
Aside from age, I actually never did the "swap trick" for playing games - I didn't need to, because I owned most of them at one point, and had a region switch instead. I did however, use a sort of "swap trick" to play different music discs in Sega Rally. You could do it right after the loading screen for the next stage. I haven't done that in years, but I suppose the damage was already done.
Anyway, fast forward to now. I was showing my kids the Grandia english translation and they really want to play it, but emulation still isn't as good as hardware. I thought I could do the swap trick a couple times just to try it (I intend to get an ODE at some point). I had removed my external switch for the drive door many years ago, so I just opened the Saturn up and used a piece of tape.
It took 3 tries but I got past the security ring. Game starts to load.. then, nothing. Black screen. The drive isn't doing anything at all. Turning the Saturn on and off - no response. The spindle doesn't rotate, the laser doesn't move or try to focus. It's dead, Jim.
Luckily, I have an extra Saturn that is basically for parts, and that drive is in good shape. I doubt anyone has tried the swap trick on it before (it was my friends), in fact I am sure it hasn't been used since the 1990s. Swapped that back in and I'm in business. I actually have a better idea for doing a "swap trick" that won't damage my Saturn, since I have the real Grandia disc anyway. I'll post that later.
Mayble I'll try to repair the other drive too.. I actually think the laser still works fine.