how to split contents of VIDEO_TS file to fit on CD discs

[strychnine81]

this must be a really stupid question if i cannot find answers, but i have to ask.

while on vacation some 4-1/2 years ago i downloaded two video torrents (yes - no copyright and with permission).
my only option was to download to the laptop computer i had with me. so that's what i did, but now these two
beautiful videos are on a 5 year old laptop whose only dvd/cd device is a combo DVD player/CD player-recorder.

they play fine and look great playing on the laptop. however the hard drive is only 20GB and these two take up almost 5GB of space.

each video has a full VIDEO_TS folder with full file structure (see below), all within a descriptively titled directory.

my question -
how can i get these off my computer?

1.) aren't they just data files at this point? i've split large FLAC files with winRAR, can i do the same with these 1GB+ VOB files? if yes, what path structure do i need to maintain? or should i treat each VOB file separately, put the other files on a separate CD, then reconstruct the whole directory when i place them on a more appropriate computer? are there any important concerns i should know about (reriginal location; specific size i use as a max when split the files, etc)

2.) if #1 is impossible, is there software that can split the VOB files into 2-4 parts; then recombine them again? any structure concerns with any of these softwares? these are the only 2 videos i screwed up on so i don't want to pay $50+ for software i might not use again.

3.) i only have a little over 2GB of space left on the hard drive, so i going to clear whatever i can to allow space. there is not much that can be moved so figure 4GB max of empty hard space to work with.

4.) i have NERO 6 Ultra (for audio obviously) on this computer. i do have some video authoring stuff on another computer, but i don't really want to get into converting this to another format, splitting, then recombining again. i'm not that good and the software is that sophisticated.

thanks in advance to anyone who can help me. please let know any other information you may require.

best,
eric

========================

Listing of VIDEO_TS at 01:04:16 AM on Sat, Apr 25 2009
6 file(s) 0 subfolder(s) 1.6 GB (1,765,373,952 byte(s))

Filename Date Size (KB)
------------ -------------------- ------------
VIDEO_TS.BUP 8/3/2004 7:14:36 PM 8 KB
VIDEO_TS.IFO 8/3/2004 7:14:35 PM 8 KB
VTS_01_0.BUP 8/3/2004 7:14:35 PM 38 KB
VTS_01_0.IFO 8/3/2004 7:14:35 PM 38 KB
VTS_01_1.VOB 8/3/2004 7:14:35 PM 1,048,404 KB
VTS_01_2.VOB 8/3/2004 7:14:35 PM 675,502 KB


================================================== ============

Listing of VIDEO_TS at 01:06:28 AM on Sat, Apr 25 2009
8 file(s) 0 subfolder(s) 3.0 GB (3,210,563,584 byte(s))

Filename Date Size (KB)
------------ -------------------- ------------
VIDEO_TS.BUP 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 8 KB
VIDEO_TS.IFO 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 8 KB
VTS_01_0.BUP 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 50 KB
VTS_01_0.IFO 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 50 KB
VTS_01_0.VOB 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 470 KB
VTS_01_1.VOB 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 1,048,404 KB
VTS_01_2.VOB 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 1,048,404 KB
VTS_01_3.VOB 8/4/2004 1:59:15 PM 1,037,922 KB

[INFRATOM]

One way is to network your laptop and copy the file through network. The other way is to use backup program that can break up the files into 650 meg and then re-assemble to another drive. Network or external drive is the easiest. The video structure is a VIDEO_TS folder in caps in the root of a DVD disc, the files can be copied separately.

[strychnine81]

thanks for the reply.

yeah, i thinking via network. right now both computers are hard-connected to a "wireless" router courtesy time-warner cable. dnld supposed to be 6Mbps, upld 512kbps. that not bad, but i'm too thick to figure out what that means except maybe 3 full days pretty much not using both or for sure the uploading computer?

what is the backup program you had in mind to split the files? is this as easy as i imagined or is there more to consider? i'd really like this option if there is a program that can split the VOBs and put them back together. will winRAR do that or do i need DVD specific software?

and your confirming once the files are on another computer i can put them in folders as they are now and i'll be ready to burn?

thanks again.

all my best, e

[strychnine81]

forgot one thing...

using the 2 computers through the router, if this actually possible, what kind of network do i need to set up for transfer? i own ancient stuff - 1994 laptop with intel celeron 2.4ghz; 1991 desktop with 1.8ghz pentium. desktop's still very reliable, but would be on the receiving end.

suggestions?

[INFRATOM]

Your computer is not that old they just changed category, now they are good as office and web browsing. I suggest to google how to network 2 computers but in XP it is very easy just run network wizard from my network places create a disk and setup the other one with it. then the shared folders will show up and copy and paste your file/folder into the shared folder of the other computer.
Regarding internet speed, up speed is when you are sending a request like typing a web address, down speed is the speed that info comes back. Your speed is 0.5 meg up and 6 meg down. if you are using an internet phone it is good to have higher up speed so your voice goes there faster, your down speed is ok. It is always good to test your speed in testing websites to make sure you get the speed you are paying for!

[Bjs]

Flash drives also come in handy ... 8gb are cheap.

Network here use's mapped drives.

[johns0]

forgot one thing...

using the 2 computers through the router, if this actually possible, what kind of network do i need to set up for transfer? i own ancient stuff - 1994 laptop with intel celeron 2.4ghz; 1991 desktop with 1.8ghz pentium. desktop's still very reliable, but would be on the receiving end.

suggestions?

The pentium was first released in March 22 1993 and was a whopping 60mhz.I think you meant 2001 desktop and such.

[strychnine81]

forgot one thing...

using the 2 computers through the router, if this actually possible, what kind of network do i need to set up for transfer? i own ancient stuff - 1994 laptop with intel celeron 2.4ghz; 1991 desktop with 1.8ghz pentium. desktop's still very reliable, but would be on the receiving end.

suggestions?

The pentium was first released in March 22 1993 and was a whopping 60mhz.I think you meant 2001 desktop and such.

wow - thanks for pointing that out! big typing error there. laptop is 2004 with WinXP -3; desktop is late 2001 with Win2000 pro. sorry!

[strychnine81]

Flash drives also come in handy ... 8gb are cheap.

Network here use's mapped drives.

that is a good idea - i think.
yeah they are cheap. my laptop has usb2 (plenty fast), but the desktop only has usb1. usb1 is supposed to work at 12Mbs. if it's even close to that it should go faster than networking.

does anyone know how fast in real life downloading via usb1 is?

thanks a lot for the suggestion!

[strychnine81]

so should i take these responses to mean that using some kind of software (like winRAR) to split up the VOBS automatically and will join them back together is a bad idea, correct?

[T-Fish]

5gb over usb1 ? well make sure you got a few hours LOL

splitting the vobs with winrar is possible, but a far bigger hassle imho.
(compressing time, wasting 8 cds etc)

[strychnine81]

5gb over usb1 ? well make sure you got a few hours LOL

splitting the vobs with winrar is possible, but a far bigger hassle imho.
(compressing time, wasting 8 cds etc)

re: 5GB over usb1 -
yeah, seems like it would take many hours. are my calculations wrong?

i went to speedtest.com to test my cable connection today. it came back slow:
4.06 Mbs dowload
speedtest said that would download an 800MB file in 26 minutes. that translates to:
30.77 MB/min
= 1000MB in 33 minutes
so if i have a lttle less than 5GB, all would be downloaded in maybe 3 hours tops.
BUT, USB1 is suppose to cap at 12Mbs (as per wikipedia) - almost 3 time faster!

both of these seems unusually fast, if 5GB in even 3 hours is possible i'd be happy.

anybody tell where i'm making my mistake?
i might go get a flash drive right now and try it out. if it goes too slow i'll just return it - i think.

thanks for your comment

[Bjs]

Assuming 12Mbps (1.5 MB) for usb1.1 ... take into consideration a dvd-dl containing 7gig (example) of data being ripped at a rate of 4.5mb's p/s takes about 22 minutes ... then the likelihood of your data taking more than 1 hour / 30 minutes to transfer is not justified.

That 12 was megabits, not megabytes.

[cL0N31]

to fit on cds you can use rar or specifically winrar for windoze to create archive of your dvd split into volumes... the sizes of volumes you specify yourself... burn all those volumes to cds and voila... then you can unpack all those volumes on the destination pc and get your dvd back... of course it would be a silly way to transfer files over (through cd burning i mean)

[strychnine81]

Flash drives also come in handy ... 8gb are cheap.
Network here use's mapped drives.

problem solved.

thank you to everyone who contributed comments.

the flash drive did the trick. uploaded each file separately from the laptop. (total time maybe 10-12 minutes.) downloads to my desktop via usb1 went faster than i'd expected . the 3GB file took about 55-60 minutes, the 1.6GB file in a little less than 30 minutes.

thanks again!!