Hard-drive in my PS2

[Arcmanov]

Yes my gaming brethren, i have installed a Western Digital 40Gb hard-drive in my PS2 and i am playing games off of it, courtesy of an INGENIOUS little software app called 'HDLoader'.

You may have seen something about it on Tech TV.  You can find out more about it from www.hdloader.net.  This thing is AWESOME.  I just boot up with the HDLoader disc, a simple GUI comes up on screen with a menu showing all the games that i have ripped directly from the discs onto the hard-drive.  My PS2 also has a modchip, so i was able to rip copied games to the hard-drive also.

The benefits of this are immediately apparent.  
No more scratching of discs.

 All games on the hard-drive load faster; in GTA: Vice City, there is no more 7-10 second wait when moving between districts, as the change occurs instantaneously.  In some games (like Street Fighter Anniversary Edition), load times are virtually eliminated.

With the right size hard-drive (up to 120 Gb) you can store ALL your games (once they're compatible) and create a 'gaming jukebox' of sorts. So if yuh go by a pardner, you dont have to worry about luggin all them discs (especially if they are originals).



The best thing is, you can use this software on any PS2 (except the 1st two Japanese models, according to the site), modded or unmodded.  There is a cracked copy out on the internet (which I have, but you need a modded PS2 to read the disc when you create it), but I ordered the original disc, as I plan on getting a 120 Gb drive to put in another PS2.

SPECAIL NOTE!!!:  To install the hard-drive, you MUST have a PS2 network adapter, because it has the physical connectors (power and IDE) that fit onto the drive itself.

I used a Western Digital hard-drive but users are seeing more success with Maxtor drives (40, 60, 80 and 120 Gb models).

Personally, i have tested 3 games so far: GTA:Vice City, Street Fighter Anniversary Edition, and Winning Eleven 7.  All these games work splendidly from the drive.  The site has links to the compatibility listings for drives and games, so there is a wealth of info available.

Comments, questions would be very welcome (jeremeyev@msn.com).                    

[Crixx_Creww]

nice little project there dude

when i read the thread title i thought
omg what a noob there is no hd in the ps2
llol

not a ps2 fan, buh anything to have calibur runnin smoother and permanently! omg that is the it!

never have to worry bout calibur disc scratched
now next challenge would be to find out if there is software that would allow saving of saved games directly to the hd
so then yu dont have to worrry bout losing yur memory card!!
                     

[Arcmanov]

lol, Nah. Serious ting here breds.  I am maximising the POWER of the PS2.  Why let XBoxers have all the fun?

Unfortunately, Soul Calibur does not work (I checked).  There IS an app to save memory card stuff on the drive (can't remember the name right now), but I haven't tried that one yet.
I'll post an update if it works though.                    

[DeadEyes]

nice work there arcman, ya'll have some ingenious ideas, nice to see the innovative peeps out there                    

[CRaZyMoFo]

ok i hav the 20gb hdd..now i need a ps2
this is really interesting but u say sum games arent working..
lets hope they really work to implement this.                    

[camrE]

tuff luck fella, maxium HDD space is 120GB and minimum is 40GB                    

[PsiVal]

Hard luck deh Crazy..got 40, now i got 2 get a PS2                    

[camrE]

when somebody else gets this, put me on and let me know how well it performs                    

[hardknocks]

nice but how long till they make it illegal or make software that doesnot allow you to ripp the disks                    

[cereal_killer]

i gettin my ps 2 within the end of the year
is there a site that lists waht games do not work with it?                    

[Arcmanov]

Yes there is.  This site lists what games work, and which games don't.  If you don't  see a game on the list, it probably means that no one tried it yet.

Here's the link: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/casey.miller/...mpatibility.htm                    

[SABREWOLF3001]

Nice Archman i want a harddrive so i was hoping that you can source one for me thank you.                    

[MASTER_RAGE3]

thats really cool.i does wonder how them men does pick up these things.they like me i want to dig up in everything                    

[trinitrader]

hey man, i'd like 2 kno how the hook up is done? Any instructions?                      

[Rampage]

read about this and i plan on getting it. what i heard from my sources is that you can play ripped (Warez) games straight through hdd loader without having yuh ps2 modified. in other words hdd loader come like a modchip+storage loader                    

[Arcmanov]

read about this and i plan on getting it. what i heard from my sources is that you can play ripped (Warez) games straight through hdd loader without having yuh ps2 modified. in other words hdd loader come like a modchip+storage loader

Unfortunately, this is not true.  Your PS2 needs to be modified for it to be able to read the ripped (copied) disc, if that is what you're talking about.

With respect to installation, check this link: http://www.hdloader.net/forums/
                     

[Rampage]

spoilt and opium conducting this and is dem who tell me that, i doubt they go lie for some small crap like that. you very sure bout that?                    

[Venom]

this is a great thing, just need a PS2 network adapter if anyone have one to sell pm before i hadda start a thread                      

[ProtoJoe]

WAYS this thing real bad! is like almost no loading time at all, i just get it, it real bad, but one thing, is there some way to connect your HD to ur pc, with out opening it ( have a phobia about opening my pc, last TWO i did, static got it, wasnt very good) like a usb or somthing, and where can i get it....yea, one more time...THIS REAL BAD! now, the next ting is online play...or atleast to get online to download stuff for games                    

[Arcmanov]

WAYS this thing real bad! is like almost no loading time at all, i just get it, it real bad, but one thing, is there some way to connect your HD to ur pc, with out opening it ( have a phobia about opening my pc, last TWO i did, static got it, wasnt very good) like a usb or somthing, and where can i get it....yea, one more time...THIS REAL BAD! now, the next ting is online play...or atleast to get online to download stuff for games

Sorry, it wont work for online gaming, since the PS2 'disables' the network adapter when HDLoader starts up.
If you want to connect your hard-drive to the PC without opening it you will have to use an external hard-drive enclosure (USB or the faster Firewire).  If its for the purpose of transferring games back and forth, you MUST use a program called 'WinHIIP' (I think) to correctly interface with the HDLoader partition on the drive.