Dreamcast ROMS Damage Console?

[Ren Hoek]

I have read that bit by bit, playing copied games/ROMS on the Dreamcast slowly damages the console.  Is this true?

I have read that to minimise damage, one must try to fill the CD-R with as much data (dummy data) as possible.

Has anyone ever experienced their Dreamcast not play ROMS anymore over time as a result?

This has me a bit worried as I just bought a Dreamcast and I intend to use it longterm.

Please verify.

[abrannan]

I have neither heard nor experienced this.  The problem I've found with the Dreamcasts I've got is that the rechargable BIOS battery dies and the system won't keep date/time info anymore.  There are ways around that (Opening the DC and replacing the battery with a different battery).  

[TalkingOctopus]

I have read that bit by bit, playing copied games/ROMS on the Dreamcast slowly damages the console.  Is this true?

I have read that to minimise damage, one must try to fill the CD-R with as much data (dummy data) as possible.

Has anyone ever experienced their Dreamcast not play ROMS anymore over time as a result?

This has me a bit worried as I just bought a Dreamcast and I intend to use it longterm.

Please verify.

Sounds like Tom Foolery to me.  I would not be worried about it.

[gnateye]

i have "heard" people talking about this but never experiencd it, the most common failure of the dc i have seen is the controller board. but at 15$ you should just got buy a few backup dreamcasts for when that one dies

[Dave_K.]

The myth was that playing burned CD-R's on your dreamcast caused the CD to spin faster and work harder.  Although the gdrom units in some Dremcasts due fail, it has nothing to do with playing CD-R's v.s. the regular "gdrom" discs.

Although it may be true that developers put certain parts of the game code/music/mpegs at specific locations on the disc to optimize the grdom's read head movement.