So I was trying to copy a DVD I put in my imac that I recorded on my video camera. I hit the COPY DVD and its working, but its saying its going to take up over 2GB of space for a 50 minute recording, & there is no cancel option! I'm trying to cancel the copying process and it won't let me. The Red X in the top left corner is grayed out, and there's nothing on the top menu options. Why is this happening? I thought it was supposed to be easy to put your DVDs right to the hard drive.
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Copying DVD Recording problem!
- Thread starter JasonMovieGuy
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Please be more specific.
What Mac and what Mac OS X version are you using?
What camera do you use?
What do you mean by COPY DVD?
So now is time for some assumptions, as there is not much information to go on.
You have a camera that records its video onto a DVD.
2GB for 50 minutes of video is quite low, it seems to be highly compressed. It's not downloaded .avi files you're dealing with here.
You put that DVD into your SuperDrive (the name of the optical drive in any current Mac) and use Finder to copy the DVD.
Here is where it gets confusing.
Do you drag the files from the DVD to your Mac's HDD in some folder you prepared or one that already exists, or do you want to copy the DVD, which is something else entirely. COPYING A DVD means the data from it will be temporarily copied to your HDD, then another DVD is needed to burn the data back on to.
So can you please describe your working process in more detail, so you might get help?
The following is taken from the thread titled "How to maximise your MacRumors troubleshooting experience" created by mad jew in 2006. It contains more elaborate information on the short extracts I took from it and should help you in finding appropriate help. I also made some additions after finding that thread.
- Search for threads or guides containing similar problems.
MRoogle is quite a good tool to search these forums.
- Start your thread in the appropriate forum or sub-forum.
Here is the forum's main page with the list of all the sub-fora found here.
- Use a specific thread title.
"Need help!!!!???? ASAP!!!" and its variants are not specific.
- Find and post machine hardware and software configurations.
You can find out more about your Mac by going to the Menu Bar >
> About This Mac > More Info ... (this button opens Applications / Utilities / System Profiler) > Hardware Overview.
- Tell us your problem, and be specific. What is happening to your machine?
What Mac OS X version and what Mac do you use, ... .
- How long has this been happening? What changes were made just before this started?
- What have you already tried?
- Respond to all posted advice with details of what happened.
- Be wary of the (very) occasional bad advice.
- Be patient.
- Be courteous.
Please be more specific.
What Mac and what Mac OS X version are you using?
What camera do you use?
What do you mean by COPY DVD?
So now is time for some assumptions, as there is not much information to go on.
You have a camera that records its video onto a DVD.
2GB for 50 minutes of video is quite low, it seems to be highly compressed. It's not downloaded .avi files you're dealing with here.
You put that DVD into your SuperDrive (the name of the optical drive in any current Mac) and use Finder to copy the DVD.
Here is where it gets confusing.
Do you drag the files from the DVD to your Mac's HDD in some folder you prepared or one that already exists, or do you want to copy the DVD, which is something else entirely. COPYING A DVD means the data from it will be temporarily copied to your HDD, then another DVD is needed to burn the data back on to.
So can you please describe your working process in more detail, so you might get help?
The following is taken from the thread titled "How to maximise your MacRumors troubleshooting experience" created by mad jew in 2006. It contains more elaborate information on the short extracts I took from it and should help you in finding appropriate help. I also made some additions after finding that thread.
- Search for threads or guides containing similar problems.
MRoogle is quite a good tool to search these forums.
- Start your thread in the appropriate forum or sub-forum.
Here is the forum's main page with the list of all the sub-fora found here.
- Use a specific thread title.
"Need help!!!!???? ASAP!!!" and its variants are not specific.
- Find and post machine hardware and software configurations.
You can find out more about your Mac by going to the Menu Bar >
- Tell us your problem, and be specific. What is happening to your machine?
What Mac OS X version and what Mac do you use, ... .
- How long has this been happening? What changes were made just before this started?
- What have you already tried?
- Respond to all posted advice with details of what happened.
- Be wary of the (very) occasional bad advice.
- Be patient.
- Be courteous.
I have a imac 21.5, snow leopard.
I'm just trying to copy what's on the DVD to my hard drive. I mean plenty of people do this every day- look at all the youtube videos made by 11 year-olds! I don't get why this is so confusing. I just want to basically download the DVD to my harddrive. Do I need software for this? I thought macs were more user friendly.
Why don't you just use Finder to copy the data from the DVD?
It is quite simple unless the DVD has some kind of special formatting.
You open a Finder window and in the Sidebar is a CD/DVD icon, looking like a small version of the following image.
You click on that icon and drag the files from there to a place on you HDD you want the files to be.
For example your Desktop or some other folder, almost wherever you want.
But as you didn't state what camera you have, I assume it uses some kind of video DVD formatting, which means, it has a VIDEO_TS folder on it and maybe an AUDIO_TS folder. It's that way, so that you can just put the DVD into a video DVD player without a problem.
If it is that way, you need some special software like MacTheRipper to rip the DVD, meaning the contents of the DVD will be properly copied to a location of your choice.
So, again, can you tell us what you do to copy the DVD and how it exactly fails? And what camera model do you have, eg. Sony MDX-CR 293 or something like that?
Sorry if that sounds repetitive, but in order for us to help you, we need all the information you can give us, even if you're not that computer savvy, you can describe what you do in your words.
Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.
http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/ - text
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/ - videos
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/ - text
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343-keyboard - shortcuts
How are you importing your movies? What do you mean by "hit copy"? If you want a simple and easy to use tool, iMovie is pretty good and import should be as easy as connecting the camcorder you have with the disc inside and importing. Then cut and edit as needed and upload [or whatever you wanted to do].
