[sawdust]

Ps2 use a special zig zaged groove on the original disks (including the swap magic’s) this is why your dvd/cd burner can’t copy them, so the playstation knows that it is not an original disk and thus won’t load. So if you are using the knife/swap method to boot back ups then you still need this zig zag grove to trick the playstation. So if you copy a disk you can’t load it with out the playstation copping on to what you are doing. Hopefully now you understand how booting backed up games works. The way the mod chip works is it gives the ps2 the info it is looking for telling it that an original game and to boot regardless if the game is backed up or not
My advice is GET A MOD CHIP as you are just going to damage your ps2 and with a chip you put the game in and it loads
Hopes it helps