DVD to HHD

[riojames]

Hey folks, first let me say that this is a great site for information. I have read through as many of the forum topics that I thought were revelent, but I've been unable to come up with an answer. What I did was back up a commercial DVD to my HHD. I'm using XP, made audio and video folders and copied the contents of the DVD to the appropriate folder. It seemed to work but as I read through the forums it seems that I should have used a ripper program to move the contents of the DVD to my HHD. Is that correct? Are the files on my HHD useless?
James

[adam]

If the DVD was encrypted, as most commercial ones are, then yes the files are most likely useless. You can try to play one of the vob files in a software dvd player, or just something like windows media player, but you will most likely get an error.

When ripping a DVD to your hard drive, just always use ripping software. Personally, I recommend DVD Decryptor.

[riojames]

Thanks, I was kinda thinking I'd got ahead of myself.
James