OK, I did a check of "ISO file" on these forums and couldn't find an answer to my question so here goes. I've been backing up my DVDs to DVD+R's etc. with success about 75-80% of the time using DVD Shrink and Nero, or sometimes using DVD XCopy Platinum (which I bought before I knew about the other programs!). My usual procedure is to create a VIDEO_TS folder on a dedicated hard drive and have DVD Shrink place the files there for later backup using Nero or XCopy Platinum RF (the one with the "browse" button). But I know that another option through DVD Shrink is to make an .ISO image file. Either way, it looks like I will have the file(s) on my hard drive to burn later. My question is, is there some difference between burning a VIDEO_TS folder full of files and burning what I assume is a single, very large .ISO file? Are there advantages to doing one vs. the other? Any help would be appreciated. These forums are great!! Thanks in advance!! P.S. I use a Sony DRX-530UL for burning -- it came with RecordNow! software which does recognize (and I assume burn) .ISO files but which doesn't recognize any of the files that DVD Shrink puts in the VIDEO_TS folder (.BUP, .IFO, etc.).
No difference whether you save them as individual file within the VIDEO-TS folder or as an .iso. Maybe you might have to wait a bit longer during the caching of files before writing?
Ahhhh, OK, that makes sense (I'm assuming you mean that with an .iso file, because it's so big, caching will take longer). I was also just curious as to why there are these two different ways to write to the hard drive if they're basically the same. On a related question -- is there a way to turn a bunch of files in a video_ts folder into an .iso file? Just wondering because RecordNow will read .iso files but not the others for some reason. Thanks again!
Hi Karen, If you want to turn those video files into an iso, just try this with Shrink.: Use the open files mode and find your video files. Once you have them loaded and analyzed select Backup! Next select ISO disc image as your target device and then select a location for your Target image file. Select OK and Shrink will do the rest. Cheers, Frank
I don't know why Record Now won't burn your video files. All I ever do is make a data DVD and have record now burn the VIDEO_TS folder and an empty AUDIO_TS folder. Works for me. I generally use Nero, though. I have had some cheap DVDs that Nero would not burn the lead out and Recorn Now would.. Other than that I can't tell any difference in the result. The K Probe scans look about the same.
If you are running a version of Windows with the fat32 partition then the size becomes an issue. Systems running the fat32 partition are are limited to a single file size of about 4GB so you would find that the single ISO image will not fit onto your hard drive if it is over that limit. If however you you use the video-ts option you find that the files are split into sizes of about 1GB so that size does not become an issue. If you are running WindowsXP then you can use the NTFS file system which I believe allows for a single file size of up to 10GB so that the single ISO images are not a problem.
Thanks Fasfrank, Forkndave, and Carpki! Fasfrank, I tried the many-files-to-.iso-file procedure with files I still had on my hard drive and you're right, it works fine. Carpki, I'm actually running XP so (so far at least) the file size hasn't been a problem but I will keep that in mind with .iso files. And Forkndave, thanks for the tip about RecordNow -- it never would have occurred to me to use the "data disc" option since these are video files, but you are right, I just tried it & it worked perfectly -- very nice to know that I have another software option since Platinum is so inconsistent & my Nero demo version expires in 2 days! Again, thanks to all -- your help is much appreciated!
