One day, we wanted to watch one of our favorite DVD movies. We popped in into our DVD player, sat back on the couch, relaxed, and let ourselves get thoroughly into the action. Then it happened, and of course during a totally gripping scene: The movie playback suddenly got choppy, and then froze. Our DVD player was stuck, and we had to turn it off. When we ejected the DVD and flipped it over, there it was: a scratch deep enough to disrupt the movie, as well as put an end to our viewing experience.

 

As versatile as DVDs are, the disc surface area is quite sensitive and prone to scratches that’ll render it unusable. If you have kids at home, chances are you’ve spotted your little ones enamored with the shiny discs and how they make great toys. Or maybe you’re just a little careless (unintentionally or not) with the discs. That’s why it’s a good idea to make backups of
your DVDs.

 

To do so, you need a freeware app called MacTheRipper (www.mactheripper.org) to extract the contents of the disc to your hard drive, and Roxio Toast 8 Titanium ($99.99, www.roxio.com) to burn the movie files onto a new DVD (you can also use Roxio’s Popcorn, which costs $49.99).

 

Commercial movies sold on DVDs are made so that you can’t easily copy them. MacThe Ripper can rip the movie from many commercially made DVDs for your own personal use (making a backup, for example), but just remember that making copies of protected DVDs for distribution is illegal.

 

1. Region Setup

If DISC RCE says CLEAR, set the RCE Region to Off.

 

After you download and install MacTheRipper, launch it. Read the disclaimer. Insert the DVD you want to back up. MacTheRipper should automatically sense your DVD. Look at the section labeled DISC RCE. If it says DETECTED, you need to set the DVD’s region in the RCE Region menu. If it’s a U.S. DVD, set the RCE Region to RCE 1 (visit http://shurl.org/CIwvB to find out more about DVD regions).

 

2. Fast-Forwards Allowed

Check this box, and you can skip the boring parts, such as the FBI warning.

 

You know how you can’t fast forward or skip certain parts of a DVD, such as the title screen or the FBI warning? They’re called User Operation Prohibitions (UOPs). You can set up your new DVD so you can skip these parts. Click on UOPs, then in the new screen that appears, click Disable DVD UOPs.

 

3. WHAT TO EXTRACT

By default, MacTheRipper extracts the whole DVD for backup.

 

Click the Mode button. You can select Main Feature Extraction if all you want is the movie. If you want to extract parts other than the main movie, you can use one of the Title Extraction settings, but you’ll have to figure out on your own what parts of the DVD you’re selecting.

 

4. GO!

In Toast, create a new DVD using the VIDEO_TS Folder option.

 

Click the Go button to start ripping your DVD. How long it takes depends on the amount of content on the DVD and the speed of your Mac (MacTheRipper isn’t a Universal app, so Intel Macs don’t get a speed boost). Once the rip is done, you’ll have a folder full of files. You can then use Roxio Toast to burn a new DVD or you can leave the files on your hard drive and use the DVD Player application to watch the movie (File > Open DVD Media, then select the folder with the files).