Which media to use for PS2 backups?

Hi, I have a PS2 (V9 or V10 not too sure) with swap magic 3.6.

I have tried burning my backup ISO's to DVD+R at 4x on cheapish Hyundai branded discs with the code MCC003 on them but the results haven't been gret. GT3 wont load at all and games like Tekken are really slow to load and laggy.
Originals work fine though. Please note that the booktype was changed to DVD-ROM in both cases.

Would DVD-R's give me better compatibility? I was looking at some Verbatim AZO+ branded Taiyo Yuden discs with the code TYG.03. Theyre about £9 for 25 off eBay. Are they better?

If not, can someone please or point me in the direction of what discs I should use for best compatibilty and which aren't too expensive.

Ta.

I have been using Verbatim & Taiyo Yuden Media with no problems. + R & - R didn't seem to make any difference in my case, both work fine. Remember, some games are to large to fit on a SL disc, so you would have to use DL media for those.

And lastly, are you using a mod chip system, swap/coder discs? Does it work for some backups & not others?

All of the games that I have tried to back up are SL. I use swap magic 3.6 and there is a 85% compatibility COD2 seems to be fine but Tekken 5 and GT3 wont work at all.

I'll get some -R's as apparently theyre more compatable.

Any info about MCC003? All i could find is that its Mitsubishi.

I would always recommend using -Rs for the bulky PS2.

katzz, the original poster has already stated that they're using Swap Magic. As far as I know, it is impossible to boot up DL backups with Swap Magic.

Those Hyundai MCC's are not real MCC's. That's what we call fake MID. So you better get those Verbatims and you'll be fine.

regards, Stephen

That is good to know, I was not aware of that; do you have a source for that info?

Personal experience.

I made a backup of Gran Turismo 4 onto a DVD+R DL and tried booting it up with Swap Magic Coder 3.8 on a slim PS2. It didn't work.

I haven't tried booting up a Video mode DVD+R DL disc on a slim PS2 though. It might work seeing as it can only boot up DVD-RW and DVD+RW in Video mode.

Games also don't boot up from DVD-RW and DVD+RW with Swap Magic.

I thought I remember reading somewhere that the slim ps2 was more picky about reading backup discs - do you know anything about that?

We have an older gen ps2, that will play anything we put in it.

No, I've never heard about the slim PS2 being picky about media. If anything, I would've thought it would be the other way around. I always thought that the bulky PS2 was picky about blank media?

The slim one does have a newer lens in there after all. And it does read DVD-RW and DVD+RW (albeit in Video mode only).

I used to have a bulky PS2, it wss a v4 I think. The damn thing died on me and I had to buy a slim one instead but that's another story for another day.

Anyway, the bulky PS2 that I had wouldn't read DVD-RW or DVD+RW at all. So getting DVD+R DL to playback was always going to be a no-no. Swap Magic refuses to boot up games from these DVD formats anyway so it didn't really matter on the bulky PS2.

You say that you can boot up any type of disc on your bulky PS2, tell me; is your PS2 chipped? And also, which version is it?

Ta for the info people. My PS2 is a fat v10 and does not seem to like these cheapo DVD+R's at all.

Are Xbox Philips drives any better?

Xbox LG and Samsung drives are BETTER than Sony lens. Though Xbox Philips and Thomson drives are also as picky as some PS2's. So to answer the question: it depends on the Xbox drive itself.

regards, Stephen

Eeep well thanks for letting me know. Time to fork out on some Verbatim Taiyo Yuden discs hope they will be much better than the current ones.

From dim, dark memory, I seem to recall it is a model 9 or 10; does that ring any bells?

No mod inside; what we did was bought the flip top/ swap/ coder disc setup, which allows you to swap discs to the backup game after the unit has read the swap disc.

I think Hyundai discs with TY and MCC codes are fake. Our 4 year old PS2 works well with genuine Verbatim +R 16x MCC004.

Exactly. For "compatibility" they use those fake MID's. Wondering why some people wanna kill their PS2's and Xbox's with those low quality budget media... Of course then they come and say "my ps2 does not read this and that" Not to mention the V9/V10 models suffer from coil issues, wish the poster's PS2 coils are ok, otherwise chances to kill the LA (plus the laser itself ) are great, especially with these "excellent" media.

regards, Stephen

Mate, I dont want to kill it, just that I'm not really great with keeping stuff organised so I have a few badly scratched discs that I want to be able to keep backups of.

I only just got swap magic, and am new to the whole media scene. I've just been using these hyundai discs to do data backups off of my PC.

I'm not going to use them anymore if they will kill my laser, that would just be stupid. Looks like i'll be running the originals till the new TY discs arrive.

PS what is the LA?

Well, yeah that media is good for PC as you can replace your PC drive for 10 bucks or what. But a PS2 laser can cost up to 60 euro which I suppose you do not want to throw out while using these crap media. The LA is a driver IC that controls the tray/focus/tracking and other important functions of the PS2.

regards, Stephen

PS2 -> verbatim with mitsubishi codes
+R/ -R doesn't matter for V9/10 incase of the older ones the -R is the more compatible. (I'm talking V1/2 here !)

+R Dual layer a (right) MOD CHIP seems to be needed.

Other options for the media ?
RitekG05 -Why this media has a reputation of bad stability the playback ratio on consoles is good. Specially on picky gamecubes this is the media.
Taiyo Yuden - Will work on PS2. (so verbatim with TYG03 code falls under TY)
TYG03 is less good supported and then there are still some stability and construction questions reasons for me to recommend the mistubishi (MID) disc's over TY.

Judging from your earlier reply, I was under the impression that your PS2 could read any type of disc.

Naturally, I assumed that your PS2 could boot up games stored on DVD+R DL discs since you said that your PS2 has read anything you've thrown at it. But then you said you're using Swap Magic. Now I'm confused.

It has read any type of disc I have put in it, so far. I have not used DL discs yet, & I didn't say that I did.

All of our ps2 games that I have backed up have been able to fit on SL discs. I've just instructed the kids to be "real careful" with the discs, since I don't want to spring for the more expensive DL media

Just an update, I found some cheap Tuffdisc branded DVD's with MCC-004 and they are +R. Burning at 16X with bitsetting and they work fine! Quick loading and no strange noises.

Work great with XBOX too! and they were only £5 for 50! Bazzing!