PS2:Backing up PS2 Games

You may wish to take backups of your PlayStation 2 game discs, both as a protection against damage to the original, and in order to play the backup image instead of the original disc.

Disc Image Formats
PlayStation 2 original games come on two types of discs. The most common are DVD's, and have a silver underside. These should be backed up using the ISO disc format. Games that took less than 800MB were released on CD's, usually with a Blue underside. These can be backed up as a Bin/Cue pair of files, or converted to an ISO. For burning onto a blank CD the Bin/Cue pair is preferred. For running on original hardware using Open PlayStation 2 Loader (OPL) ISO should be used. Bin/Cue file pairs can be converted to ISO using OPL Manager

Preparing / Cleaning your disc
If your PlayStation 2 format disc is dirty or scratched, it may not copy correctly. PC disc drives are more likely to be able to read the disc than an aging original PlayStation 2 drive, but you may still encounter errors.
 * 1) Before attempting to back up your disc, check the underside to look for dirt, fingerprints or scratches.
 * 2) If the disc is dirty blow off any dust or grit, and wipe from the centre outwards to the edge, with a clean lint free cloth (such as microfibre). if you don't blow off any grit you may scratch the disc by wiping.
 * 3) If more cleaning is needed, spray Isopropanol (Isopropyl Alcohol) onto the cloth before wiping. The Isopropanol should evaporate quickly so drying time should not be an issue.
 * 4) If your disc has scratches causing it to fail to read, you can have it resurfaced. Resurfacing is the process of a machine removing a very fine layer of the bottom plastic by polishing, in order to remove or reduce scratches.
 * 5) You may find a local game shop or library that offers to resurface discs for a nominal fee.

Creating a Disc Image / Backup
You will need:
 * a PC with a disc drive capable of reading DVD's and CD's. External usb drives should work
 * ImgBurn software (free)

Steps:
 * 1) Place your PS2 game into your disc drive
 * 2) Install ImgBurn (if you haven't already) and launch the program
 * 3) Click "Create image file from disc"
 * 4) The bottom of the main window should read "Ready"
 * 5) Click the folder icon next to "Destination"
 * 6) Choose a folder to save the file into, and name the file. if you want ImgBurn to automatically convert a CD to ISO, change the file extension to .iso and the "Save as type" box to ISO Files (*.iso).
 * 7) Click "Save"
 * 8) Click the icon of the Disc with the arrow to the Disc on paper, (if you mouse over, it says "Read"). If a CD will be converted to ISO, a message pops up notifying you, click ok on it.
 * 9) ImgBurn will copy your disc into a file, and report what is happening in the bottom window (ImgBurn log)
 * 10) if ImgBurn has trouble reading parts of your disc, they will be listed as warnings with a yellow triangle icon in the log.
 * 11) if any sectors of your disc are unreadable and unrecoverable, the icon will appear as a red triangle in the log. if this happens try cleaning your disc, or if it is scratched, having it resurfaced.