Hacking This is probably a stupid question, but...

[piratesmack]

Is playing backups any worse for your Wii's optical drive than playing the originals?

I'm thinking about ripping all my games and burning them to DVD-R's.

That way I don't have to worry about my little cousin ruining them.

 

[houseonfire]

Pirated games don't do anything to your wii

 

[wiiNinja]

Better yet, buy a hard drive and use the USB loader; you'll save the wear and tear on Wii's optical drive. If the external hd is ever going bad, it would be much easier to replace than the Wii's DVD drive.

 

[wchill]

Backups do put more strain on your laser than the originals.
If you're going to play backups, you should use the USB loader.

 

[Flawsdraw]

I have a European Release Wii, been chipped with WiiKey since WiiKey came out, got over 300 back-ups on disc and left the wii on for hours at a time, never had a problem reading a game, dvd drive still sounds like it did the day I got it, so no the back-ups do naff all to the wii

 

[djtaz]

The lifespan of a laser is dependant on the quality of the crystals inside it and not the amount of times it reads a disc.
I covered this recently on another thread and its a myth that reading backup discs lessens the lifespan of your wii, though theoretically its true the amount it reduces it by is minimal.
The average lifespan of a dvd laser diode is 100,000 hours of continious read time - or 11.41 years of constantly reading discs.
Factor in constant reading of a disc while backing it up and your only left with 99,999 hours and 15 mins of time on your poor wii.... what will you ever do ?


In shot - it makes no difference and people who say it does are talking out of their ass and are reading up on the scaremongering that went on with the old playstations

 

[piratesmack]

Thanks Flawsdraw and djtaz, that makes me feel a lot better about using backups.
Thanks to every else who answered as well.

 

[Don Killah]

that's an usual question based off legends/myth.

 

[Slimmmmmm]

The lifespan of a laser is dependant on the quality of the crystals inside it and not the amount of times it reads a disc.
I covered this recently on another thread and its a myth that reading backup discs lessens the lifespan of your wii, though theoretically its true the amount it reduces it by is minimal.
The average lifespan of a dvd laser diode is 100,000 hours of continious read time - or 11.41 years of constantly reading discs.
Factor in constant reading of a disc while backing it up and your only left with 99,999 hours and 15 mins of time on your poor wii.... what will you ever do ?


In shot - it makes no difference and people who say it does are talking out of their ass and are reading up on the scaremongering that went on with the old playstations

This is true, although the figures might slightly vary. It's not a myth as some people say, but more of a tiny. tiny factor that would take a huge amount to notice.
Constantly smoking in the room, a dusty surrounding and general cleanlyness affects it a LOT more.


However...
What backup can do to affect a drive more than an original affects the drive motor, not the lens. This is where the common misconception is. I HATE misinformation.

The 3x speed DOES affect the life span, also a BAD BURN where the drive tries to read and fails and retries over and over can shorten the life span considerably.
Also overheating can effect the drive chip etc. This is unusual from "normal" use, if kept in a sensable place EG: not on top or under another bit of kit like xvid player, DVD etc.

So to ensure a long life of your drive and all of it's components follow these tips.

- Use an alternative if possible (USB / SD loader)
- Turn off when not in use
- Keep the Wii clean and free from a smokey environment
- Look at DVDs before putting in, blow off dust. fluff or dog hairs etc.
- Use good quality media, if a DVD starts giving errors reburn etc.
- Don't sit the Wii on top, under or inbetween other heat producing equipment.

There are many more common sense things, but by following the advise that seems common sense your wii should last for years.


One of my Wii drives died from testing constantly things in GC mode back at launch time, these DVD tests made the drive fail a LOT and retry etc, and after around 2 years of pure abuse the motor gave innot the lens. A normal person using a Wii for the usual purposes wouldn't face this for more than ten times the duration. Maybe a million times the use, point is it ain't gonna happen to you.

The same sort of thing applies for all equipment really, I have original NES, SNES, N64 and others, all kept clean and working still.
CD based Dreamcast from launch still works 100% and technology has made leaps and bounds from then.

So just be sensible and it WILL last a very, very long time.

It's not a myth though, that would be like saying no one dies in space, because no one you ever knew, or anyone they ever knew died in space, it's just so far fetched from it happening to you if you don't go there

 

[Heran Bago]

The lifespan of a laser is dependant on the quality of the crystals inside it and not the amount of times it reads a disc.
I covered this recently on another thread and its a myth that reading backup discs lessens the lifespan of your wii, though theoretically its true the amount it reduces it by is minimal.
The average lifespan of a dvd laser diode is 100,000 hours of continious read time - or 11.41 years of constantly reading discs.
Factor in constant reading of a disc while backing it up and your only left with 99,999 hours and 15 mins of time on your poor wii.... what will you ever do ?


In shot - it makes no difference and people who say it does are talking out of their ass and are reading up on the scaremongering that went on with the old playstations

Do you have a source for this information and data? Backups vs real discs made a huge difference on the Sega Dreamcast, but that was largely due to CD-R vs GD-ROM.