To gather info about the DVD
dvdbackup -I
/dev/dvd is the default device tried - you need to use -i if your device name is different.
General backup information
If your backup directory is /my/dvd/backup/dir/ specified with the -o flag, then dvdbackup will create a DVD-Video structure under /my/dvd/backup/dir/TITLE_NAME/VIDEO_TS. If the -o flag is omitted, the current directory is used.
Since the title is "unique" you can use the same directory for all your DVD backups. If it happens to have a generic title dvdbackup will exit with a return value of 2. And you will need to specify a title name with the -n switch.
dvdbackup will always mimic the original DVD-Video structure. Hence if you e.g. use the -M (mirror) you will get an exact duplicate of the original. This means that every file will be have the same size as the original one. Like wise goes also for the -F and the -T switch.
However the -t and (-t -s/-e) switch is a bit different the titles sectors will be written to the original file but not at the same offset as the original one since they may be gaps in the cell structure that we do not fill.
To backup the whole DVD
dvdbackup -M
This action creates a valid DVD-Video structure that can be burned to a DVD-/+R(W) with help of genisoimage.
To backup the main feature of the DVD
dvdbackup -F
This action creates a valid DVD-Video structure of the feature title set. Note that this will not result in an image immediately watchable - you will need another program like dvdauthor to help construct the IFO files.
dvdbackup defaults to get the 16:9 version of the main feature if a 4:3 is also present on the DVD. To get the 4:3 version use -a 0.
dvdbackup makes it best to make a intelligent guess what is the main feature of the DVD - in case it fails please send a bug report.
To backup a title set
dvdbackup -T 2
where "-T 2" specifies that you want to backup title set 2 i.e. all VTS_02_X.XXX files.
This action creates a valid DVD-Video structure of the specified title set. Note that this will not result in an image immediately watchable - you will need another program like dvdauthor to help construct the IFO files.
To backup a title
dvdbackup -t 1
This action backups all cells that forms the specified title. Note that there can be sector gaps in between one cell and an other. dvdbackup will backup all sectors that belongs to the title but will skip sectors that are not a part of the title.
To backup a specific chapter or chapters from a title
dvdbackup -t 1 -s 20 -e 25
This action will backup chapter 20 to 25 in title 1, as with the backup of a title there can be sector gaps between one chapter (cell) and an other. dvdbackup will backup all sectors that belongs to the title 1 chapter 20 to 25 but will skip sectors that are not a part of the title 1 chapter 20 to 25.
To backup a single chapter e.g. chapter 20 do -s 20 -e 20. To backup from chapter 20 to the end chapter use only -s 20. To backup to chapter 20 from the first chapter use only -e 20.
You can skip the -t switch and let the program guess the title although it is not recommended.
If you specify a chapter that his higher than the last chapter of the title dvdbackup will truncate to the highest chapter of the title.