Backup DVDs using K3b

My previous post explains how to backup and playback a DVD from an iso image file in the hard way - using the command line. Now, I discuss how to do it with K3b, a GUI tool.

K3b is a tool from the KDE desktop environment. For Debian users, install it as follows:

$ sudo apt-get install k3b

Backup

1. Run K3b.
   
2. Click the Copy Medium button, or select Copy Medium in the Tools menu.
   
3. Insert your disc into the DVD drive.
   

   Note that the Source Medium is updated to show the DVD title.

4. Select Only create image option.
   

   By default, K3b writes the iso image to disk, copies it to a DVD, and then removes the image on the hard disk. We assume that you only want to backup to the hard disk.

5. Specify the folder to store iso image.

   Click the Image tab, and select a folder to hold the backup image.
   

6. Click Start button.
   

Mount iso image

Before you can playback from the iso image, you must first mount it. There are GUI tools to mount iso image files. For Debian wheezy, install Furious ISO mount as follows. (For Ubuntu, install gmountiso.)

$ sudo apt-get install furiusisomount

To mount an iso image,

1. Run Furious ISO mount.
   
2. Click Browse to locate the iso image file.
3. Select Loop.
4. Click Mount.
   
5. Enter the root password to grant permission to mount the iso.

Note the mount point. You need to know the mount point later when you play back the video. By default, the mount point is a sub-directory under your home directory, and is named after the iso image file - /home/peter/NTSurveyDVD5_iso.

Currently, you cannot change the mount point through the GUI. To change it, you need to edit the configuration file ~/.furiusisomount/settings.cfg.

[mount_options]
mount_point: /home/peter

Playback

There is no shortage of GUI video players. My favorite is VideoLAN, aka vlc.

1. Run vlc.
   
2. Select Open Disc in the Media menu.
   
3. To specify the disc device, click Browse to navigate to the mount point.
4. Click Play.