. They seem like a nice quality DVD-R with printing on it.

Is there any disc information I should pay special attention to?

Best,

Eric

[makai]

Hello,

Oops! I guess I should have read your avatar info... you're running the "enemy" OS!!!!!

In any case, I don't work with Macs, (but I used to!), ... try MacTheRipper. It'll rip the DVD files for back up, then you can burn them. In the communities, I've heard of it, so I'm sure it'll work for you.

The reason I mentioned "depending on a few things", is because I didn't know if you were going to instruct the vendor as to what size, rather what type, DVDs to use. If they use Dual Layer DVDs, then you will have to think about shrinking it down in size before putting them onto regular 4.7gb discs. Of course, if you can burn to Dual Layer, and you don't mind paying the premium cost for dual layer blank disks, then it doesn't matter. I recommend you have the vendor go with regular DVDs so you won't have to worry about shrinking, or extra cost.

Unfortunately, I'm a Windows guy so I can't really recommend many Mac apps. Sorry if I wasn't much help.

makai

Edited by makai, 15 December 2008 - 04:20 PM.

[ericdha]

Thanks again!

I will stick with regular DVDs and check into Mac the Ripper.

Best,

Eric