Copy a DVD for Personal Use?

[ouimetnick]

So i have the Sims 3. Would it be legal to make ONE copy of it? I wouldn't share it. I would just keep it in my dresser drawer where all my other back up disks are. So is it legal to make a copy of the sims 3? How do i do that. Do I copy the DVD on to the desktop, and then put in a blank disk, and copy rhe folder on the desktop to the bland DVD?

Would this be legal anyways?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Theoretically it's legal. The law allows for one legal backup for personal use. The law also prevents you from legally circumventing copy protection to do so. If there's no copy protection, then it's easy (just copy it the same way you'd copy any disc).

 

[ouimetnick]

But how do you do it on mac with ONE optical drive? Do you right click the DVD icon on the desktop, and click copy, then paste it to the desktop. Then put in a blank DVD, and copy the things in the folder to the blank disk, or there a simpler way?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Boy, you're impatient

To copy it, just use Disk Utility to create an image of the disc and then burn it to a blank DVD. The image gets saved to your internal HDD and you can delete it once you've burned it again.

If you use Toast or one of the many freeware disc burning applications out there (Burn and Simplyburns are two good ones) they'll automate that process for you.

 

[ouimetnick]

Boy, you're impatient

To copy it, just use Disk Utility to create an image of the disc and then burn it to a blank DVD. The image gets saved to your internal HDD and you can delete it once you've burned it again.

If you use Toast or one of the many freeware disc burning applications out there (Burn and Simplyburns are two good ones) they'll automate that process for you.

Thanks. I'm not to fimilar with Disk Utility. I've used it to copy The snow leopard retair DVD to a USB drive, and boot off the USB drive, but can you give my step by step instructions on how to make a backup copy of a DVD?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

To be honest, it would probably be easier to use SimplyBurns. Just stick the DVD in, launch SimplyBurns, and hit copy. You'll need to have at least 9 GB of free space. SimplyBurns will prompt you to remove the original and insert the blank DVD when needed.

 

[ouimetnick]

I was also thinking about remote disk. iFixit has a guide, and you enter two things into terminal, restart, and good to go. So I could pop in the Sims 3 into o the computer, and a blank disk into the other. Disk utility shows the remote disk, and i can drag the disk into the source part, and then if I insert a blank disk, that could be my saving location. Problem is its like 4 GB, and I have wireless B/G on my router and other laptop. Only the MBP has Wireless N, so it would take some time.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

You can do that if you want, but that's far too complicated for what you need to do and will take much longer than necessary.

If you're really so worried about using a single drive just buy a USB DVD burner. It's Memorial Day so there's tons of sales (if you're in the US) and you should be able to pick one up for cheap.

Otherwise, I'd suggest using SimplyBurns. If you're desperate to use Disk Utility, see if you can figure it out. I bet you can

 

[ouimetnick]

I'm testing disk utility with an iWork '09 disk. I put the iWork disk in, and launched disk utility. Then went to File> New> Disk Image from (select a drive) It seems to be imaging the disk into an image, and if all works right, I should be able to burn that image to a cd.

UPDATE: I then burned the .dmg file that I made to a cd. It worked. Now I need to find m DVDs, and I will be all set. Thanks iThinkergoiMac!