Backing up my PC games

[SMOKEU]

I don't want to risk scratching my PC game discs by putting them in and taking them out of my DVD drive all the time, so am I better off using a no DVD crack or should I make an image of the discs? I've been having a lot of trouble getting around the copy protection on modern games when trying to make images and the no DVD cracks are often corrupted in some way, so what are my best options?

[bogan]

I don't want to risk scratching my PC game discs by putting them in and taking them out of my DVD drive all the time, so am I better off using a no DVD crack or should I make an image of the discs? I've been having a lot of trouble getting around the copy protection on modern games when trying to make images and the no DVD cracks are often corrupted in some way, so what are my best options?

i think most games are distributed ilegally with a dvd image + crack files, get the crack files only from the net, and make you own dvd image, should still work. Though if you want multiplayer, using the dvd is probly the only way to go. Or steam, think that cud be good if they games you want are available on it.

[YellowDog]

OR you could just get a protection surface for the DVD.

[vtec]

Yeah I use cracks and images. The software I use for reading the disc images is Daemon Tools.

[Grasshopperus]

When you want to buy a game this is what you do.

Buy it from your local shop

Rip open the plastic, find the "CD-Key" or "activation key", it's usually on the back of the manual.

Then put it all back into its case and go download it from the net complete with a no_dvd crack.

If it's an online game then use your CD-Key from the purchased version. You'll get the best of both worlds; no screwing around with scratchable media, and all the online fun of the proper version.
To be fair, some games don't put that stupid requirement on you. For example, Call Of Duty, Sins of a Solar Empire and many more.

When you're tired of the game, go and take it back to the store for a trade in. Your DVD will be almost perfect as it will only have been used once and the store will be happy to accept it. You'll have to stop playing online but that's the price you pay :)

[riffer]

Use MagicISO or PowerISO to create a .ISO version of the disk.

Save it to your hard drive (yes it could be up to 8GB so allow for space if you have heaps of disks to do).

Use DaemonTools Lite to mount the .ISO image as a mounted disk.

Run the game.

Put your precious disks away on the shelf.

Enjoy!

[TerminalAddict]

buy games through steam

[Insanity_rules]

Use MagicISO or PowerISO to create a .ISO version of the disk.

Save it to your hard drive (yes it could be up to 8GB so allow for space if you have heaps of disks to do).

Use DaemonTools Lite to mount the .ISO image as a mounted disk.

Run the game.

Put your precious disks away on the shelf.

Enjoy!

+1 this works well. Found power iso was easier to get your head around.