[Meat Miracle]

Just pop out the disc fast, instead of holding the disc until you get a grip. Do it fast so theres less strain on the drive.
I've heard people who did it since the Saturn came out, and their machine still works.

Alternatively, you could do a mod that powers down the disc drive with a switch.
Or get a Magic Card (its a cart like the Action Replay), which stops the motor on the 2nd swap.

[TmEE]

I found it pointless to add the motor power switch, it only made success rate much lower in my case...
I did add a series resistor to the motor power in my Saturn to protect it a bit.
I get swapping work nearly every time on my oval button unit :

Pop disc in
Turn on. If its already on press reset otherwise swapping doesn't work
watch disc spin up
wait until laser moves to the back
while it moves to the back take disc off
put original disc in with security ring
wait until laser moves to the center
while it moves put old disc back in
if successful then you get license screen, otherwise press reset and start over

[Chilly Willy]

A mod chip is the easiest, most reliable method. Get BOTH a mod chip AND the ARP 4-in-1. You won't regret it. I got both from consolegoods in the UK. They have good prices, even with international shipping.

[Meat Miracle]

You may also want to grab a separate save cart, because the AR is a piece of shit when it comes to that (especially fun when it dies out of fucking nowhere).

[MarzSyndrome]

You may also want to check whether the on-board save memory still functions correctly on your unit. If your saves disappear after a while, then replace the CR2032 3V battery with a new one.

It's piss easy to replace the battery, seeing as it's sitting right at the back-right corner of the console, where you can conveniently open up the little hatch and reach it from there.


(Now if only it was this easy to replace a battery for the Dreamcast, on the other hand....)

[Meat Miracle]

MarzSyndrome, on 11 December 2011 - 06:48 PM, said:

You may also want to check whether the on-board save memory still functions correctly on your unit. If your saves disappear after a while, then replace the CR2032 3V battery with a new one.

It's piss easy to replace the battery, seeing as it's sitting right at the back-right corner of the console, where you can conveniently open up the little hatch and reach it from there.


(Now if only it was this easy to replace a battery for the Dreamcast, on the other hand....)

Replacing the battery won't help you at all once your saves have already disappeared.

You need a mem cart if you want to save anything long-term.