Ive been a long time PC user and got dooped into getting the sleek MacBook Air. Having never used a Mac before, Im a newbie on everything a Mac has to offer.
Is there any package of software that a PC has like my exmaple above, available for Mac? I have heard of TOAST but not sure if that will allow me to "BACK UP" my Dvds. Does Toast offer the high level service that AnyDVD offers and does Toast also, give you the flexiblility of "shrinking" the copy version by letting you remove the "extras" and or Foreign Subtitles inorder for the back up to find on a normal DVD/R?
Yes. Think cheap. Think free. And keep your laptop cool! Bleading-edge technology is killed by heat. Try four free applications, whose 'aliases' you can place in a folder, number & rename: Apple's DVD Player, MacTheRipper, DVD Imager, & Apple's Disk Utility. Then create a custom energy saver that turns off everything (running the processor fast & creating much heat) and turn off the screen saver by placing the pointer in a screen corner. (Try to remember to park it there regularly, or your burn may fail.)
Now place an ice pack under your thin, thin laptop, quit all other applications, turn off the energy saver & screen saver.
1. Popping in a DVD automatically starts DVD Player, which is needed to run for a moment to help MactheRipper.
2. Now turn it off & run MactheRipper. (If your disk was purchased in a different region, a request to change the region code of Apple's DVD reader pops up. Keep the window up until MactheRipper is done, then click 'Cancel'.) MactheRipper creates a folder in the Movies folder.
3. Keep an alias of this folder on your desktop, and sometimes play parts of the VIDEO_TS file (if your screen saver came on). Otherwise, drag the VIDEO_TS icon onto the 'DVD Imager' icon. (This is a kludge with Leopard.) This will ask you for a name: use all caps & underscores. This creates an unmounted UDF image in 'Movies'.
4. Drag the DVD's icon to the trash to unmount & eject your original DVD.
5. Place a blank DVD into your DVD burner.
6. Click YOUR_MOVIE.IMG to mount it. Now open Apple's Disk Utility, select the unmounted YOUR_MOVIE.IMG, and press 'Burn'. I select the maximal speed, but I have an external burner that measures reflectivities & adjusts the beam's intensity accordingly. I also have the disk verified automatically after the burn. If the burn failed (which is only happens if the screen saver comes on, for I use Verbatim discs), I keep the disk, but quickly burn a second.
7. Turn the energy saver to 'Better Energy Savings' & remove the warm water bag from beneath your laptop. The whole process takes less than an hour, and two ice packs.
You can also just examine the freeware 'burn', which is similar to 'Toast'.
Shareware 'shrinking' software is available, and others can tell you about it. (It isn't necessary if one can burn double- or dual-layered DVDs. Though these don't come with LightScribe labels yet, you can always use a 'safe' felt-tipped pen.
