Is there a way to copy DVD's I purchased onto my hard drive ?

Does anyone on the forum know of any way that I can copy DVD movies that I own onto my hard drive in Windows 7 ?

Of course

Check out ImgBurn:
http://imgburn.com/

Yes you can, there's several different ways to do it.

DVD movie discs have copyright protection features.

As a Moderator, ethically I can't give you program names.

Just Google "copy DVD movies", believe me you'll find the answer you're looking for on the first page shown. You can also Google "DVD backup software".

I don't see why we can't mention the software. If it's fir personnal use, it's fine.

One of the best is AnyDVD by Slysoft. Really nice tool. It has a 21 day trial time, but you have to buy a license if you want to continue using it.

But of course, you can also rip ("to rip" is the term used) all your DVDs in the time limit I did

http://slysoft.com

The products can be used for perfectly legal copying, such as home movies that you burned to DVD yourself or had transferred from tape.

There are some products that strictly pull the files but maintain the DVD file format such as FireCat mentioned, these tend to leave the files huge 4-8GB and are often used strictly to copy the DVD (or to convert dual layer DVDs to single layer with slight loss in quality) but the files can also be stored to a harddrive and viewed.

There are also DVD Rippers which actually convert the DVD to other file formats, for instance AVI and these files tend to be under 2GB with moderate loss in quality. There are several paid Rippers but if you want to try a freeware Ripper you will find some listed in the DVD Rippers section of this thread. Note: I have not used these myself, nor has the poster made any claims to having tried them either so use at your own risk and always virus scan anything downloaded from the web.

There are several which do a good job.

I always do a "clone" of the disc, because I don't want to lessen the quality of the video.

Using Slysoft's AnyDVD along with ImgBurn does a good job. Also Clone DVD along with AnyDVD works very well too.

DVDFab Platinum has lot of features and configurations. I use it when I want just the movie, not the Director comments, other languages, sub-titles, etc.

Thanks everybody I googled and downloaded Nibiru2012's suggestion, Fire cat's suggestion of ImgBurn and everyone's suggestion of Slysoft's AnyDVD. Will these work in WMC and is there a specific format I need to use ?

This is what I suggest:

1. Download and install AnyDVD.
2. Put in a DVD, run AnyDVD and then wait ~20 mins.

You'll end up with an .ISO file that's about 2-3GB in size, but that still has the DVD menus and everything - except all the copyright notices which have been removed by AnyDVD. Just open it up in WMP or WMC, and you're good

You shouldn't need anything else than AnyDVD.
Note that Blu-ray disks will take more space (~10GBs).

I usualy also convert my isos into something smaller, using "Handbrake".

If you want to watch the movies in Windows Media Center or WMP don't save a ISO files!!

ISO images are not playable in those two setups, at least that I know of.

Also, most DVDs will run in sizes of 4.3 to 8.2 GB or so in size, not 2-3 GB. Usually the newer the DVD the bigger it is toward the 8 GB and up.

To be honest with you, if you're new to all of this and never have done it before, I highly recommend that you use DVDFab Platinum. EXTREMELY easy to use for a beginner.

AnyDVD is basically a "driver" that removes the CR protection. DVDFab gives you tons of ways to configure your copy and format.

Solved. None of the suggestions worked with 12 different 1995 and older store bought dvd movies. They show up in Media Center, not Media Player, but won't play. After wasting from 10:00 A.M. to 7:30 P.M. I'm done wasting mine and your time on it.