How to copy a DVD with a patched UDF filesystem / bad sectors

backupcdata-recoverydvdfilesystems

I tried dd, dd_rescue and ddrescue, all failed.

Since AnyDVD makes the disc copyable in a second on a Win7 host, it should not be too difficult. It says that the UDF filesystem is patched, curiously, it also says that there are no bad sectors. The whole DVD is copied in 10 minutes. What does AnyDVD do?

AnyDVD reports the same thing when run in a guest WinXP in VirtualBox but bad sectors are encountered while copying. No problem on native Win7 though. I guess AnyDVD does not have enough control over the DVD drive and the problem already occurs when the Linux host is trying to read the disc.

dd is fooled, it finishes but just produces a small file and states it's finished.

dd_rescuse and ddrescue are complaining about read errors and are intolerably slow. These tools can copy only a few MB in 10 minutes.

Why is this happening, why are these tools failing?

How can I copy my own DVDs to the hard disc so that I can play them back later?

I am looking for a permanent solution preferably on a Linux host but it can involve VirtualBox and WinXP, and freeware / shareware tools. Native windows is also acceptable as long as the solution only involves open source / freeware tools but not shareware software.


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UPDATE: As it turns out, I am screwed on way too many levels. I ended up using AnyDVD.

Best Answer

The message "UDF filesystem patched!" just means that the copy protection added .ifo files of invalid size, such as 0 bytes or 1GB, so it was necessary to adjust the size of the .ifo and .bup files within the UDF filesystem to their "real" size. The message is harmless, but there is of course no guarantee that the adjusted size is correct.

Copying a protected DVD within a virtual machine is normally useless, because the emulated DVD hardware is almost always very different from the real thing. So to be avoided unless the emulated drive is the same make as the real one.

If you are looking for a native Linux solution, there are not too many possibilities.

You could try VLC, which can read certain protected DVDs, and also HandBrake. The article RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs explains some more how the libdvdcss package is to be used in this case.

A DVD copy program you have not mentioned is dvdisaster. Another one is DVD::Rip.
See also Five Best DVD Ripping Tools.

However, if the copy protection is good enough, or if it is new enough not to be cracked yet, then you are simply out of luck (for the moment).

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