Top 5 Ways to Copy DVDs to Hard Drive Free and Fast in 2024

Since streaming services like Netflix and YouTube became popular, DVDs have become kind of a thing of the past. Therefore, liberating your DVD movies from the confinement of dedicated DVD players or DVD drives has never been more urgent and necessary.

Fortunately, copying DVDs to hard drive opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to playback your favorite movies on TV without being tethered to a DVD player, free up space in your living room, and avoid the risk of any scratch or damage to your physical movie library. Another benefit is that you can easily transfer the digital copy of DVDs to a portable device such as laptop, tablet or smartphone.

To copy a DVD to hard drive is not difficult. But things will be different if, for example, you are trying to back up the latest movie DVDs, exercise DVDs, or some other commercial DVDs to computer or external hard drive. Which tools can do the job well? Here recommend five of the best ways to copy DVDs to hard drive on Windows/Mac. Please read on.

Method 1. Copy DVD to Hard Drive with EaseFab DVD Ripper

EaseFab DVD Ripper is a professional yet simple DVD ripping tool with powerful DVD ripping capabilities. In addition to copying home-made DVD to hard drive, it can also effortlessly copy DVDs with copy protection to hard drive with just a few clicks. It can handle all the DVDs that you may have - new releases, 99-title, scratched DVDs, regional DVDs, Japanese DVDs, or workout DVDs. To be specific, it can:

• Bypass all DVD encryptions including CSS, DRM, X-project, UOPs, RCE, APS, and region locks.
• Convert DVD to MP4, AVI, MKV, WMV, H.264, H.265, MP3 and any other media formats.
• Offer 200+ optimized presets for iPhone, iPad, Android, HDTV, game console, etc.
• Copy all DVDs to hard drive SSD, HDD, USB, NAS, cloud, etc. with zero quality loss.
• Backup DVD in 1:1 ratio within 5 minutes as single VOB file or DVD folder with full/desired audio and subtitle tracks.
• Offer customization options, such as selecting specific titles, choosing audio tracks and subtitles, trimming unwanted clips, and more.
• Finish DVD conversion at ultra-fast speed on old/low-end PCs and Macs with low CPU usage.

Speed is one of the edges of EaseFab DVD Ripper. It only needs 5 minutes or so to rip a whole movie DVD by making use of software and hardware accelerations. (But note that the conversion speed is also related to your computer conditions.)

Now follow the instructions to copy DVDs to hard drive using EaseFab DVD Ripper. The step-by-step guide takes Windows version for an example, Mac version shares the same process.

Step 1. Download EaseFab DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac by clicking on either of the green buttons above. After that, install it on your computer.

Step 2. Insert the DVD disc into your computer's DVD drive or an external USB DVD drive. Launch EaseFab DVD Ripper, click Load DVD to add the DVD files to the program. All loaded files will be displayed on the left item bar. You can also load ISO, Video_TS folder to this program.

Step 3. On the Profile panel, there are over 500 profiles including popular formats and device-specific presets. You can choose to rip DVD to any digital files for furhter copying to hard drive. Below are some suggestions.

① If you want to copy DVD sto external hard drive to play on TV, LG/Samsung TV, PS5/4, Switch, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and other devices, you can convert DVD to MP4 file format for its wide compatibility, good quality, and small file size. Just go to "Common Video" category and select "MP4" as the output format. You can also select AVI, M4V, MOV, MKV etc. depending on the use of the files, or say the output devices or players that will be connected to.

② If you want to copy DVDs in 1:1 to hard drive without quality loss, you can backup DVD full title/main title to Video_TS folder or a single VOB file in "Backup" mode. This modes allows you to copy DVDs with 100% quality, all the menus, tracks, extras, etc. But you should know that the video_TS folder or a single VOB file will take quite a large size.

Step 4. Click "Folder" button in the Output bar, and select a destination folder to save DVD back-ups. If you want to copy DVD to external hard drive to watch on TV, connect the external HDD to your computer and choose it as the destination.

Step 5. When everything is done, hit the big Convert button to begin ripping and copying DVD to hard drive. The ripping time depends on your settings and computer performance. With the support of hardware acceleration, EaseFab DVD Ripper is one of the fastest software tools to copy DVD to hard drive, running at speeds of around 300-500fps which is five or more times the speed of competitors.

Afterwards, you can sort your movies or TV shows quickly in your computer, and even transfer and watch the DVD video on your Android, iOS gadgets. If you want to transfer your DVD library backups to external HDD or SSD such as Samsung Portable SSD T5, SanDisk Extreme portable SSD, connect it with a USB cable, send your DVD copies to external drive, and then you can stream them to your laptop, PC or TV as per your needs.

Method 2. Copy DVD to Hard Drive Free with Handbrake

HandBrake is an open source and free video converter and transcoder that has a large number of loyal fans. Besides video encoding, It also can convert DVDs to MP4 and MKV on Windows, Mac, and Linux. HandBrake itself can't rip commercially copy-protected DVDs to hard drive. If you want to use HandBrake to rip encrypted DVDs, you should firstly download libdvdcss. libdvdcss is a part of VideoLAN project capable of reading and decrypting DVDs locked by region codes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and CSS.

Sadly, Handbrake cannot export Video_TS folder or a single VOB file which means you can do a lossless backup using Handbrake. Even with libdvdcss being installed, HandBrake may also fail to rip some strictly encrypted DVDs. In that case you need a more powerful alternative like EaseFab DVD Ripper.

If you want to try saving DVD to hard drive with Handbrake, just follow our steps below.

Step 1. Get Handbrake Ready.

Download and install Handbrake on your Windows or macOS computer.

Step 2. Install libdvdcss for HandBrake.

Download libdvdcss.dll 32-bit/64-bit version through the VLC website.

Next, you need to move the libdvdcss.dll into the installation folder of HandBrake. The process is different on Windows and Mac. For details, please go to this article How to rip protected DVD with Handbrake to learn more.

Step 3. Load Source DVD.

Insert the DVD disc into computer disc drive or an external DVD drive. Launch Handbrake, load the DVD from the Source Selection. It will take some time to scan the DVD titles.

Note: If the DVD you try to copy to hard drive has 99 titles or is protected with RCE, Disney X-project DRM or Sony ARccOS, you are likely to get an error message like "No valid source or titles found". In this case, I'm afraid that you'll have to resort to other professional DVD decrypters for help.

Step 4. Specify DVD Title.

Choose the title you want to convert and copy to hard drive and adjust the angel and chapters you want to retain. The auto-selected title may be not the movie title. You'd better check it before ripping.

If you need to rip DVD with multiple titles, you can click the drop-down arrow beside Add to Queue and choose Add current, Add all, or Add selection.

Step 5. Configure output.

HandBrake DVD ripper empowers you to convert DVD to MP4, MKV, and WebM format. In addition, it offers dozens of output presets, grouped under General (1080p, 720p, 576p, 480p), Web (Gmail, YouTube, Vimeo, Discord), Devices (Android, Apple, Chromecast, Playstation, Amazon Fire, Roku, Xbox), Matroska (H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9), and Production. You can choose any one at will, or add personalized preset by clicking Save New Preset.

When choosing a preset, don't choose 720p and 1080p presets for DVDs. The resolution for PAL DVD is 720 x 576 (576p), while the resolution for NTSC DVD is 720 x 480 (480p). Choosing a larger preset won't make the output look better but bigger.

One more thing, "Fast" and "Very Fast" presets will sacrifice some output quality, while "HQ" and "Super HQ" presets will slow the DVD ripping speed and increase output file size.

Besides container format and preset, HandBrake also allows you to select subtitle, specify audio track, tweak video parameters like codec and framerate, set quality, and do so much more. But if you know little about those features, just keep the default settings untouched.

Step 6. Start Copying DVD to Hard Drive.

Click the Browse button to choose a folder of your hard drive as the destination and click Start Encode to begin ripping DVD to hard drive with Handbrake.

Method 3. Copy DVD to Hard Drive Free with VLC

As popular multimedia player, VLC allows users to play virtually any multimedia content without the need to rely on codecs for it, thanks to the large number of these that come by default in the program. Although many users are unaware, this player has many more functions and features within it. One of the features offered by VLC is the ability to rip a video DVD or a music disc. It can turn DVDs to digital files like MP4, WebM, TS, MKV, AVI, WMV, MP3, and so on. for storing on hard drive or other storage devices.

Before we walk you through the steps to copy DVD to hard drive free with VLC, there are a few things that you need to be aware of. Firstly, VLC doesn't have DVD copy feature and VLC's native DVD transcoding results in quality degrading. So you cannot rely on VLC to make a lossless DVD backup. Secodly, VLC doesn't rip all commercial DVDs to hard drive. If you encounter DVD ripping problems with VLC, you can try EaseFab DVD Ripper for help.

Below are the simple steps on how to transfer DVDs to hard drive using VLC.

Step 1. Get VLC Ready.

Download and install VLC on your computer. Skip to the next step if you already have VLC installed on your computer.

Step 2. Import the DVD Content.

Insert the DVD disc to DVD drive. Open VLC, click Media > Convert / Save … > Click Disc tab from the Open Media window and make sure you see the DVD you want to copy beside Disc device. Here you also need to choose title, audio and subtitle. Since there is no preview window, you may need to do some trial and error to figure out which track is the one you want. Then, tap Convert / Save button.

Step 3. Choose an Output Format and Begin Converting DVD

Choose a profile and specify the destination as you like, and click Start. Then, it will begin converting DVD. You can see the progress bar under the playback window.

Tips: If you need to edit the selected profile, you can click the wrench icon. You can click the Encapsulation to change container format, click Video codec to change encoding format, bitrate, quality, frame rate, resolution, and filter, click Audio codec to change audio encoding format, bitrate, channels, and sample rate, and click Subtitles to choose codec and specify whether you want to overlay subtitles on the video. When you finish the settings, don't forget to click the Save button to save your settings.

Method 4. Copy DVD to Hard Drive with MakeMKV

MakeMKV is a popular free software option for copying DVDs to hard drive. It specializes in converting DVDs and Blu-ray discs into MKV (Matroska) video files. With its intuitive interface, MakeMKV makes the DVD copying process simple and accessible, even for beginners. It ensures that the original video and audio quality of the DVD is preserved during conversion, allowing you to enjoy high-quality content on your computer.

The oputput MKV files tend to be large in size, which may consume significant storage space on your hard drive or other storage devices. You may need additional software to convert the MKV files ripped by MakeMKV into your preferred video formats.

You can follow the steps below to copy DVD to hard drive with MakeMKV.

Step 1. Visit the official MakeMKV website and download the appropriate version of the software for your operating system. Follow the installation instructions to complete the installation process.

Step 2. Insert the DVD you want to copy into the DVD drive of your computer or an external DVD drive that connected to your PC.

Step 3. Open the MakeMKV software on your computer. Under the "Source" section, choose the DVD drive that contains the DVD you want to copy. Then, click the "Open DVD disk" button.

Step 4. MakeMKV will display a list of titles and tracks found on the DVD. Now you need to select the desired titles or tracks that you want to copy to hard drive.

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Step 5. Specify the hard drive location on your computer where you want to save the copied DVD content.

Step 6. Click on the "Make MKV" button to begin the copying process. MakeMKV will convert the selected content from the DVD into an MKV file and save it to the hard drive.

Method 5. Copy DVD to Hard Drive with DVDVideoSoft

The main products of DVDVideoSoft are YouTube converters. But the provider also has video and DVD converters. Free DVD Video Converter from its product line will help you convert DVDs discs to MP4, AVI, MKV, PSP, iPod, iPhone, and more so that you can copy DVDs to hard drive. It also lets you select the DVD title, language, and subtitle. But the program only supports parts of DVDs, say, homemade ones. If your DVDs are not copy-protected or region-coded, you can try DVDVideoSoft on your Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or XP SP3.

Now follow the tutorial below to learn how to rip and copy DVDs to hard drive on Windows computer.

Step 1. Open the software after you download the program on your computer and click the Browse button to select a drive with your DVD or DVD folder.

Step 2. Then click the Choose button to select the DVD title you want to store on hard drive. If you're not sure which is the correct title, you can play the DVD with VLC and remember the title. You can also set the languages and subtitles and click OK.

Step 3. Click Browse to set an output folder. Then, under Formats, select MP4, MKV or other formats as the output format. Choose preferred presets under Presets optimized for playback on your computer or mobile. Available profiles for Apple TV, iPad, iPod, PSP, and MP4 are also available for you to choose from.

Step 4. After all the steps, click Convert to start. A conversion process window will pop up, showing the progress. You can cancel it at any time.

Once the conversion completes, you can therefore save the DVD rips on a computer hard drive, USB, flash drive, iPhone, Android, etc., categorize MP4 videos by genre, year, etc. as per your needs, and easily locate them by searching.

How to Copy DVDs to Hard Drive without Software

First of all, can we download a DVD to hard drive without using some software? The answer is YES, even though copying a DVD to a hard drive generally requires some type of software to read the DVD and transfer the data to the computer's hard drive. The software can range from media players that have ripping capabilities to dedicated DVD ripping programs.

However, if you're referring to copying non-protected home videos or data DVDs, you could technically just copy and paste the files from the DVD to your hard drive if your operating system recognizes the DVD's file system. This method won't work for commercial DVDs or those protected by digital rights management (DRM), as these require special software to decrypt and copy the content. Anyway, here is how:

Step 1. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive.

Step 2. Open 'This PC' on Windows or 'Finder' on Mac.

Step 3. Navigate to the DVD drive, which should appear under 'Devices and drives' on Windows or 'Devices' on Mac.

Step 4. Open the DVD to view its contents. If it's a non-protected DVD, you should see folders like 'VIDEO_TS' and 'AUDIO_TS'.

Step 5. Select the files or folders you want to copy.

Step 6. Drag and drop them to a location on your computer, such as your desktop or a specific folder.

Conclusion

The process of copying a DVD to hard drive is easy with a tool as long as it has a ripping feature. If you are going to digitize DVDs and save DVDs to hard drive, there isn't too much trouble with Handbrake, VLC or any other DVD rippers. But if you want to download and save some recently released DVDs or some discs produced by Disney, Warner Bros or Paramount, you need to turn to a more powerful tool such as EaseFab DVD Ripper to rip the intricate DVDs.

You'll have a big chance to get a copy-protected DVD. Some DVDs are protected with fairly advanced encryption that general DVD rippers cannot overcome. They usually manifest themselves with 99 titles in disguise. When scanning the titles, most programs including Handbrake will have difficulties detecting what title to rip and finically produce screwed up rips, leaving you with nothing but out-of-whack movie, e.g. mixed up video, no sound, etc.

To summarize, if your goal is to copy a homemade DVD to hard drive without altering the file format or compressing the content, a simple copy and paste method will suffice. HandBrake can be considered as an option for copying unencrypted DVDs, although it has limitations in terms of output formats/presets and potential errors. On the other hand, VLC provides a straightforward solution for ripping DVDs without the need for additional software. However, if you're looking for an easy-to-use and feature-rich DVD ripper that supports both homemade and commercially copy-protected DVDs, EaseFab DVD Ripper is the recommended choice. If you're fine with MKV output, you can also give MakeMKV a try.