Backing up CD Games

[JapanTokei]

I'm keeping CD-r's away from any Turbo CD's or Duo's in the future... THEY ARE CD-ROM KILLERS!!!

Are there really any evidence CD-Rs kill Duo/PC Engine CD drives?  IF you think about it, Computer PC's CD drives are used to play crappy CDRs all the time... and you would think PC Engine/DUO's drives were of higher quality (even though it's only 1x)... I'm interested in confirmed theory here.... (because I am worried, I actually played Y's1 compleetely thru on my Duo and that backup was made on a cheapy Maxell from 1998 !  gulp).....

[nat]

Cheap CD-Rs are harder for the laser to read, and as such they really exert themselves to do so. This in turn shortens the life of the laser. Cheap CD-Rs will affect CD-ROM drives in the same manner, but consider this: how many CD-ROM drives are you using that are 20-25 years old? Most people tend to completely replace their computer systems every few years, and those that don't usually upgrade peripherals (such as CD-ROMs) before they have a chance to fail.

Personally, I've had countless CD-ROM drives go out over the years. I have a SCSI Toshiba CD-R burner in an old PowerMac that is over a decade old now that finally bit the dust in the past year. Such a drive is considered "ancient" by current technology's standards and its only half as old as the drives in PCE CD systems and Duos.

[offsidewing]

personally for my kids to experience Turbo, I set up two soft modded Xbox's put MednefenX on them and used TURBORIP and TocFixer to play all the best Turbo CD games directly off the harddrive. 

Otherwise let them play your CD-r's on Magic Engine on an old PC or something....

I'm keeping CD-r's away from any Turbo CD's or Duo's in the future... THEY ARE CD-ROM KILLERS!!!

Is there a tutorial for this?  And is it an Xbox or and Xbox 360?  Either way, I have both and LOVE this idea.  The Turbo's and the Core Grafices are built like tanks, but the Duo's are a gentle, testy breed.

You can soft mod it, but it requires a bit of knowledge and finesse.....

or you can do the mod-chip method instead.

Xbox or Xbox 360? 

[Tatsujin]

Are there really any evidence CD-Rs kill Duo/PC Engine CD drives? 

I'm aware of several cases where DUOs as well PCE CD-ROMs completely irreversible broke down in just few days/weeks of CD-R use, and before that, they worked flawless for 2 decades when using originals!!

[JapanTokei]

wow... did not know that...   

[Arkhan]

Are there really any evidence CD-Rs kill Duo/PC Engine CD drives?  IF you think about it, Computer PC's CD drives are used to play crappy CDRs all the time... and you would think PC Engine/DUO's drives were of higher quality (even though it's only 1x)... I'm interested in confirmed theory here.... (because I am worried, I actually played Y's1 compleetely thru on my Duo and that backup was made on a cheapy Maxell from 1998 !  gulp).....

A friend got one, burned a bunch of games onto Verbatim and Kodak CD-Rs and 3 weeks later the CD-ROM unit croaked.

Duo's can handle CD-Rs a *bit* better since they're newer than the original CD-ROM unit

but, the age of the CD-ROM is kind of a give away.   The late 80s was a new era for CDROM technology, and TBH, the PCE CD-ROM unit is an accident waiting to happen anymore.   They weren't exactly making perfect hardware at the time with CD-ROMs, especially at that price.

When you hear the unit making funny noises while reading a CD-R, there is your proof.

Xbox or Xbox 360?

Regular Xbox.   You can use an Action Replay, and Mechassault to hack linux onto the thing, and basically fill it up with all kinds of <3 via FTP on your PC.

you need to be careful while doing it, and be sure to back up your entire Xbox HDD before messing with it.  Theres a chance you can accidentally wipe your dashboard out and then you are totally boned once the clock capacitors discharge.  Fixing it in that state is a PITA and involves hot swapping the Xbox hard disk with a PC, lol

[TheOldMan]

Long story, short version:
Older CD-ROM (not re-writeable) drives used older lasers (longer wavelength, I think); they were meant for pressed discs, which are very reflective.
Newer CR-R/W (re-writeable) drives use different lasers; the focus well on both pressed and dye-based
discs.

Putting a CD-R/W disc into a CR-ROM drive will not harm the drive UNTIL you try to play it. Since the
laser is older, it -cannot- focus correctly on the dye-based disc; even if it locks onto the disc and recognizes
that one is inserted, it will have a VERY hard time reading the less reflective disc.
This causes the drive to seek and re-try lots. Enough times to wear out the gears on older pce/tg-16 cd units.
Newer duos (from what I've heard) use newer lasers, allowing them to focus and read dyd-based discs 'better'. This is why you can some-times re-calibrate the duos to read R/W media.

[_joshuaTurbo]

check out Xbox scene for tutorials on soft modding your Xbox (original).

I bet youtube has some video tutorials as well.

[jperryss]

Can't find the actual tutorial I used but I softmodded a few using UnleashX+ndure method. Gotta crack the XBOX case open to do it, as it required swapping the HDD ribbon cable to a PC.

Still beats soldering a chip in though.

[JapanTokei]

After these good discussions, this is what I am going to do:

first, I like playing the PCE/Duo games with the original oldies.. it feels more "right".. so given that backdrop and these new light on how CDRs aren't good for our baby Duos/CD-Rom units..

1)  Ever been to a conference and they give you these badges you wear around ur neck, with your name card held inside these plasticy cases that look like giant versions of baseball card protectors?  I am gonna buy whole bunch of these.
2)  Then put all my spine cards of games in my collection in to these, along with the jewel cases/instructions
3) put (1), (2) above away
3)  Put the original game discs in a easily accessable CD wallet.

then game on  O:)

totally on a side tangent..  the Tannoeke Bank hucard is the best invention ever... for those of you playing on the system... you need to get yourself one of these to transfer your saved games!!  I bought 2 more on my Japan trip this week 

[Tatsujin]

i don't like the idea of using cd-wallets for my most valuable discs i just can imagine off. inserting and pulling them in and out doesn't seem very well for them to me, regarding nano-scratches etc.
i think the good old fashonable jewel case does still the best possible job to keep your cds in best condition. as long it is kept clean inside.

[Arkhan]

also, if something damages the CD Wallet, all your games are f*cked in the process instead of just 1 or 2.

Say if you lose it, drop it, smash it on accident... etc. etc