Easy DVD Burning

Playing scratched DVDs can be very frustrating - even more so when if you try and copy them. Typically, our drive or player will have a hard time reading your disc and often "freeze up" your system until it becomes unresponsive (which is no fun at all - this often requires you to force quit applications, or manually shut down your PC).

Your DVD drive or player utilizes a laser beam when reading the disc. The disc is composed of a metal and plastic layer. The data are stored in the metal layer that will be access by the laser when reading/writing but the laser will pass through the plastic layer before it can reach the metal layer. If the plastic layer is scratched (resulting in a refracted laser beam) you will notice that a disc (during playback) may automatically skip a certain point, or even worse, it will hang up because the laser beam is no longer focused.  

To copy a scratched DVD you will need special software that has the ability to auto-fill bad sectors like DVD neXt Copy Ultimate. Here’s how to copy scratched DVDs using DVD neXt Copy Ultimate.

Burning Requirements:

1. DVD Burner/Writer
2. Blank DVD Media – choosing the right media is one of the factors that contribute to a successful DVD burning.
3. At least 10GB of free hard disk space – for temporary file storage during conversion and burning process
4. DVD NeXt Copy Ultimate – DVD copying and burning software that will allow you to copy DVD movies with high quality and ease. With DVD NeXt Copy Ultimate you can’t just create a backup copy of your DVD movies to a blank DVD but you can also copy them to your iPod, iPhone, Zune, or PSP. Click to try DVD NeXt Copy Ultimate or buy DVD Next Copy Ultimate.

For system requirements and installation guide click DVD NeXt Copy Ultimate Installation Guide.

Getting Started

Before anything else make sure that you already have a blank DVD in your DVD burner.

Step 1: Open DVD NeXt Copy Ultimate program.

Step 2: We need to enable some parameters first before we begin copying the scratched disc. Click on Settings under Extras in the left menu then click on the Copy tab. In the Copy tab window make sure the following checkboxes are check – Enable error correction, Fill BadSectors and you can also include Create BadSector Information – this is an optional parameter but if you want to keep track of the bad sector information then check it and click OK to accept the changes.

Step 3: If you want to create a 1:1 copy then click on Copy FullDVD under copy projects in the left menu otherwise click on Copy Main Movie option.

Step 4: Set the source drive and the target drive by clicking on the drop down menu. Source is where you have inserted the scratched DVD that you want to copy and the Target is where you have inserted the blank DVD media. If you only have one drive, select the same drive/burner for both the Source and the Target.

Step 5: After configuring the above settings click on Copy Now! button to start the copying process. Wait until the copying is done. Avoid browsing the net or checking your emails while copying is ongoing to avoid problems. When copying failure occurs try to do the following:

1. close all programs
2. restart your computer
3. repeat all the steps and use a different blank DVD
4. try to lower the burning speed

When copying is completed it will automatically eject the DVD. Remove the DVD and close the tray. Click on the Done button and close the program. Test and check if you have successfully copied the content of a scratched DVD. If you wish to create another copy repeat all the steps from 1 to 5.