Recommended Computer Specs for DVD Backup?

[romero]

I'm looking to purchase a new computer and I'm looking for some recommendation specs regarding what I should be looking for at a minimum to allow me to do quick rips/burns. Any suggestions??? [/u]

[Supreme2k]

Any basic machine with a dvd burner will work.

Even something like this would be well more than enough.

[yoda313]

Yep you don't need much power for dvd ripping and burning.

If you want to do ENCODING then you will need a more powerful machine. But if all you want to do is make backups and copies you won't need much power at all.

A barebones single core processor will be enough. You might want to consider adding a sepearte dvd burner for disc to disc copying as well (though of coures for backing up encrypted material you will need to decrypt it to the harddrive first).

You should make sure you have a sizeable harddrive too so that you don't have to immediately burn a disc if something comes up. I'd tentatively say no less than 250gb but realistically 500gb is very affordable nowadays.

[romero]

I'm looking for something that will do this quickly also. Will a bare bones machine give you speed?

[wtsinnc]

Hi romero;

My three year old Dell E510 has a Pentium 4 Prescott (3.0) single core cpu with hyperthreading, two IDE RW drives, and 2.5 G 533mhz RAM. By most standards, it is now an obsolete machine.

-However-

Using any of the ripping software I have, I can typically rip a DVD in 15 minutes or less and burn (if 16x speed is chosen) in about five minutes. For dual-layer burning, it typically takes 13-15 minutes because I use 4x media (Verbatim ONLY). In some cases, I am able to rip in roughly ten minutes if no or little compression is involved.

Very important is to choose a fast drive to rip; not all are created equal. Moving from an LG to a Samsung which was recommended in these forums, my ripping speed was lowered dramatically. Also, most here recommend using ONLY Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden media and burning with Imgburn, although I have had pretty much identical results with the freeware trio of DVDFab HD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, and Imgburn, 1clickdvdcopy pro/dvd43, DVDFab Platinum, or CloneDVD2/AnyDVD HD.

So the answer to your question is that you need a balance of good media, a fast and accurate drive for ripping, and up-to-date software. Whichever format (SATA or IDE) of drive you use, the current "best" ripping drives seem to be Pioneer and Samsung. For burning, I have had pretty much universally good results using any brand I've owned, but I prefer LG. It's a personal choice; when it quits, I'll probably get a Pioneer.