How really safe is it to use CD-R's for the DreamCast?

stealthfighter67 · Post by **stealthfighter67** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:16 pm

Topic. I just want to make sure I don't screw my DC. And how many months/years have you guys been using CD-R's without any effects... ThankS!

Nintenter · Post by **Nintenter** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:24 pm

dont worry about it.....your dc wont screw up...and if it does it wont even be noticeable....

Nintenter · Post by **Nintenter** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:25 pm

oh and ive had my DC since November, last year....stills runs like new

Warmachine · Post by **Warmachine** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:25 pm

I have been using my dc for playing cd-rs for about a year and a half and no problems. It is safe for homebrew stuff but not burned commercial games because makes it work harder.

farrell2k · Post by **farrell2k** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:57 pm

This nonsense about making the dc work harder is just that, nonsense. GDs are normal CDs, but data is packed together more tightly. The GDROM drive has no problems reading GDs, why would it have trouble reading normal CDs. I haven't see one good explanation, or any conclusive proof that CDRs will ruin your DC.

ninja · Post by **ninja** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 4:03 am

Well, there is a small difference between the 2, but none that is going to really impact the life of your DC. It is the same as using a burned CD on your PC CD-Rom drive, there really is no noticable difference. The only way it will possibly damage the drive is if you do a lot of "swapping" while the CD is physically moving, but other than that, there is no difference that will be of any importance to you.

bizzle · Post by **bizzle** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:34 am

As long as your cds are dummied up, you are good to go.

Juggalo_Jay · Post by **Juggalo_Jay** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:44 am

I've been using CD-r's on my DC for a good year and a half...

Jaded God · Post by **Jaded God** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:05 am

<-- 2 years+ without dummying usually

riva16 · Post by **riva16** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:20 am

So why do CDRW's ruin the DC so bad. Thery're just like CDRs the first burn. after you re burn on them, then you couldl see problems probably.

Nico0020 · Post by **Nico0020** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 11:44 am

I think that has something to do with the density of it. that the laser reflects off it strange or something like that. I wanted to use CD-RWs till I figured out there was a DCHacker and the use of multisession.

hearld500 · Post by **hearld500** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 12:49 pm

So why do CDRW's ruin the DC so bad. Thery're just like CDRs the first burn. after you re burn on them, then you couldl see problems probably.

It can break the laser because for the GD drive to read CDRWs you have to adjust the laser, when you do that, it puts out a different wavelength then it would normaly, therefore breaking the laser.
(I'm just guessing thats why

)

sixteen-bit · Post by **sixteen-bit** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 1:13 pm

farrell2k wrote:This nonsense about making the dc work harder is just that, nonsense. GDs are normal CDs, but data is packed together more tightly. The GDROM drive has no problems reading GDs, why would it have trouble reading normal CDs. I haven't see one good explanation, or any conclusive proof that CDRs will ruin your DC.

Well, in the case of a commercial game, if you were to burn the files to disc they could end up in a random order all over the place (physically). The seeker motor would be running all the time moving the read head in and out loading data from these random positions and that can cause undue wear on the plastic gears inside the mechanism.
Moving parts will always fail at one point or another in their lifespan, and making them work more often could bring the point of failure nearer. It's not going to be noticably nearer though.

Agent21KGB · Post by **Agent21KGB** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 12:20 am

I will say this much I killed 2 dc with cdrs each in 6 months. But they were 2000 year dc now my 1999 is doing a lot better.

hearld500 · Post by **hearld500** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 12:26 am

I will say this much I killed 2 dc with cdrs each in 6 months. But they were 2000 year dc now my 1999 is doing a lot better.

Happened by chance.

Jaded JAaron77 · Post by **Jaded JAaron77** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 12:41 am

i've only had my dc since October or November...

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 1:11 am

i have had my DC since June 2000 and i play all cdrs ffine dummied or not!

farrell2k · Post by **farrell2k** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 4:14 am

sixteen-bit wrote:
farrell2k wrote:This nonsense about making the dc work harder is just that, nonsense. GDs are normal CDs, but data is packed together more tightly. The GDROM drive has no problems reading GDs, why would it have trouble reading normal CDs. I haven't see one good explanation, or any conclusive proof that CDRs will ruin your DC.
Well, in the case of a commercial game, if you were to burn the files to disc they could end up in a random order all over the place (physically). The seeker motor would be running all the time moving the read head in and out loading data from these random positions and that can cause undue wear on the plastic gears inside the mechanism.
Moving parts will always fail at one point or another in their lifespan, and making them work more often could bring the point of failure nearer. It's not going to be noticably nearer though.

There is no doubt that making the drive work more will bring its death closer, but that has nothing to do with using cdrs. That is sloppy workmanship on behalf of whomever made the image. It doesn't make sense to have half of a file taking up xxx amount of sectors at the beginning of a data track, and then the rest at the end.

Jaded JAaron77 · Post by **Jaded JAaron77** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 6:51 am

most of the games I have it seems to load it all then it stops spinning, of course, there are exceptions, but...

sixteen-bit · Post by **sixteen-bit** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 7:23 am

farrell2k wrote:
sixteen-bit wrote:
farrell2k wrote:This nonsense about making the dc work harder is just that, nonsense. GDs are normal CDs, but data is packed together more tightly. The GDROM drive has no problems reading GDs, why would it have trouble reading normal CDs. I haven't see one good explanation, or any conclusive proof that CDRs will ruin your DC.
Well, in the case of a commercial game, if you were to burn the files to disc they could end up in a random order all over the place (physically). The seeker motor would be running all the time moving the read head in and out loading data from these random positions and that can cause undue wear on the plastic gears inside the mechanism.
Moving parts will always fail at one point or another in their lifespan, and making them work more often could bring the point of failure nearer. It's not going to be noticably nearer though.
There is no doubt that making the drive work more will bring its death closer, but that has nothing to do with using cdrs. That is sloppy workmanship on behalf of whomever made the image. It doesn't make sense to have half of a file taking up xxx amount of sectors at the beginning of a data track, and then the rest at the end.

I wasn't actually talking about images but then, I wouldn't really know about that.

Anything I ever burn for DC comes in the form of plainfiles. I would assume that the file structure on a Dreamcast GDROM is very tightly controlled by the game producers as they know exactly how the game is going to load the data. Re-building disc structure on a media that is smaller than a GD and therefore has to make sacrifices is less-than-optimal for the DC disc drive.
Yes, I suppose a CDR itself won't damage the drive of the dreamcast but when actually used for what a lot of people use it for (*cough*warez*ahem*), it will slightly accelerate the wear down of the drive's moving parts.