Saving home movies to an external hard drive

[Cottontail]

I have a few old home movies that have been converted from the VHS tape to a CD-R.

Now, I want to get that off the CD and save it onto my hard drive with all my photos and my GoPro videos.

When I put that CD-R into my computer, it brings up a box about selecting how I want to burn a disc.

Any tips on how to get that onto my computer? I can't get them to read on my DVD player hooked up to the TV either...

Thoughts...

 

[xcm]

Whats the file format on files on the cd-r? A lot of the cd-r's i used for backup early on are no longer readable... I hope you have better luck, optical media is a terrible backup medium.

Navigate to your cd-r drive, and manually copy them to a folder on your local hard drive, then copy them to your external drive. If sizes allow (and they should these days), mirror them on as many drives as possible.

 

[WB9YZU]

A Windows machine I assume?

Unfortunately, not all CD writers are compatable, even the drivers were not standard for a while. Nero had one, and if I am not too mistaken, Roxio was another, and there were a few others.

If it's a Windows Machine, IIRC. there is an option of a compatability mode. You RT click on the drive Icon and check a box. It's worth a try. We had a bunch of CDs at work written by Roxio, and checking that box solved the problem on XP.

GL!

 

[Cottontail]

I actually found a software and hardware package at Best Buy called Honestech VHS 2 DVD 8.0 that will take them directly from the VCR or video camera and put them into an MPsomething file that can be saved to a folder on a hard drive.

I haven't attempted it yet, but it looks to be pretty simple. I'm not looking for a theater quality restoration - just a failsafe to get old home movies onto something more permanent.

 

[PhotographerMike]

Slightly off topic but about saving old photos and movies for future generations;
If you still have your original FILM around, keep it if you want the grandkids to see what life was like "back then".

Yes, transfer the negatives, slides, prints, Super 8 movie film to the current easy to share format and safely store the originals.

BUT, when someone finds your copies on Beta HiMatic tapes in a few years . . .

Yes film does degrade in time, but not that much.
Here's a link of 100+ year old scanned negatives of building the Mount Wilson Observatory from my website.
http://mikesphotospace.com/MW

Mike

 

[rockclimber]

I have a few old home movies that have been converted from the VHS tape to a CD-R.

Now, I want to get that off the CD and save it onto my hard drive with all my photos and my GoPro videos.

When I put that CD-R into my computer, it brings up a box about selecting how I want to burn a disc.

Any tips on how to get that onto my computer? I can't get them to read on my DVD player hooked up to the TV either...

Thoughts...

in order for that to work they have to be burned as an actual movie DVD. what you have is just a video file. DVD players don't read those.

there are a myriad of programs that can accomplish this. Finalcut, Premier, etc

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Depending on the DVD/BD player, a lot of them can play divx, avi, mp4 etc.
Samsung, Philips, Oppo, etc come to mind.

As stated above, Open the actual directory of your CD, probably D: drive or whatever. Then you should be able to drag and drop into drive/folder of your choosing, or copy/paste it where you want it. If you want to be able to have a backup that will play on most any DVD/BD player then you will need to convert the files to an actual movie disc.
The newer NERO software is good for this and has lots to offer.

 

[87manche]

A Windows machine I assume?

Unfortunately, not all CD writers are compatable, even the drivers were not standard for a while. Nero had one, and if I am not too mistaken, Roxio was another, and there were a few others.

If it's a Windows Machine, IIRC. there is an option of a compatability mode. You RT click on the drive Icon and check a box. It's worth a try. We had a bunch of CDs at work written by Roxio, and checking that box solved the problem on XP.

GL!

that only applies to packet writing.

if it wasn't formatted as a drag and drop disc it's written in a standard iso joliet file format 99% of the time, regardless of what software you used to burn it.
The reason you needed compatibility was because the roxio software didn't work in anything later than XP, because XP had it's own version of the packet writing software. They conflicted.
unless these discs were burned before 1999 it's probably UDF if it was packet writing, standard file format that windows will read.
It's much more likely that the discs have simply failed. CD-R's are not what I would call permanent past a few years old.


So, if you still have tapes and a VCR, re capture them in a modern file format like MP4.

That honesttech looks like a pile. If you're gonna spend $60 to do this

http://www.amazon.com/Dazzle-DVD-Re...971165&sr=1-1&keywords=Dazzle+DVD+Recorder+HD
that comes with real software.
Pinnacle HD. It will be useful for more than just this project.