[Langdon]

I want to back up my DVDs since I am going to be traveling a lot this summer.
I have a Mac and a PC so the choice of software to buy is open to me. I could go either way so long as it is easy and reliable. I just want to be able to fit the DVD onto a normal DVD-R 4.7gb disk.

[jasonsRX7]

I make copies of DVDs that we buy for my girlfriend's 8yo daughter. She has a tendancy to not take care of them, and considering she's lost two copies of Finding Nemo, I think making backups is a good idea. On the Mac, you can use Mac The Ripper to rip the movie to your drive. Then, you'll have to use something like Popcorn (which is not free, btw) to make it fit on a 4.7gb DVD.

On the PC side, I find things to be a bit easier and even better. Use DVDshrink to rip and compress the DVD. If you have Nero, DVDshrink will integrate with it and automatically burn your blank. Nero comes bundled with a lot of DVD burners, so there's a good chance you have it already. I find DVDshrink to be better because you can uncheck things you don't need to keep on the copy (such as languages, special features, and trailers) which leaves more room for the main movie and results in better picture quality.

Newegg sells Popcorn for $42, and Mac The Ripper is free, but if you already have Nero on your pc, I think that is the way to go.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Seconded DVD Shrink. Free, Fast and Feature-loaded. Can't beat it.

MTR is fine when the entire disc, or just the feature fits on a 4.7 blank, otherwise the two-step + non-freeware process isn't as expedient.

On occasion you'll find a certain brand of Security that fOils eNcrYption. In that case, use DVD Decrypter first on the whole disc, then Shrink the resulting files.

Shrink and Nero is a great combination, but you can use any DVD burner app to burn the results of Shrink onto a DVD. Just create the needed VIDEO/AUDIO_TS folders.