How To Copy a DVD to a Computer Hard Drive

Digital copies of movies are the way to go now. There is little wonder why Blockbuster is struggling. Everyone would like to have a soft copy of their favorite movies on their computer hard drive. It makes it easy to browse your many movies when they are all on one small portable storage device. For you to copy or transfer a file, from a DVD to an electronic gadget, you must first copy the DVD onto your computer. We also want to let you know that we are in no way condoning the act of pirating DVDs. This guide is made for DVDs you own already.

Decrypting or Ripping the DVD

Unless you have a pirated copy, chances are that the DVD is protected. You will have to decrypt it. To decrypt it, you need software like AndyDVD. This software is not free though. If you don't want to spend money on this kind software, then you can achieve the same task with DVDRip, DVD43, or RipIt4Me. These are free but each individual software package may not work for all DVDs. In our experience, one of these software packages will be able to do the job though. After you have a DVD Decrypting software, it should be pretty easy to rip the DVD to the hard drive.

DVD Conversion

DVD43/DVDRip/RipIt4Me are only for decryption of the DVD. To convert the file to a good format, you will need another piece of software. One such software that we have found to be very useful is Handbrake. This software can help to convert files to suitable file types for iPods / iPhones, smartphones, and other portable devices. After you have the DVD decrypted and on the hard drive, you will want to start up Handbrake. From HandBrake, you can convert to many formats including AVI and mpeg-4. You can also shrink the file down to a smaller size as well which is helpful for many reasons.

The whole process of decrypting and transferring probably takes a decent amount of time, like 3 to 5 hours, give or take. This is dependant on your hardware. Another thing to keep in mind is that a ripped DVD will take up a lot of hard drive space. So, if you plan to rip your whole library, you will need a decent sized hard drive. Now you know how to copy from the DVD to the computer hard drive.