Games & Preservation

Backing Up Your Game Library

The cartridges and discs on your shelf are aging — save batteries die, discs scratch, connectors corrode. Dumping a game you own copies its data into a small file you can preserve forever and play in your browser from your OWL media library. This guide covers the legal ground rules, the hardware, and links to a step-by-step page for every console the OWL player supports.

Applies to
Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Atari, Coleco, and Mattel cartridge/disc systems covered in the console guides below.
You need
Your original games, plus a USB cartridge reader (~$45–$150) or, for PlayStation, any PC CD/DVD drive.
You get
One verified file per game — from tiny .a26 Atari images through .sms, .gg, .md, and larger PlayStation .chd discs.
Plays in
Your browser, from the OWL media library — no console required.
Golden rule
Own it, dump it yourself, keep it private. Never download or share ROMs.

Game preservation lives on a simple footing: a personal backup of media you own is a very different thing from a copy of someone else’s. The practical rules below keep you on the right side of that line. (This is background, not legal advice — copyright law varies by country, and private-copy exceptions differ.)

1. Own the original

  • Back up games you actually own
  • Keep the cartridge or disc — it is your basis for having the file
  • If you sell the game, delete the backup

2. Dump it yourself

  • Copy the data from your cartridge or disc
  • Downloading the “same” ROM from a website is not a backup — it is an unauthorized copy, even if you own the game
  • ROM sites distribute unlawfully; don’t be their customer

3. Keep it private

  • Backups are for you, not for sharing
  • Never upload, trade, or “lend” ROM files
  • Your OWL library is end-to-end encrypted — private by design
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Why these consoles are the easy case

Classic cartridges and PlayStation 1 CDs store their data unencrypted — there is no access-control measure to bypass, so a personal backup does not raise the anti-circumvention issues (DMCA §1201 in the US) that modern, encrypted consoles do. Emulators themselves are lawful, too: US courts upheld independently developed emulators in Sony v. Connectix (2000). The one thing with no legal cover anywhere is distributing copies — which is exactly what rule 3 exists to avoid.

One more nicety: many emulators need a dump of the original console’s firmware (a “BIOS file”) — a separate copyrighted work you would also have to dump from your own console. The OWL player sidesteps this entirely: its PlayStation core boots with a built-in high-level BIOS replacement, and its cartridge cores need no firmware at all. Your game file is the only thing you ever need to dump.

Sharing Links and Play Together

OWL offers two conveniences that can look similar but have very different effects. The Share button creates a link that can open and download the game file. Play Together creates a temporary remote-play session: the host’s browser runs the game and streams the play session while invited players send controller input; the ROM itself stays on the host device.

Game-file share links

  • Use a link only to move your private backup to a device you own
  • Do not send the link to friends, family, group chats, or public sites
  • Anyone holding the link may be able to download the game file; revoke it when the transfer is finished

Play Together

  • Invite only participants who are authorized to use the game
  • Do not post or forward the temporary invite publicly
  • Voice chat is optional; tell participants when it is enabled and use headphones for privacy

Your responsibility

  • NDEVR does not grant a license or verify that a use is permitted
  • Game licenses and local copyright rules can differ
  • The in-app acceptance is an acknowledgment, not a legal determination
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When in doubt, keep the backup private

The safest practical rule remains: own the original, make your own backup, and keep the file to yourself. If you are unsure whether remote play with another person is allowed by the game’s license or the law where you live, do not create the invite until you have checked.

How Dumping Works

Every console page in this series follows the same four steps — only the reader hardware and the output format change:

Your gamecartridge or disc1ReaderUSB dumper / disc drive2ROM file.nes .sfc .z64 .chd …3OWL media libraryprivate, end-to-end encrypted — plays in your browser4
The universal backup loop: (1) start from the game you own, (2) read it with a USB dumper or disc drive, (3) save the resulting ROM file, and (4) upload it to your OWL media library to play in the browser. Diagram: NDEVR.
  1. Clean the media. Thirty-year-old cartridge contacts and scratched discs cause bad reads. Isopropyl alcohol on a swab for contacts; a soft radial wipe for discs.
  2. Read it. The dumper copies the ROM chips (or disc sectors) byte-for-byte to your computer.
  3. Verify. Dump twice and compare, or check the file’s checksum against a preservation database like Redump (discs) or No-Intro (cartridges) to confirm a clean read.
  4. Store and play. Upload to your media library — the file is also now safe from whatever happens to the original.

Hardware by Console

Two devices cover almost everything: the open-source Open Source Cartridge Reader (OSCR) handles SNES, Genesis, N64 and the Game Boy family in one unit (prebuilt from Save the Hero Builders, ~$150), and any PC CD/DVD drive handles the disc systems — PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Sega CD alike. The per-console pages cover cheaper single-purpose options, the handhelds, and the PSP’s encryption caveat too:

ConsoleReader optionsOutputTypical size
NESINLretro · OSCR + NES adapter.nes40 KB – 1 MB
Game Boy / ColorGBxCart RW · GB Operator · OSCR.gb / .gbc32 KB – 8 MB
Game Boy AdvanceGBxCart RW · GB Operator · OSCR.gba4 – 32 MB
SNESRetrode 2 · OSCR · INLretro.sfc / .smc512 KB – 6 MB
Nintendo 64OSCR · Retrode 2 + plugin · INLretro.z648 – 64 MB
Nintendo DSHomebrew DS / DSi / 3DS · Slot-1 reader.nds8 – 512 MB
Virtual BoyVirtual Boy cart dumper.vb512 KB – 2 MB
PlayStationAny PC CD/DVD drive.chd (from .bin/.cue)200 – 700 MB
PlayStation PortableYour PSP (custom firmware) — UMDs are encrypted.iso / .csoup to ~1.8 GB
Sega GenesisRetrode 2 · OSCR · INLretro.md / .gen512 KB – 4 MB
Sega Master SystemRetrode + SMS plug-in · OSCR + adapter.sms32 KB – 1 MB
Sega Game GearOSCR + Game Gear adapter.gg32 KB – 1 MB
Sega CD / Mega-CDAny PC CD/DVD drive.chd (from .bin/.cue)100 – 600 MB
Sega 32XRetrode 2 · OSCR.32x2 – 4 MB
Sega SaturnAny PC CD/DVD drive.chd (from .bin/.cue)200 – 650 MB
Atari 2600OSCR + Atari adapter.a262 – 32 KB
Atari 5200OSCR or Atarimax + adapter.a528 – 32 KB
Atari 7800OSCR + Atari adapter.a7816 – 144 KB
Atari JaguarJaguar cart dumper.j641 – 6 MB
Atari LynxLynx cart reader.lnx128 – 512 KB
ColecoVisionOSCR + Coleco adapter — + console BIOS.col8 – 32 KB
IntellivisionOSCR + Intellivision adapter — + EXEC/GROM.int4 – 24 KB

Save Data Is the Urgent Part

The game ROM itself is etched into mask ROM — it will outlive us all. Your saves will not. Most cartridge-era save files live in battery-backed SRAM, kept alive by a coin cell soldered in at the factory 25–35 years ago. When that battery dies, every Zelda file and Pokémon box goes with it.

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Dump saves first

Every cartridge reader in the table above backs up save data as well as the game. Make the save dump your first act with each cartridge — before the battery gets another year older. The per-console pages cover which games use batteries and which use permanent EEPROM or flash memory.

Playing Your Backups

Upload your dumps to the media library and they appear in the Games collection with box art, per-console emulator settings, and save states that follow you between devices. Everything runs in the browser — desktop, phone, or the TV app — and the Play Together feature can hand a second controller to a friend over a share link. Your files live in your own end-to-end encrypted storage: nothing about your library is visible to anyone but you.

Pick your console below to get dumping.