I have a Sony mini-dvd recorder. On my old computer, which had Windows XP I was able to use the Nero 7 essentials to back up the mini-dvds, which were saved in a video_ts file. The new computer I have, which has Vista, had Roxio Creator DE loaded and it saved the mini-dvd files in a Sonic Global Image File. This really hasn't been a problem when it comes to burning copies of my dvds, but it is a problem when I want to edit the dvds on my computer. I just bought Nero 8 Ultra Edition and all I simply want to do is back up the mini-dvds onto an external hard drive. I tried BackItUp, and all I got was something that looked like a safe. Thanks so very much for your help.
Imgburn should be able to read the disc and create an ISO image on your external HDD in read mode. Imgburn is free, get it here: http://www.imgburn.com
Well seeing as you used Nero 7 essentials, everything you need is in Nero 8 since you have the full Nero 8. It's just a matter of finding the particular app in Nero you used to copy before. Most likley you were, and want, to use Nero Recode.