Hey everyone, just curious what the preferred tool is for backing up PS2 games. I have some Press/Review Builds I'd like to preserve. I have both PC and Mac, so whichever. Thanks in advance.
Just use a decent tool to dump the discs. For CD-ROM games, use the BIN/CUE format. For DVD-ROM games, use ISO9660.
It should be stated that some CD-ROM discs require .ccd format as some tend to have some copy protection that renders rips useless unless you can preserve it in a way. There's also Alcohol 120% which has a profile for PS2 games, however I suggest taking note of the output file type. I dont know if anything else needs to be taken into account for PS2 discs but hey you never know.
Please follow the guide here: http://wiki.redump.org/index.php?title=PlayStation_2_dumping_guide Isobuster is the way to go and you can also verify your dumps there to make sure they are good. Most games are single track *** Note that multi track disc dumping is more involved and will require some research
There is no copy protection on PlayStation 2 discs. The copy protection is the console authenticating the disc.
I don't remember if it is even supported for DVD-ROMs... but there is no point in that because I remember that data on DVD-ROMs must be within the ISO9660 filesystem (hence why everyone uses the ISO9660 images to back up their PlayStation 2 DVD games). This is unlike CD-ROMs, whereby data might exist outside of the filesystem and the disc could have multiple tracks. If BIN/CUE can be used to back up DVD-ROMs, then you will likely result in a waste of space because the BIN/CUE format is a dump of the whole disc.