If the game is less than 1.44MB you can copy it over to a floppy disk. Save your game to an actual, real life save icon!
this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
35 points (97.3% liked)
GOG
2942 readers
1 users here now
GOG.com is a DRM-free games and movies distribution service that is part of the CD Projekt Group. GOG.com is also a "sister" company to CD Projekt Red, developers of the Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077.
Rules:
- No piracy discussion
- No harassment
- For post that is not in English, Please tag the language
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I've recently been burning BDXL on Linux using Brasero and a nothing special LG drive. If you can select the burn speed, do not select maximum, I think that is what skunked the first disc I attempted. It will be very slow, and the UI will appear to freeze, but it does burn successfully after several hours.
I've been burning my GOG library slowly in the background and throwing the disks in some jewel cases, and then putting it all in an old ammo can with some desiccant.
Hours? Damn, I use imgburn on windows and it only takes a few minutes.
Edit: (sorry, that's not bdxl)
Its slow as shit for whatever reason. Less than 1x speed by its own metrics. There may be a problem somewhere, but I don't care about speed as much as accuracy and not ruining disks, so I haven't looked into it.
That's entirely understandable. Those discs are not cheap.
- Some games on Steam are DRM-free, so you don't have to buy these games twice. You could either burn just the game files, or you could create your own setup wizard using Inno Setup or some similar software.
- Is a blue-ray (or optical media in general) more lasting/durable than an SD card? Archiving my games library in Switch-like jewel cases would be pretty cute.
SD cards are one of the most volatile mediums for data storage. Flash memory in general runs the risk of discharge over time. Being powered every now and then can help IIRC.
I've looked into long-term data hoarding and found that there's not too much consensus on the best mediums. They all have their problems. Most turn their noses up at the idea of a set-it-and-forget-it system, preferring laboriously maintained arrays of HDDs. These fail somewhat regularly so they maintain multiple backups and plan/build around that.
I like optical media, but its problems include high cost per GB, taking up significant physical space, the inability to rewrite data, slow speed, and the waning availability of disk drives. Its longevity also depends on the specific technology the disk uses. Some disks are chemically active and the chemicals can break down over time. These can have comparable life to just storing it on a USB drive or something, so I wouldn't bother with those.
I've been using discs specifically made for longevity called M-DISCs. They are supposedly chemically inert and can last for hundreds of years. They're expensive compared to normal BDXLs, you need a bluray drive rated for burning them, and some people say they're hokey...their lifetime claim is pretty lofty, to be fair. I also use archival gold DVDs (4.7GB) for smaller files.
- that’s a very good point! personally I always buy on GOG first but there are still some DRM-free games on steam (or itch.io) that aren’t on GOG
- SD cards are typically rated to retain data for 10 years, which for preservation is pretty bad, tho some high quality cards could last longer. archival-grade optical media is way more durable if kept in good storage conditions; in the video he uses M-discs, which are rated for 1000 years (even tho let’s be honest that’s more marketing than anything)
TIL about BDXL, I thought the Blu-Ray format stopped at 50GB.
Nah, max capacity for the Blu-Ray format was always around 100GB, but some go higher. The limiting factor is actually the data transfer speed - it's worse than fucking USB2.