17th October 2005, 6:02 PM
"Legal"? Um, it's perfectly legal to get a backup if you own the game. Still, that old save that you have saved data in your brain attached to won't be there forever.
The solution for me is just to open up the old carts that use batteries and replace them. I've only had to do that once so far. One of these days I'll find a way to make the swap without losing an electrical connection. Some sort of life support system...
Now, replacing old cart batteries is NOT just as easy as sliding it out and sliding a new one in. At least, not in the carts I've seen. Too many don't just clip the batteries into place, they seem to actually punch or solder them into place. By "punch" I mean it's like stapling only without adding any metal. It sort of forces some of the metal from the sleeve around the battery INTO the battery to hold it in place. Anyway, either way you have to more or less bend the little metal holder out of place in order to get the battery out. The hardest part of the exchange makes itself apparent here. You have to get the metal sleeve back INTO place so it will actually be able to hold the new battery.
Anyway, your local Radio Shack should have whatever odd battery the cartridge requires.
GR: That's true. My PC is on 24/7 (not my moniter though). My XBox can go for a month without a single power-up (same is often true for all my current gen consoles).
I must add that I have never had a hard drive die on me. I really don't upgrade my PC that often either. Maybe I tend to just luck out and replace my HD right at the point where things are starting to go wrong, or I just know how to pick HDs. I will say this, I hold no illusions about my HDs lasting forever. I'm just saying I wouldn't call their failure "notorious". Sure it'll eventually happen, but that's true for any moving part.
The main issue I tend to have is with routers. I have no idea why those things always seem to fail on me.
The solution for me is just to open up the old carts that use batteries and replace them. I've only had to do that once so far. One of these days I'll find a way to make the swap without losing an electrical connection. Some sort of life support system...
Now, replacing old cart batteries is NOT just as easy as sliding it out and sliding a new one in. At least, not in the carts I've seen. Too many don't just clip the batteries into place, they seem to actually punch or solder them into place. By "punch" I mean it's like stapling only without adding any metal. It sort of forces some of the metal from the sleeve around the battery INTO the battery to hold it in place. Anyway, either way you have to more or less bend the little metal holder out of place in order to get the battery out. The hardest part of the exchange makes itself apparent here. You have to get the metal sleeve back INTO place so it will actually be able to hold the new battery.
Anyway, your local Radio Shack should have whatever odd battery the cartridge requires.
GR: That's true. My PC is on 24/7 (not my moniter though). My XBox can go for a month without a single power-up (same is often true for all my current gen consoles).
I must add that I have never had a hard drive die on me. I really don't upgrade my PC that often either. Maybe I tend to just luck out and replace my HD right at the point where things are starting to go wrong, or I just know how to pick HDs. I will say this, I hold no illusions about my HDs lasting forever. I'm just saying I wouldn't call their failure "notorious". Sure it'll eventually happen, but that's true for any moving part.
The main issue I tend to have is with routers. I have no idea why those things always seem to fail on me.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)