3 ways for lossless Blu-ray backup: BD to BD, BD to ISO and BD to MKV

Why bother making a copy of your Blu-ray Disc while you have already got a BD Player or PS3? Most of all, it is difficult to protect an expensive and brittle Blu-ray disc from scratches and worn out due to frequently use. A backup copy will keep original Blu-ray disc safe and clean. Here we pick out and compare 3 lossless Blu-ray backing up methods for beginners that would like to back up Blu-ray collections. Any of them allows for 1080p video and multiple audio and subtitle streams when copying Blu-ray movie. Read on to find a best fit for you.

Part 1. Copy/Burn Blu-ray Disc to a blank BD-R 25GB/50GB

Part 2. Burn a Blu-ray ISO image file that contains everything

Part 3.Copy Blu-ray main movie to MKV with everything unchanged.

Part 1. Copy/Burn Blu-ray Disc to a blank BD-R 25GB/50GB

What you need: Blu-ray Ripper software, Blu-ray authoring software, Blu-ray burner, blank Blu-ray Disc (BD-25/BD-50), and a computer with 50GB+ free space.

bluray backup ways

To copy movie from a Blu-ray disc, you’ll need a Blu-ray copying tool. Bear in mind that not all Blu-ray ripping software do copy Blu-ray contents to hard drive, most of them simply rip Blu-ray movie to HD videos. Here we recommend the “Full Disc Copy” facility of Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper to you. When ripping Blu-ray contents to computer, you’ll also need a Blu-ray Disc drive to read Blu-ray Disc, as DVD-ROM will not read BD at all. Basically, Blu-ray burner/writer can be used as BD-drive. After Blu-ray contents are copied to hard drive, you have to author them to ensure properly playback on Blu-ray player. Freeware tsMuxer and multi-AVCHD can be help. For burning Blu-ray Disc, freeware ImgBurn and shareware Nero 10 are recommended. On a Mac computer you can try Toast Titanium.

Pros: You can make a 1:1 physical Blu-ray copy and play it in Blu-ray players and PS3.

Cons:

1) It costs plenty of time and money. And again you get a brittle Blu-ray disc that is easy to break.

2) The process is complicated. Beginners may fail over and over again before successfully burn a Blu-ray Disc.

3) You may face more complicated situation when copying a 30GB movie--- you have to either compress the BD contents to fit for a 25GB single layer Blu-ray Disc(which is time-consuming), or copy it to a 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Disc which is much more expensive.

4) It’s not good for store and organization. Image when you hunt for a movie in hundreds of Blu-ray discs.

Part 2. Burn a Blu-ray ISO image file that contains everything

What you need: Blu-ray Ripper software, Blu-ray ISO creator software, Blu-ray Disc drive, and a computer with 50GB+ free space

burn blu-ray disc

Burning a Blu-ray ISO image is much easier than disc to disc backup. Again you’ll need Blu-ray ripper software and a BD Drive for hacking and copying Blu-ray contents to computer. If this Blu-ray ripper can copy Blu-ray structure (a BDMV and a CERTIFICATE directory) to hard drive, things will be much easier---just use freeware ImgBurn to create BD ISO image from Blu-ray directories.

Pros:

1) You can get 1:1 backup of Blu-ray Disc. 1080p video and HD audio can be preserved.

2) It costs much less time and money than burning a Blu-ray Disc.

3) The Blu-ray ISO can be easily burned to Blu-ray Disc when it necessary.

Cons:

Playing Blu-ray ISO can be troublesome. There are few portable players that support Blu-ray ISO playback. On computer you have to install a virtual BD drive and use specific player like PowerDVD 10 to ensure proper playback. By the way, PowerDVD 10 offered at $75 by Cyberlink.

Part 3. Copy Blu-ray main movie to MKV with everything unchanged.

What you need: Pavtube ByteCopy software, Blu-ray Disc drive and a computer.

MKV is a container file format in which there can be many audio, video and subtitles streams, allowing the user to store a complete movie in a single file. Experienced movie fans usually choose MKV format for movie ripping because the MKV format lets them to do lossless backup of their CD, DVD and Blu-ray Discs with desired audio tracks and subtitles. Pavtube ByteCopy is such kind of software that integrated Blu-ray decrypter and MKV maker. The software enables users to crack Blu-ray copy-protections and envelop Blu-ray main movie into a single MKV file with all subtitles and audio streams included. Everything’s the same with Blu-ray Disc except for extras. The software is offered at $42 by Pavtube Studio.

Pros:

1) Lossless backup of Blu-ray main movie, with 1080p video, HD audio, and multi-subtitles preserved.

2) It costs much money than burning Blu-ray ISO, as you don’t have to purchase a player for MKV playback. In fact MKV is widely supported by HD media players: Western Digital TV Live, Seagate Theatre Plus, Popcorn Hour C-200, etc. On computer you can either use free VLC media player and Mplayer for MKV playback, or enable Windows Media Player/Windows Media Center to play MKV by installing free codec packs.

3) MKV videos are easy to organize- as easy as WMV and AVI video. You can add them to Windows Media Center and connect computer to HDTV for enjoying 1080p HD videos.

4) The process is very easy and intuitive. You can complete Blu-ray to MKV backup with 2 clicks only.

Cons:

Generated MKV video includes main movie only, without Blu-ray movie menu.

For compressing Blu-ray contents to HD video for home server and ripping Blu-ray movie to iPad, PS3, Xbox, Motorola Xoom, Galaxy Tab, Playbook, iPhone, Atrix 4G, etc, you’re encouraged to try Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper or Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate.

Referring to Blu-ray backup, everyone has his own hobbyhorse. Just one thing, if you’re hoping to copy your Blu-ray movies with easiest operations and least expense, copying BD to MKV is absolutely your first choice.

See more MKV playback solutions

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