lost my source files; rip dvd to get m2v?

[bobogs]

My external hd crashed, and it had many of my video project files (source raw avi, edited/encoded m2v, wav, ac3, etc.) on it. Before I try to salvage the data off it with an $80 tool, I'm curious if I can extract the m2v and ac3/wav from a previously authored and burned dvd (home videos, not commercial), and just reuse those files in the authoring process.

I would expect that certain tools allow 1:1 digital extraction (no transcoding necessary here). Even if i had to extract the audio as a pcm wav and reencode it to AC3 again (thus losing even more quality), I would be happy with that, because it's not pristine audio to begin with.

I don't even want to reedit the video, I just want the sources for dvd authoring (i'd like to try making a better dvd menu ).

Any suggestions? And yes, I will make better use of offline backups in the future.

Thanks!
Gary

[canadateck]

You could rip with DVD Decrypter to Elementary Streams, No file spliting. Or DVD shrink.You will keep your Video and AC3 files.

[reboot]

ReJig, in file mode.

[bobogs]

I used DVD Decrypter with the stream processing in Demux mode.

Thanks for the responses.

Gary