[mojo2185]

Yes i do have a owned game i would like to backup (hopefully all of them), my dogs already ate one of them (Red Card Soccer), and it don't work any more

1. The modchips... Based on what i've found, and heard (and what you told me), i think i'll consider the messiah modchip.

2. I have CloneCD 4.0.1.3... but as far as checking how compatible my CD-RW drive is... not too sure. I got a generic one that came with my Compaq (which is around 2 years old). I'm guessing i'll need a better CD-RW drive. (any good ones to recommend?) I'd prefer to use CloneCD to avoid patching, which sounds like a hassle.

I'm considering a DVD-R drive (not a DVD+R, not really sure of the difference, but i hear DVD+R are bad for PS2), but the above post mentioned that they are not good for CD based games? So i would actually need a CD-RW drive, and a DVD-R drive to backup all types of games?

4. I don't have to worry about PAL/NTSC, i'm pretty sure all my games are NTSC.

EDIT: How can i tell if a game is protected or not? Above post mentioned that DVD games are not protected... are all CD games protected? How do i 'unprotect' them, so i can get an image of them? (with clonecd?)

EDIT2: How do i read a cd that i want an image of? Use the CD-RW drive? or use my DVD-Rom drive? does it matter? If i should use a DVD-Rom drive for reading, is there a good one to get?

Some other random stuff to add:
Ok, is there a place to learn how to install a mod chip? I'd like to learn how to do it, but most likely, i'll have it installed by a pro. I hear there's a good guy in chicago (which is good because that's about 30 minutes away from me).

Besides a few questions i asked in this post, it looks as if i got enough info to get started.

Thanks a bunch for all the info! It's really a help!