Brand Spanking New to this... please help me out

[mojo2185]

Ok, i just heard about this place and decided it could be useful. My dogs ate one of my games (Red Card Soccer), and it wont work, so i figured it'd be best to backup some of my other games.
Now... how do i get started?

1. While waiting to recieve my "registration confirmation", i was browsing around over here, and saw something about DVD based and CD based games? I don't have a DVD burner, so what can i put on a plain old CD-R?

2. Someone PLEASE hook me up with a good starting out tutorial. I honestly have no idea where to begin.

3. Is a mod-chip needed for sure? or is there a way around this?

4. What's the deal with using 'knives, pliers, etc...' to boot the backup games?

Thanks for any info!