DVD ripping application

[Rick]

On Thursday 25 November 2010 23:28:52 you wrote:
> Good day all,
> 
> I am having a frustrating time trying to back up my DVD collection.  Some
>  of my DVDs are not in pristine condition having been left out of their
>  covers, chewed by the dog and so on. 
> ...
> I would be happy to hear any of your suggestions.
> 
> Ubuntu 10.04
> 
> Regards,
> Mark

Here's what I do:
  1. Wash the disc gently with warm soapy water, rinse thoroughly, and dry 
with a lint-free cloth.

  2. Use dvdisaster to copy the disc to your hard drive. If it detects any 
errors, have it try 2 or 3 times to get as much of the data as possible.

  3. Then use dvdbackup to convert the iso file produced by dvdisaster to a 
directory tree, like this:
     dvdbackup -M -v -i  dvdisaster_output_file.iso  -o  .

Note the "." (period) at the very end of the line to indicate the current 
directory. If you want the result to be written to a different directory, 
replace the period.

  4. Next, use mkisofs to convert the output of dvdbackup to an iso file, like 
this: 
    mkisofs  -dvd-video  -o final_output_iso_file.iso \
            dvdbackup_output_directory_name

  5. Finally, but a blank disc of the proper size in your dvd burner and let 
growisofs burn the disc, like this:
    growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/scd0=mkisofs_output_file.iso

Change "/dev/scd0" to whatever device your disc burner is using.

The above approach works 99% of the time for me.

Good luck!

Rick