How to back up your 4K Blu-ray library
Rip your discs once, store the files in two places, and keep one copy out of the house.
If you own a few hundred discs, you already know the problem. They scratch, they get lent out and never come back, and finding the one you want means standing in front of a shelf. A backup fixes all three. It also gives you something to put on a media server.
This guide covers the practical version: what you need, how to rip, where the files should live, and how to keep from losing them.
What you need
- A UHD-capable drive. Not every Blu-ray drive reads 4K discs, and fewer can be used for ripping. Look for a drive known to work with MakeMKV and LibreDrive, and check the forums before you buy. Some drives need a firmware change to work at all.
- MakeMKV. It copies the disc to an MKV file without re-encoding, so you keep the full video and audio.
- Space. A UHD disc rips to somewhere between 40 and 90 GB, and some go past that. A hundred movies is roughly 6 to 8 TB.
- A computer with a spare USB 3 port. Any recent desktop or laptop is fine.
Ripping
- Plug in the drive and open MakeMKV. Put in a disc and let it scan. This can take a few minutes on a new disc.
- Pick the main movie title. It's usually the longest one. Skip the trailers and menus unless you want them.
- Untick audio and subtitle tracks you'll never use. Keep the lossless track (TrueHD or DTS-HD) plus one lossy fallback.
- Choose a folder and start. Expect 30 to 90 minutes a disc, depending on the drive and the disc.
- Play the file before you shelve the disc. Check that the video, sound and subtitles all work.
Don't re-encode if you can help it. Compressing a UHD rip with HEVC saves space, but it also throws away detail and HDR data. Drives are cheaper than quality.
Where the files should live
One copy isn't a backup. A good rule is 3-2-1: three copies, on two kinds of storage, with one somewhere else.
For a movie library that looks like this:
- Copy 1: the drive or NAS you play from.
- Copy 2: an external hard drive, kept in a drawer and updated when you add films.
- Copy 3: a second external drive at a relative's house, your office, or a safe deposit box. Swap it a few times a year.
RAID is not a backup. It keeps your files available when one drive dies. It does nothing if you delete a folder, get hit by ransomware, or lose the whole box to a power surge.
Picking drives
For bulk video, spinning hard drives are the right call. You don't need speed, and they cost far less per terabyte than SSDs. Look at cost per terabyte first, then at warranty and how the drive is rated for always-on use.
We track that for you. The best current prices are on our storage page, sorted by cost per terabyte.
Keeping it healthy
- Name files the same way every time:
Movie Title (Year).mkv. Media server software depends on it. - Once a year, spot-check a handful of files on each copy.
- Replace drives before they fail. Five years is a reasonable age to retire a hard drive that runs all the time.
- Keep the discs. They're your original copy and, in some places, your proof of ownership.