Disc scratching consoles

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Tron
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Disc scratching consoles

Postby Tron » August 30th, 2015, 6:23 pm

I've heard of consoles that scratch discs, but I've never noticed it until now. Several PS2 consoles died on me, I'm on my fifth one; yet my original GameCube still works fine. I'm using an original PS2 model & have noticed its scratched the heck out of the two games I mainly play. I know that before I put them in the machine that they wear essentially like-new. Now they both have many scratches. I Take care of my stuff, they've never traveled other then from case to machine.

Obviously the original PS2 is a disc scratcher. Are the slim models scratchers too. Are there other consoles that scratch discs? I have some expensive PS1 games & Im afraid that my PS1 will scratch those up.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 30th, 2015, 10:24 pm

Is your PS2 set up vertical or horizontal? Mine is set up vertical but I suspect sideways will alleviate the risk of scratches.
Do you actually see the scratches on the disc? I've never encountered this.

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Rev
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby Rev » August 31st, 2015, 1:40 pm

I've never had problems with either one of my PS2 fat consoles. I wonder if it could be caused by the console's position (vertical?) or just needing a cleaning. The only console I've run across that scratched discs has been the 360. When I worked at a retailer, we would often run across the original model 360's that would put a deep, giant circle scratch on the discs. I haven't run across it on the newer 360 models though.

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ptdebate
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby ptdebate » August 31st, 2015, 5:57 pm

I've also never heard of scratching issues with the PS2 but I would recommend a slim PS2 for increased reliability.

Tron
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby Tron » August 31st, 2015, 7:03 pm

Always horizontal. I recall rumors about vertical causing scratches. The scratches are small, nothing like the gashes I remember hearing about on the 360. In fairness I forgot to mention that my fat PS2 disc tray clatters & wobbles when it opens. I know that's not typical of the way a PS2 should run. I had thought that the Slim model would be more reliable, but I've burned through two of those & two fat models. Maybe I've just had some really bad luck when it comes to the PS2.

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ptdebate
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby ptdebate » August 31st, 2015, 8:00 pm

Tron wrote:Always horizontal. I recall rumors about vertical causing scratches. The scratches are small, nothing like the gashes I remember hearing about on the 360. In fairness I forgot to mention that my fat PS2 disc tray clatters & wobbles when it opens. I know that's not typical of the way a PS2 should run. I had thought that the Slim model would be more reliable, but I've burned through two of those & two fat models. Maybe I've just had some really bad luck when it comes to the PS2.


It's unfortunate that such a great system is plagued with reliability issues. I've heard that among the fat models, 50001 is the best model to get. Not sure about slims but I'd assume that later is better. Luckily, replacement PS2s aren't very expensive (yet).

ESauce
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby ESauce » September 1st, 2015, 11:56 am

Never heard of the original PS2 scratching discs, but it is notoriously unreliable so it wouldn't surprise me. The Xbox 360 has a hardware issue which will scratch discs horribly sometimes if it is vertical. After it happened to me once I always put my consoles horizontal.

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Retro STrife
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby Retro STrife » September 11th, 2015, 11:27 pm

Like Tron, years ago I heard rumors that putting your PS2 vertical could cause scratches. So I always left mine horizontal. Plus, a vertical spinning disc just seems unnatural, so I lay all my consoles flat just to be safe.

As for disc scratching consoles, it only happened to me once, about 5 years ago, and it couldn't happen at a worse time... The system was a top-loading Sega CD. I had just bought it on eBay, along with a set of games. From a separate seller, I bought a complete Snatcher. So I set up the Sega CD, tried it out with a few games, and it worked fine. Then I put in Snatcher. When I turned it on, I heard a strange noise coming from the system. I couldn't tell what it was - maybe a disc-loading noise? Nope. Eventually I realized it was the disc rubbing against something in the console. When I looked at the Snatcher disc, it had a ring of scratches around it. Couldn't it have just ruined Sewer Shark instead, wth?? Needless to say, I was pissed at the seller and returned the system. I bought a front-loading Sega CD and never had the issue again. Fortunately, the Snatcher disc still worked fine and, when I resold it this past year, I don't think the scratches impacted the value. In fact, with all the counterfeit Snatcher discs going around right now, I think the scratches were actually a selling point! (i.e., clearly a counterfeit seller wouldn't sell a scratched-up disc).

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby VideoGameCritic » September 15th, 2015, 9:56 pm

I just had an incident to report!

I recently got a game off ebay for the 360 - a racer called World of Outlaws. So I started playing the career mode and it froze.
I checked the disc, and sure enough it looked like it had some deep circular scratches. Uh oh.
The thing is, I don't know if it was caused by my console, of if I bought it that way.

Anyway I got out my old disk doctor and ran the disk through it. That fixed it.

Glad it ended well but I'm going to keep a close eye on my 360, which I keep standing vertically (for now).

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: Disc scratching consoles

Postby Hardcore Sadism » September 15th, 2015, 10:58 pm

I don't know how common this very very specific circumstance is, but disc scratching can be a symptom of vital parts coming loose or being improperly leveled. The 360's tray was just poorly tweaked so it's a lot looser than it should be. The OG Xbox had a much sturdier tray and gear set, then again it helps to be horizontal rather than tower.


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