Resolved Software to backup PS1 games? (My guide is at the bottom of thread)

[alexreich]

Hey all,

Just a few minutes ago I got out my original PlayStation system and played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. What a blast from the past. Amazing how it's been twelve years since I bought this game.

Anyways, before I put the disc in my console, I looked at the bottom and I can see that this game has been pretty beaten up, along with most of my other PS1 games, due my carelessness during childhood.

I'd really like to find software that could make disc images of my games for safekeeping before my game discs crap out on me. I have machines around my home running the following OS's:
-Leopard (10.5.8)
-Tiger (10.4.11)
-Puma (10.1)
-OS 9.2.2

I also have my Intel mini running Lion (10.7.4).

If anyone can point me at software that will work with any of the above operating systems I would really appreciate it. I must preserve these memories!

 

[InuNacho]

If you find anything please share it. I've just found out about PSone emulators a decade late to the party and don't want to ruin my discs.

Just a heads up I couldn't get Carbon Copy Cloner or MacTheRipper to work with them.

 

[Zeke D]

The ps1 discs use a kind of checksum with bad sectors. Most copy programs ignore these bad sectors. The only program I have ever gotten to work was clonecd. Not sure what happened to them after they 'went legit' but slysoft owns the name now. I keep an old dual pentium iii system with xp and 98 for my copy of clone cd.

 

[alexreich]

The following method works successfully for me by creating disc images of PS1 games.

Anyways, if you wanna give it a shot I have instructions below. I am not responsible for any damage you do to your machine in following this guide. Do so at your own risk. If you do not know what you're doing I recommend doing a system backup first, or avoiding this entirely.

NO 3RD PARTY SOFTWARE NEEDED FOR THIS METHOD. ALL YOU NEED IS TERMINAL AND DISK UTILITY. THEORETICALLY THIS SHOULD WORK ON ANY MAC RUNNING OS X, NOT JUST PowerPC OR INTEL.

Step 1
Insert your PS1 game disc. Once it mounts, look on the Desktop and see what it is titled. It is usually random numbers or letters. Keep this for reference. (NOTE: If you see two discs on your Desktop when inserting one PS1 game disc, like one with a random gibberish title and one labeled 'Audio CD', you might as well give up now. This method I used did not work with any disc that had multiple volumes.)

Step 2:
Open Terminal.app.

Step 3:
Type the following in the Terminal window, which will list all of the mounted devices on your computer.

diskutil list

Step 4:
Look for your disc's volume title. After you find it, check to see what the identifier is for your PS1 disc (mine was disk1). Keep this for reference.

Step 5:
Open Disk Utility.app and unmount the disc by right-clicking the volume (located under your DVD drive in the window) and selecting 'Unmount insertdiscnamehere'.

Step 6:
Go back to Terminal.app and type the following in the window. (NOTE: My disc identifier was disk1, and this may be different on your machine. It is important to put the correct volume identifier here, or you could seriously screw your Mac to $#*t.)

dd if=/dev/disk1 of=/destination/path/discnameyouchoose.iso

(NOTE: Do not put spaces in your disc image title. The Terminal will give you an error stating that it can only create one image at a time, or something of that nature.)

That's it.

 

[Zeke D]

dd should work, as it is a raw copy. What was the title that failed?

 

[alexreich]

dd should work, as it is a raw copy. What was the title that failed?

Title as in which game(s)?

 

[Zeke D]

Yeah

 

[alexreich]

After attempting the method on my G5 instead of my mini it worked fine. Weird.. it must have been something I was doing wrong before.

 

[Zeke D]

Just curious if there is a color difference between the discs on the emulsion layer. FOr example are the ones that didn't work black, and the tony hawk a different color?

 

[alexreich]

Just curious if there is a color difference between the discs on the emulsion layer. FOr example are the ones that didn't work black, and the tony hawk a different color?

ALL of the discs I have attempted so were black. Just re-tried games that previously did not back up successfully on my mini on my G5 and everything has been fine.

 

[Zeke D]

Awesome! My wife looked over my shoulder on that thread and made me drag out the Super Nintendo so she could play her donkey kong games. Unfortunately we have lost the RF modulator and the power pack for it.... Amazon here I come!

 

[alexreich]

Awesome! My wife looked over my shoulder on that thread and made me drag out the Super Nintendo so she could play her donkey kong games. Unfortunately we have lost the RF modulator and the power pack for it.... Amazon here I come!

Awesome wife!

If you'd prefer to play your SNES games on your computer (or any other cartridge media games like the Sega Genesis), there is a device you can use to grab the ROMs off of your old game cartridges. You just plug the device into the USB port of your computer, plug your cartridge into the device, and the ROM will be available for use in any emulator that supports it.

And since it is your own copy of the game, as long as you possess the original game, and don't start handing out copies of the ROMs, it's completely legal. Just keep the ROM usage in-house, personal use only.

It's called the Retrode.
I haven't purchased one yet, but I'm looking into that as well to import my older Sega Genesis titles to my Mac. Here's a compatibility list if you want to check into the games that you own being compatible with the device before purchasing it.

I checked the list a few months ago and it would work with all of my Genesis titles, I just haven't gotten around to buying it. I just looked into the Retrode 2, and it supports original game console controllers! Damn, looks like I'll have to buy one now. Haha.

EDIT: Just went to the Retrode site to buy one and their website is unencrypted, even when you're supposed to be inserting address, email, and other personal info. I looked at their partners, and it looks like StoneAgeGamers has the Retrode 2 for $89.99 USD.

 

[Zeke D]

I used o work with a localization team, so all my carts Are already ripped. I am debating three possibilities:

1. Purchase new rf modulaor and power pack - $27
2. Purchase new 'classic controllers' for wii and use emulator - $33
3. Purchase games via wii store and try to play with standard controller - $30

 

[alexreich]

I used o work with a localization team, so all my carts Are already ripped. I am debating three possibilities:

1. Purchase new rf modulaor and power pack - $27
2. Purchase new 'classic controllers' for wii and use emulator - $33
3. Purchase games via wii store and try to play with standard controller - $30

Ahh, lucky guy. I'll have to wait until StoneAgeGamers gets another stock of Retrode 2's to import/rip my titles.

And on your purchase decision, it really depends on what you're wanting. You could go with purchasing replacement hardware/parts to your older console if you want the original feel to playing the titles, or you could use a emulator on Wii for your already ripped games with Classic controller for little to no complications for the foreseeable future, or buy the games again, which I wouldn't do. That's just me though. Haha. If you've got legal copies of your games ready for emulation, I would just go with buying Classic controllers for your Wii. Seems cheaper in the long run. Haha.

 

[Zeke D]

Classic controllers are the way I am leaning as well. I am also gonna see if I can hook up my cube controllers to the wii and use them with the emulator.

--edit--
The cube controllers work and have all the buttons mapped, the layout of the a,b,x,y buttons are different, but I can remap them so the feel is similar to the SNES controller.

 

[alexreich]

Classic controllers are the way I am leaning as well. I am also gonna see if I can hook up my cube controllers to the wii and use them with the emulator.

--edit--
The cube controllers work and have all the buttons mapped, the layout of the a,b,x,y buttons are different, but I can remap them so the feel is similar to the SNES controller.

Ah, I see. So you can just use a GameCube controller in emulators on your Wii? That's pretty cool.

 

[Zeke D]

Yeah, but they just don't feel right. Wife wants classic controllers.

 

[alexreich]

Yeah, but they just don't feel right. Wife wants classic controllers.

I know you can get USB SNES and NES controllers online pretty cheap if she wanted to use a older-style controller with the modern emulators. I also know that there are USB adapters you can get to use your original controller that came with the console for emulators as well.

Here's a USB SNES controller on Amazon for $10.00 with a four-star rating.

Here's a USB NES controller on Amazon for $9.98 with a four-star rating.

 

[Zeke D]

I know you can get USB SNES and NES controllers online pretty cheap if she wanted to use a older-style controller with the modern emulators. I also know that there are USB adapters you can get to use your original controller that came with the console for emulators as well.

I have the original controllers I also have USB dual-shock controllers. We want to use them with the emulator on the Wii.

 

[VanneDC]

all original PS1 games where shot on black disks, any that were not, were backups keep it going guys, love reading about retro gaming.

 

[Zeke D]

all original PS1 games where shot on black disks, any that were not, were backups keep it going guys, love reading about retro gaming.

Not 100% true. All retail discs were on black polycarbonate, but many internal and supplemental discs were silver, gold, red, blue and yellow. Ps1 was at he end of my career, my big focus as a programmer and designer was during the snes era with bleed into news and ps1.

 

[InuNacho]

I used o work with a localization team, so all my carts Are already ripped. I am debating three possibilities:

1. Purchase new rf modulaor and power pack - $27
2. Purchase new 'classic controllers' for wii and use emulator - $33
3. Purchase games via wii store and try to play with standard controller - $30

Real hardware all the way man.

 

[VanneDC]

I love Mame, but yeah if possible at all the real hardware has that extra little buzz.. Kinda the same feeling PPC has over intel

 

[rlh]

(NOTE: Do not put spaces in your disc image title. The Terminal will give you an error stating that it can only create one image at a time, or something of that nature.)

That's it.

I just found this suggestion and it worked. Thanks! FYI, you can use spaces in disk titles. Just wrap the full path of the output file in double-quotes and it will work.

Here is a modified command:

dd if=/dev/disk0 of="/Emulation/psx/Xenogears - Disc 1.iso"