What is your recommended way to store games?

[RobotPS2]

If you play ROMs both on PC/Android emulators and also on physical hardware
(e.g. PS2: using OPL and Free Mcboot, PS1: using burned CDs and FreePSXBoot, etc.)
then what is the best way to store ROMs?
And best way to load them (HDL Dump Helper GUI? WinHIIP? WLaunchELF + exFAT drag and drop?)
You can talk about any console you like, it might help others if you share a nice workflow.

The (.iso) inside a (.7z) way:
For example for PS2, would it be better to just store a .ISO game file inside a .7z file or convert the .ISO file to .ZSO?
The .7z way saves space (can't remember if it saves more or less than .zso) but there's extra steps in extracting the ROMs one by one.
Well I guess with 7-Zip you can extract multiple folders at once, wait for it to finish
and then search .iso files within the folder and drag and drop them where you need them, then delete the emptied folders when you're done.
The .iso files work both on real hardware and on emulators (unless a specific game has compatibility issues).

The (.zso) way:
The .zso way would mean you would have to use something like OPL Manager to convert ROMs.
In OPL Manager, I think you can only convert .bin to .iso one by one
but when converting between .iso and .zso, you can add multiple ROMs to a queue instead of one by one.
I prefer to use it offline when possible.
I think converting from .bin to .iso (for CD games), errors out if you're offline or block OPL Manager at the firewall or a server problem,
but converting .iso to .zso or .zso back to .iso works even offline, at least on OPL Manager V23.
An offline alternative software for converting .bin to .iso could be WinBin2Iso but I haven't tested it yet.
OPL Manager V23 works offline if you add your OPL game art manually, but obviously requires internet if you want to quickly grab some art from the server, and rename the ROMs to be readable by OPL. Actually, I think it won't even allow you to add art until you connect to the server and rename the game files first. I prefer not to be reliant on an internet connection.
Can't remember if .zso requires WLaunchELF + exFAT.

I think the downside of .zso files is they work on real hardware but not on emulators (except maybe the newest PCSX2? But I don't use that because I refuse to "downgrade" to Windows 10/11 which is inferior, slow and spies on you). Most PCSX2 builds don't work with .zso files.
There might be a Windows 7 compatible hack for one of the earlier 1.7 versions though.
Also curious if there's any difference between .zso and .iso files when it comes to:
gameplay/FMV performance, loading times, fragmentation and if they wear out the HDD/micro SD card at different rates?

The (.CHD) way:
Some people convert .ISO games to .CHD but I think that's only good for emulators (although I've heard there are batch scripts that allow you to convert them back to .iso). In your experience, what method is the best?

Obviously you should backup your ROMs if you can (or keep one copy on the console, and another on a hard drive). I think HDDs are more reliable than flash memory like microSD cards and SSDs which seem to fail more often and hard to recover data from (at least in my experience).

 

[GeoHikari]

Since I have many physical medias for PS2(and only 12 for PS4), I also play games in emulators in my PC. With my computer, several ROMs and ISOs are stored into Pen Drivers who I dedicates for them. These same ones are in main HD here.

But I will follow the sugestion of RobotPS2: next year I must buy a third external HD(I have two other ones, but dedicated only for animes and Tokusatsus), and these ones of games will go on the newest. Pen Drivers are good backup objects, but somethimes they gains a faillure of contats when the real time advances.

 

[MistHunter]

I'm not an expert, however, this information is priceless.

some months ago, I met somebody who is a rom/iso leecher. quite a big one, if you ask me.
at first glance, he had a 'decent' collection of roms and isos. then...
I saw his 'hidden huge collection' (and 'hysteria') for "maintaining the main library".
when I saw such "library" with a "are you THAT serious?" on my face, he just smiled.
on the other hand, he is such a carefree (and somewhat selfish) person and wants to share (with pity results), the 'joy of videogames'.
he offered to a lot of people, a service of "roms and isos distribution",
through usb's (free of charge, by the way).
well, that didn't last long, for all the wrong reasons
(nobody took it into account, now matter how hard he tried).

anyway.
he took the trouble to sort everything with 7-zip.
every. title. from the lightest to the heaviest.
months compressing, more than 1000 videogames in emulation, with only a laptop and a half-destroyed external hard drive (near 400 GB, compressed).
"like a fourth or fifth time, reconstructing the library", I heard from this leecher once.

other things I heard from that leecher:
"never trust in a hard disc drive, keeping everything forever. this things are so delicate, if you are not careful enough"
"it is not a matter of compressing everything and just saving space for more.
it's a matter of making it more durable over time.
you know, the best compressors for the heaviest and the lightest, something like winzip/rar"
"making a folder, for every respective console rom/iso, renaming it, and even making an own section for savestates and the like"
"always have that respective rom/iso, a backup (this is more possible with the light ones), and an uncompressed ready to play copy (if you are wanting to play it in your everyday)"
"to make it less confusing, whatever you have played or not, four main categories at the least:
finished, release, repeat(ed versions; for whatever specific reason) and miscellaneous"
"for people who have parents who don't respect video games, just don't be obvious with the names.
be creative, hide it in C:/, or something that they cannot easily figure out how to find"
"keep a list. whether a physical one with pen and paper, or a digital one with empty files (like notepad) and putting in it, the titles of the videogames. if you want add something, feel free to add notes to check later"

...well, this is from that leecher.
my personal opinion:

got @_@

 

[RobotPS2]

I can't right now but when I can afford more hard drives, I'll try to make more backups.

like a fourth or fifth time, reconstructing the library

Was it because of file corruption?
I'm not an expert either but I've heard this advice, if you you use your HDD very often, "eco" HDDs have a faster failure rate because they head park (spin up and down) every few seconds or minutes which is excessive. They claim to save electricity but I think it's not worth it.
Head parking once in a while is ok, nothing to worry about. But a million times a day is not healthy for the HDD.
Make sure not to drop your HDDs, shock is bad for them as they are delicate. That's the best advice.
Also "safely remove" any storage so data doesn't get corrupted.
Check CrystalDiskInfo once in a while to see HDD health but it's not completely accurate.
But don't worry too much about it, if you look after it, and later buy more HDDs for backup, it will likely be fine.
And avoid viruses.

To save space I keep .iso files either uncompressed or each in their own separate compressed file (for example .7z) so I have normal folder with many .7z files inside.
I think this is better than putting multiple ROMs inside one single compressed .7z file because if this one compressed file gets corrupted,
it might corrupt every .iso file inside!

Yes good advice, to have a list of file and folder names because if the HDD fails, you won't have to remember which files to download again.
I don't know what's a fast way to do this. But the program called "Everything" by Voidtools keeps a list of files in each HDD even if you disconnect it.
So that might be one option. A backed up text file might be better if there's a program that can do it for you and update the list easily.

 

[MistHunter]

Was it because of file corruption?

No. it was "human corruption" to him, I guess...?
(angry parents or clueless family, treacherous people, physical accidents, etc.)

I'm taking this advices into account, this is amazing to reach this kind of knowledge.
I have no idea about compressing a lot of roms/isos in one compressed file, looks risky.
you are right about that important detail of avoiding multiple file corruptions.