Looking to buy some original XBOX consoles as backups, mainly to swap out their disc drives when my main one dies. Just wondering if the laser in the drives will go bad during storage? Or whether the lasers will only degrade while being used.
Additionally, I was thinking about ripping all of my XBOX games while I still have a working laser, and I was wondering what would be the best ‘set it and forget it’ medium to store them on. I was thinking possibly blu-ray discs.
Thanks!
Yes, optical drives can just “go bad” while sitting. Even if not the laser, many of the mechanical parts can age and fail.
There is no “set it and forget it” medium in existence. Multiple copies, in multiple locations and if possible on different media types.