14 DAY TRIAL // Unfortunately, DVD backup is absolutely necessary in some cases. There is not yet the technology to preserve the data on the disc and never go away. Hence the need for a software that is able to perform a perfect copy of the DVD and burning it on a new disc.
The Internet is crawling with such softwares but few of them succeed into reaching the various standards of the users. As there are more than one type of DVD types available (DVD5, DVD9, DVD 10 and DVD18 - depending on the storage capacity), flexibility plays an important role in choosing the right DVD backup tool. The features such a tool should include are preserving the quality of the original movie, allowing the user to save the video to a location on the hard disk and allow him/her to burn the copy on the hard disk to a new blank DVD disc.
Super DVD Copy is DVD backup tool designed to save your scratched DVDs from becoming unplayable and is able to perform DVD backup fast, easy and preserving the original quality. TinySoft Corp, the developer, makes available the software for a price of $59.95. The testing version has only the 20 tries limitation, all the other functions being active.
Super DVD Copy has all there is to fulfill the needs of the users. And the ease of use recommends it for such jobs. A perfect DVD copy was obtained during our tests in less than 30 minutes, to be more specific a DVD9 copy was finished in 29'22''. The application comes in a sea blue interface that is scattered all over the window, in contrast with the buttons that are aligned at the bottom of the window and have silver or golden hues, a fact that only accentuates them and brings them easily to the users' view.
The first button available on the left part of the application window is Blank and it serves to give the software the command to erase the DVD RW you have in the DVD drive. The steps to follow in order to achieve the copying of the DVD on the hard drive area are easy. Specify the source of the movie (that is if the software has not already detected it), choose your location for saving the result and press Start button.
If you have a DVD 9 in the DVD drive you will be asked to split the movie. Choosing No will create "Disc 1" folder in the desired location and will copy the entire movie in there. Choosing Yes will result in creating two folders in the user specified location ("Disc 1" and "Disc 2") and splitting the movie so as it will fit on two regular 4.7, DVD9 discs.
The Advanced Mode of the software will allow you to choose the movie titles and chapters you want to backup. This way you can lose the unnecessary bonuses and features that you do not need. The downfall in this activity is that you do not have a preview window to see what exactly you are throwing away and what you are keeping. The application is designed to backup everything there is on the original disc and this includes the additional subtitles and audio files that most of the times are useless.
When enabling Auto Split function the program will try to select the main movie and all the movie related items and put them in "Disc 1", and place all the bonuses and features in "Disc 2". The user will be shown in the two windows the splitting result and will be able to check or uncheck some of the items in the first or second disc. You will also be provided with the sizes of the two discs and as you modify the content of one of them the size will also change.
The Good
Super DVD Copy is very easy to use and handle and the amount of memory used is low enough (~ 13MB) so that other applications to work fine. The same for the CPU usage.
The installation file is very small (the smallest I have seen for such a software) and will take only 637KB of your hard disk space.
The Bad
A major drawback is the fact that less experienced users will not be able to remove the subtitles and additional data on the DVD. All there is displayed are the titles and the chapters of the DVD video.
Also, the application window is not resizable in any way. This may become an issue when opening the titles. Placing the Help file on the desktop after finishing the installation of the application may be seen as a good thing by some computer users, but I think it is rather space invading, but this is not such a big issue to mention and to influence the rating.
Burning will take more of your computer resources than a simple copying of the DVD. It reached 77MB in my case.
The Truth
Nice application that does not require too much of your resources and does a very good job. Copying a DVD9 disc under 30 minutes is fast enough to convince you of its quality. Also, the quality of the output result is incredible as it is exactly the same as the original.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
