To Backup or not to backup, that is the real question ?

[reddragon105]

hi pop,
yeh its annoying isn't it? these days when you buy games, you're effectively buying a license to use the software on the disk, not just buying the disks themselves. that license lasts for life, and so, as the disks themselves may not last that long, you're entitled to endless replacements should something go wrong.
unfortunately anything could happen - games companies go bankrupt, disappear, and simply just forget about their older games and no longer support or produce them, making it hard to get a replacement from them, which is where backups come in.
but of course, making a backup isn't all that easy, due to copy protection. which means the games companies should provide replacements easier. and it all goes round in a circle.

my advice is, if you have a DVD writer, make a backup of the DVD and live with the no cd cracks. or, make a disk image of the DVD and run from a virtual drive. or, just take your chances and use the original, hoping it will last until you sell the game on, or just get sick of it and stop playing. whatever you do, take care of your original!
i believe that EA replace disks for free only if you have proof of purchase showing that you bought it less than 90 days ago. if you don't have proof of purchase, or more than 90 days has passed, its ?10 (i believe i read it in the Final Fantasy X-2 manual). seems extortionate, but at least its better quality than a backup
________
Honda Racing F1 specifications

[Luciel]

pop, to be honest with you, yes, its always good to have a backup and dont worry about the messages, a nocd crack will fix that, however, i think you should be more responsible and take good care of ur original, lets face it, a few scratches wont stop it from being usable, and it being cracked? that happens when u leave cds lying around, just dont do that, put it in the box, and hey, sorted.

[coffin filler]

Pop you've have had some good advice from myself (my advice is always good ),reddragon105 + Luciel. I Expecially liked Luciel's advice.

that happens when u leave cds lying around, just dont do that, put it in the box, and hey, sorted.

(however i will grant it that sometimes disk's can break other ways).

[Luciel]

well yeah i imagine it can brake other ways, but im trying to generalise

[coffin filler]

well yeah i imagine it can brake other ways, but im trying to generalise

And what a excellent job you did to
Seem's Pop either wasnt intrested in what we had to say (hence no reply) or what we said diddnt warrent a reply

[Pop]

Hi,

Thanx 4 d info. i am grateful. just kinda didnt have access to this forum for a few days.

I phoned EA and they say their policy is that if you want a replacement cd u gotta cough up £7.50 for each disc plus postage cost.

About the no-cd fix, I havent found a "crack" for the game. the one I did find seems to be not 100% reliable. Found a few exe of "mounting". However I have found another way to over come the problem. I installed the expansion pack to the game. Now the game only asks for the original expansion pack cd and no longer for the original game cd. great!

Thanx 4 ur advice.

P.S. Bought another game recently.Once I finished installing the game, I chose to play it. However a message appears saying "please insert original cd disc instead of the backup cd". wats that about ??? I had the original cd in my cd-rom. Either SecuROM need to do better cd protections or someguy made a beautiful cd backup ?

Have any of u guys had that problem ?

[coffin filler]

P.S. Bought another game recently.Once I finished installing the game, I chose to play it. However a message appears saying "please insert original cd disc instead of the backup cd". wats that about ??? I had the original cd in my cd-rom. Either SecuROM need to do better cd protections or someguy made a beautiful cd backup ?

Yeah secuROM can be a real pain for some ppl. As for the question about some guy made a good copy. Where did you buy it from ? (privately i take it). You can tell if its a original though if you look hard enough and obviously Original games are mass produced (pressed) so you should be able to tell that way. It is easy to creat disk images these days but ive yet to see one that would leave me in doubt as to if its original or not You can always get around the problem with sercuROM by using a nocd of course. (not that you should have to mind if its a original). I always use nocd,fixed exe etc to keep my original disks perfect and its a pain having to insert disks just to play a game any-how.