Shrink and Burn Large DVDs

Introduction

I remember purchasing a package of two DVDs of the bible in Spanish and I wanted to make a back up copy of the DVDs for safe keeping but the problem was that the data on one of the DVDs were too large to fit on a single disk.  If you are in a similar situation and are still searching for a way to burn your favourite DVDs that are too big, then your search has finally come to an end.  In this post I will offer a few solutions to deal with this problem.

Bytes, Bytes and more Bytes

In computing, a byte is a unit of storage.  It is calculated using base two so that there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 bytes and so on where each number is twice the number immediately before it.  A byte can store one character like letter A or  the number 0,  etc. The prefix "kilo" means a thousand.  So a kilobyte is about 1000 bytes. Since binary numbers are used, a kilobyte (Kb) is exactly 1024 bytes. A megabyte (Mb) is 1000 Kb and a Gigabyte (GB) is 1000 Mb - each new prefix on the scale increases the size by a thousand.  A regular floppy diskette can store 1.44 Mb of data.  Compare that with a 1 Gb flash drive - about 1000 times the size of a floppy - no wonder that the floppy has gone out of style.  

Burning Large Files


A regular CD capacity is  700Mb while a regular DVD capacity is  4.7 Gb.  If the DVD movie that you desire to burn exceeds 4.7 Gb, then you will be unable to burn it using your regular software.  One solution to the problem is to use "DVD shrink".  It is the only free compression software that I have discovered. And it works exceptionally well.   It can compress the DVD movie so that it can fit on a single DVD.  However, there are limits to the compression as must be expected.  Secondly,  if the movie file is so big that it cannot be compressed enough to fit on a single DVD, then you can choose to copy the movie file itself without the added features.  A DVD usually comes with files other than the movie file.  The movie file is the largest file.  DVD shrink allows you to choose the files that you want in the DVD.  By selecting only the movie file (the largest file), DVD shrink may be able to sufficiently compress the file to fit on a single disk.  Thirdly, if this doesn't work,  you also have the option of burning the DVD movie on two separate disks.  This can be accomplished using "DVD fab 7" which is a powerful burning software with many cool features.  This program is not free.  However, you can try out the full software for 30 days before you decide whether or not you would purchase it.  Your DVDs are never too big to handle!