Disc Rot | Michael R May

Combating Disc Rot

By Michael May

The age of physical media has mostly come and gone. While game and film creators still release physical copies of their products, their bread and butter has mostly moved to digital content. Gone is the necessity of a physical disc when purchasing a game or movie on a console such as the PlayStation 4 or the Nintendo Switch is so much easier, not to mention the progression to streaming services.

Though, that still leaves the rest of us collectors who still play our old games and watch our old movies. This paper mostly focuses on video games, though I am sure the same could apply to films that have been printed to DVDs throughout the years. My primary focus will be on PlayStation, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 4 game discs. Yes, Blu Ray is not safe from disc rot.

Disc rot, for those unaware, is the process of data rotting away on a CD, DVD, or Blu Ray disc, leaving gaps that can be seen through by holding a CD up to the light. They can range from tiny specs, to large holes or chunks. No CD, even Blu Ray, is safe from this phenomenon. A good majority of the time, the cause could be mold, improper storage, or extreme temperatures.

Below are examples of games ranging across various different platforms mentioned above.

The Contender - Playstation 1 - Released May 21 1998

This game was stored in a cd container made of cotton with plastic sleeves. I am starting to think this could have had a role in this game rotting the way it has.

This is by far the worst case of rot I have in my collection. I don't even have to put this in my PlayStation to know it will not work. This is a significant chunk of data missing.

While older games are certainly more subject to rotting due to age and use, new media is not safe. Below are some Blu-Ray examples with rot. Yellow arrows will point to these spots. Some of them are extremely small.

Medal of Honor Reboot(With Medal of Honor Frontline Remaster) - PlayStation 3 - Released: 2010

This game does still work, though the Medal of Honor Frontline Remaster can no longer be installed from the disc due to the rot damage.

Here's where things get troubling.

Madden 17 - Playstation 4 - Released 2016

Are you surprised yet? This game is barely three years old. I have never seen a Ps4 game with rot before this.. This game has been stored in it's case like normal. Thankfully, the rot is on the inner circle of the CD, so this will still work. Still, a game this young should NOT be rotting. Not this soon anyways.

The following picture are the games I have tested so far. They are a significant portion of my Ps3 collection. The titles on the left have minimal rot, but still work. It seems like a few small pin holes here and there might not prevent your games from working, though I would still caution everyone to keep an eye out on them just in case. The games on the right are 100% dead, or have enough damage to prevent the game from fully working.

Here's an oddball though. Red Dead Redemption has minimal rot, much like the games on the left. However, it does not work at all. This is the one game that has completely baffled me in testing because the rot damage is very minor. So much so that my camera couldn't pick up the rot.

I have also looked at some of my Blu-Ray movies. None of them have rot. This is starting to lead me to believe rot has something to do with the amount of time a disc is played since you really only watch movies seldomly. Games are usually played days on end. So not only is the environment a factor, but natural wear and tear as well. Perhaps the constant rotation of the disc leads the data to become detached from the plastic over time? This is only just a hypothesis on my part, so I cannot confirm this idea as it does sound a bit silly.

I have also looked at several Ps3 games in various local pawn shops. I have found many games with just as much rot and damage. It took me four copies of NCAA Football 12 to finally find a working copy. The final copy was the 360 version, which works fine with no rot. All three prior copies were Ps3 and not one of them worked.

Xbox 360 games for some strange reason, have been an exception in my experience. I have not encountered a single 360 game with rot. Plenty of scratches, but no rot. This does not mean that Xbox 360 games are safe, just that I have not encountered them yet. Dreamcast has been another exception for me. No rot on any of the games I have, or have seen in the wild. Yet again, Dreamcast is not safe, as I have always heard that they are among the worst when it comes to rotting.

As far as I can tell, disc rot is an inevitability. It is not something you can prevent, at least not currently. It seems to me like the type of material game manufacturers use could have something to do with it as well. Nothing lasts forever, even digital media. I am sure we will run into something very similar to this when it comes to hard drives. It might not be for another 10 or 20 years, but I feel it is coming. The best advice I can offer is this:

1. Keep your games in their original case. Do not use bulk CD containers. The majority of my Ps1 games that had the worst rot were stored inside a cotton container with plastic sleeves. Perhaps this is an issue as well? I would suggest keeping games in containers where the label isn't in constant contact with another surface.

2. Back Up Your Games: This is probably the best advice I can offer on preserving your games. You will likely have to resort to console modifying though, as Ps3 and Ps4 games cannot currently be backed up, to my knowledge. This is definitely the toughest way to preserve your games, though if you can find a way, do it. The model 1 Dreamcast for example can play backup games without needing modification. It is worth it for certain consoles.

3. Do regular checkups. If you play your older games often, do a routine checkup every 4-6 months.

4. Be prepared to purchase back-up copies of games. For example, I just recently had to replace disc 2 of my Final Fantasy 8 for the PlayStation 1. There was a pretty decent chunk of data missing. I kept the game in great condition. It was pretty clear that discs 2-4 had never been played. They have no scratches on them. Thankfully though, a replacement didn't cost much. Thanks to Ebay, I was able to buy a single disc replacement, rather than having to re-buy the whole game. You might not be so lucky with other games.

I am an avid collector of video games ranging from the Nintendo Entertainment System, to the Nintendo Switch, and most consoles in-between. The disc-based consoles I collect for are PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, and the Sega Dreamcast. These are the systems I keep an eye out for the most. Though I will keep an eye out on Sega Saturn games as well.

I didn't even touch on GameCube, the Wii, and the Wii U. So far, I have encountered no games with rot for any of these systems.

This will continue to be updated as I come across more games, so please check back often and thank you for reading!