A: Copying a DVD has gotten easier due to a number of free software programs that you can download.   Although some DVDs still have some damn tricky copy protection, most can be copied pretty easily with the method below:

Here's what you need before you can copy a DVD:

1. A DVD to copy (yes, some idiot would forget that if I didn't list it)
2. A blank DVD to copy it to
3. A computer with a DVD reader and writer
4. The latest version of DVD Shrink - Get it here or just Google the words "DVD Shrink" and you'll find it
5. DVD burning software (I use Nero)
6. About an hour or so of time (more or less depending on your drive speed, etc.)

DISCLAIMER FOR THIS TUTORIAL: Only copy DVDs you already own, blah blah blah, copying DVDs you don't own is stealing, yada yada yada, and as always; don't play with yourself or you'll go blind...

For this tutorial, we will be copying "Men In Black II, Full Screen Special Edition"

1. Start the DVD Shrink program
2. Insert the DVD into your drive (if you have a DVD player installed, it will probably start playing ... stop it)
3. Click "Open Disc" in the upper left-hand corner
4. The program will "analyze" the disc [PiC], then report to you what it finds [PiC]
5. If you click on the "Main Movie" folder, you'll see a list of the audio and suppicture tracks on the disc
6. Uncheck the ones you don't need.  I usually uncheck anything that's not in English, and any audio tracks that aren't necessary, like Director's Comments.
7. Because the disc is being "shrunk", any space you save here will ultimately improve the quality of the finished DVD.
8. In this situation, I've unchecked the French audio and subtitle tracks.  I don't speak French and I don't like french fries all that much .. so screw those bastards!   :)  [PiC]
9. Be sure to check the Menus and Extras folders for more things to delete.   Save as much space as possible.
10. Now, let's take advantage of the extra space we just gained.  Click on the "Menus" folder, then click on the drop-down box under the "Video" heading.    Choose "Custom Ratio" from the drop-down and slide the slider all the way to the left.   If you watch you'll see the space get redistributed amongst the other folders.  [PiC]
11. Do the same thing with the "Extras" folder.
12. By allowing only the "Main Movie" folder to have a dropdown setting of "Automatic", we transfer all the space we save on other folders to the main feature.
13. Now, we are ready to actually "shrink" our movie.   Click on "Backup!" and you may see a screen like this [PiC]  This is saying that the DVD is coded for more than one "region", or country of origin basically.   Choose the appropriate country or region and click OK
14. The next screen you see will ask you where to build your DVD image on your hard drive. [PiC]  I will key in "mib2" to tell the program to create a folder called "mib2" and create the DVD image there.  It's a good idea to create a folder for each image because the program will create subfolders inside of the folder you select.   It just keeps things less confusing when you go to look for your image in the burning steps later.
15. Click OK and the program will shrink your movie and create an image to burn [PiC]  This can take varying amounts of time, my DVD drive is 16x, and takes usually 30-35 minutes to rip a DVD.   Using simple math, we could assume that an 8x would take roughly an hour, and anything longer isn't worth bothering.
16. If your program keeps repeating the same thing over and over for more than a minute, chances are that you have a nasty bitch of a DVD and need to skip down to the "Alternate Step" heading
17. When the program finishes, you see a popup telling you how long it took and where on your hard drive to find the image.  Remove your original DVD and replace it with a blank DVD.
18. Close the DVD Shrink program and start your DVD burning program (I'll be using Nero for this)
19. If the "New Compilation" dialog doesn't pop up automatically, click the sheet of paper icon in the upper left hand corner. [PiC] Now, select the DVD Video icon, and then click New
20. Locate the DVD image on your hard drive.   Click on the folder we created earlier (mib2), and you should see 2 new folders that the program created, AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS.   [PiC]  Audio_TS will almost always be empty, but its good to get into the habit of dragging it over too.
21. Click the Burn icon (looks like a CD with a match in front of it), then click Burn [PiC]
22. If the DVD burns correctly, you will see a screen similar to this [PiC] ... congrats, you did it!
23. END

[ALTERNATE STEP]  We can try to copy this DVD with another free program called DVD Decrypter, download it here or Google it and download it somewhere else.

1. With the original DVD still in the drive, open the DVD Decrypter program.
2. You may encounter a region code dialog similar to the one we saw earlier.  Just choose the correct region and click OK
3. Note the Destination, that's where we have to find the image when it's done.  Click the icon to begin [PiC]
4. When it finishes, you'll have a screen similar to this one [PiC]
5. Now, go back to step #18 and burn your DVD.
6. If this method didn't work, the DVD you are trying to copy doesn't want you to copy it.  You're pretty much fucked at this point, sorry.   There's other things and programs you can try, but DVDs are so cheap nowadays, just go buy another copy and put it in a safe deposit box or something.