Disc rot is real — here is how we spot a dying game
Handle enough second-hand games and you learn to read a disc like a vet reads an x-ray. Most problems are cosmetic and buff right out. A few are terminal. Here is what we check on every disc before it earns a spot on the shelf.
Scratches vs rot
Surface scratches on the clear side are usually harmless and polish away. The killer is disc rot: tiny pinholes or a bronze/cloudy haze forming in the reflective layer itself, which you cannot fix because the data is physically gone. Hold a disc to the light — if you see speckled translucency where it should be solid mirror, that game is on borrowed time.
The formats that worry us
Early pressed PAL PS1 discs and some Dreamcast GD-ROMs are the usual suspects, along with burned-era shovelware. We boot every disc past its first load and, for anything with a save system, we make a save and reload it. If it stumbles, it does not sell — it gets logged and recycled.
How to keep yours alive
Store discs vertical, out of heat and direct sun, in their cases. Cartridges are far tougher, but blow the dust and keep the contacts clean. Treat a shelf of physical games like a small aquarium: a little maintenance, a long life.