When you buy a DVD movie it is a wise idea to back it up and use the backup storing the original safely away to be copied again if the disk you have been using gets damaged. It is totally illegal to copy movies to sell or give away and in some places it is even illegal to copy for the purpose of backing up. We have the technology to do all this now but it doesn't make it legal. I can remember back in the 70s and 80s when I'd buy a record I'd then copy it onto a cassette and play the cassette to try and keep the record usable for longer.

Todays DVDs have copy protection on them which means you can't simply open a DVD burning programme and do a straight copy. You have to remove the copy protection first and you can do all this for free. DVDshrink was the first programme I used but it is no longer kept up to date and can't manage the latest copy protections so I now only use it for shrinking. Here's how I have copied my latest purchases.

1. Make a new folder (probably in My Docs) and call it DVDbackups. Inside that folder make 2 new folders and call them DVDfab and DVDshrink.

2. Download and install DVDfabDecryptor which you will use for decrypting the copyright only. The split disk and some other options don't work on the free version.

1. Open DVDfabDecryptor (new versions are called DVDfabHD Decryptor)
2. Insert the disk to be backup up into your DVD drive. You might get the windows message box come up asking you what you want to do with the disk - click Cancel OR the movie might start playing in which case you need to stop it and close the programme playing it.
3. In the DVDfabDecryptor window at the end of the drop down box labelled Target is a folder button. Click this and navigate to the DVDfab folder you created in Step 1 and click OK.
4. Check that the Source drop down box shows the disk in your DVD drive
5. Chose either Main Movie or Full Disk from the menu on the left. Chosing Main Movie means you will not copy all the menus and junk but simply have the movie which will start playing as soon as you put it in your DVD player. Choosing Full Disk means the whole disk will be used and therefore need a little more compression to fit onto a blank disk.
6. Click Start and DVDfabDecryptor will start decoding which may take some time depending on your computer power. The decoded file/s will be saved in the DVDfab folder
7. When decoding is finished close DVDfab as you are finished with it now

3a. Take a look at the DVDshrink website just because you should and make sure you click the Where link so you understand a little more about the legality of it all :) Also, don't download CopytoDVD as it's not freeware and there are ways round the burning if you don't have Nero installed.

3b. Download and install DVDshrink which you will use to shrink the video files so they fit on a single disk which most bought videos won't without this step.(I find softpedia a good, safe site to download free programmes from).

NB If you don't have Nero installed to burn DVDs then go to Step 3c.

1. Open DVDshrink
2. Click the Open Files button and navigate to inside your DVDfab folder and select the video folder name you just decrypted. Click Ok
3. DVDshrink will open and analyze the video
4. Put a blank DVD disk in your burner
5. Click the Backup button
6. In the new box check that DVDshrink has found your burner ie. Target dropdown is your DVD drive (possibly D:)
7. In the lower drop down box for selecting the folder for temporary files click the browse button and navigate to the DVDshrink folder you created in Step 1 and click Ok
8. Click the Ok button to start the shrinking and burning
9. Check your new backup works in your DVD player
10. Go to Step 5

3c. If you don't have Nero installed for burning disks then you need to do things a little differently. You need to create what is called an iso file which can then be burnt to a blank disk.

1. Open DVDshrink
2. Click the Open Files button and navigate to inside your DVDfab folder and select the video folder name you just decrypted. Click Ok
3. DVDshrink will open and analyze the video
4. Click the Backup button
5. In the new box change the Target dropdown box to ISO image file
6. In the lower drop down box for selecting the folder for temporary files click the browse button and navigate to the DVDshrink folder you created in Step 1 and click Ok
7. Click the Ok button to start the shrinking and saving
8. When that is complete close DVDshrink
9. Go to Step 4

4. Your current disk burning software might be able to burn an iso but if it doesn't then download and install ImgBurn. Here's the Imgburn website but the download link is a little elusive so here's the ImgBurn download. You can also find ImgBurn at Snapfiles.

1. Open ImgBurn
2. Check that it is in Write mode by going to the Mode menu and chosing Write
3. Put a blank DVD disk in your DVD drive
4. In the Source section click the folder icon on the right and navigate to the Movie you shrank which should now be in the DVDshrink folder you created in Step 1
5. In the Destination section check that ImgBurn has found your DVD burner
6. Click the double disk icon at the bottom of the window to start burning
7. Check the disk plays in your DVD player and close ImgBurn

5. Delete the files once you are done. Open the DVDfab folder you made and delete all files and folders inside. Do the same for the DVDshrink folder. You could leave the files there however they will be quite large and are best deleted.

Please provide some feedback using the form below particularly if I have left out a step or you can't follow what I have written.