World of Games

Question About Disk Back-Ups

I have a PS2 slimline for my son who is 5. I was reading about backing up the disks that you have bought which would be good since he has aready wrecked several PC game disks. I have read on several blogs where they talked about a disk swap program as well as a flip top hardware. I’m totaly confused. What do I need to do to play the games that I bought for him that I have made backup copies of? Would love some help of someone who understands this.

- Your options are a modchip (best option in my opinion but more expensive) and the swap disk but I dont like them.

- I disagree about the swap discs. I have found them very reliable, easy to use and you don’t invalidate your warranty/guarantee by  soldering a permanent chip. Just do a search on ‘Swap Magic’ and you will find numerous sites to buy it from. All you have to do is put the Swap Magic disc in first, then when prompted replace it with your back up game. You can buy additional pieces of kit that convince the PS2 the lid is still closed. There is a very helpful Youtube guide to this procedure, (including a superior method with tissue paper and tape rather than the ‘extra’ bits for the lid which I bought, bah) which I found easy to follow and I’m rubbish with tools lol. I’m able to copy games to either DVD or CD using Nero6. All in all very satisfactory. I’m up for swaps if anyone in the UK is also into it.

- You see, everybody thinks different. For me the best is the easiest and faster way ,a modchip.. With a modchip just put the game and play. With the swap disk, like paranoid said you have to swap…..but you have a little hook to open the tray to do the swap or you need get another case, also  he forgot to add the part where you have to pray for the game to boot or you are going to have to prepare the game to do it, I see people with swap disc in forums always asking if X game will work with a swap disc. At the end I guess both are good. but modchips are better. The only con about modchip is to open the case to instal the chip and loosing your warranty but with a swap disc if you replace your case, is the same, no more warranty.

I think both the chip and the swap disc have their good points. With the swap disc I have had maybe one in 50 discs fail to read, there is a greater failure rate in the copying process, especially with games companies who insert deliberate data breaks in their video intros for example, rental versions particularly. Opinions are likely to fluctuate depending on whether one has been able to play a favourite game or not (it plays = good, it doesn’t = it’s bad). My PSX is chipped (but it’s slower anyway lol) and the chips for that were unreliable for the first couple of years. If the chip fails, you don’t have a working console anymore. The chips are more reliable now, but if they die, you need to get the chip off again and hope it hasn’t taken the PS2 down with it. Perhaps the disc swap makes less sense now that it’s harder to find a new PS2 with full warranty anyway. One should bear in mind the number of people who are unhappy opening a piece of kit and using a soldering iron. Many people, including the originator of this strand, have bought the console for their kids and just want to walk away after setting it up. The slot case version of Swap Magic is pretty lame and far less attractive than the tissue and tape method which leaves the PS2 with it’s original appearance and can be found on Youtube under PS2 mod or PS2 swap disc I think.