PS2 Mod 2016-19: USB & HDD Loading, PS1 via POPS, Emus

[Jagosaurus]

Nice work!

I only have an 80 GB HDD in my PS2, as that was the only spare HDD I had way back when I first set it up with HDAdvance. I have another network adapter that's been modified to fit a SATA drive (I think I scored it from the Charity Auction here one year) but I never got around to setting up a new HDD. I'll have a couple of spare SATA HDDs soon ranging from 500 GB to 1 TB, so I should probably use one of those. I guess the real reason I haven't got around to it yet is because the 80 GB has been working. I have something like 5-10 games that are always on there, then I just rotate the rest. If I'm playing through a game, I'll install it on the HDD. Then, if I'm finished playing through that game, I'll delete it when I add the next game.

Thanks! It was a labor of love. Also helped me part with a bunch of my physical PS2 collection. ~90% of the 109 disc images are rips of physical games I own now or did own before my sell off. That's some serious time on the PC ripping & transferring games!

Yeah, I would've already gone the SATA route also after my original 250GB IDE, but then I saved those (3) 80GB drives from work PC that were headed to an electronics salvage company. So then I had another 240GB to play with for free.

Now there's easier SATA options out of the box. These third party Chinese SATA adapters run $15 to $20. Supports 2.5 & 3.5 inch HDDs. I'll eventually go this route as most "new" IDEs are NOS on borrowed time.

https://youtu.be/SdAlDYKBZtA

Note the LAN/Ethernet port is just for show.

[Ziggy]

Now there's easier SATA options out of the box. These third party Chinese SATA adapters run $15 to $20. Supports 2.5 & 3.5 inch HDDs. I'll eventually go this route as most "new" IDEs are NOS on borrowed time.

https://youtu.be/SdAlDYKBZtA

Note the LAN/Ethernet port is just for show.

No LAN was the deal breaker for me on those. That has been my primary method of dumping games to the HDD. I found it too annoying taking the HDD out to connect to a PC, then doing the reverse to put it back in the PS2.

[Jagosaurus]

No LAN was the deal breaker for me on those. That has been my primary method of dumping games to the HDD. I found it too annoying taking the HDD out to connect to a PC, then doing the reverse to put it back in the PS2.

I figured that might kill it for you. See, I'm the opposite, use FTP all the time for oXbox but never got around to it for PS2 scene. I get it though. Extremely convenient once setup. I'm just usually moving over multiple games at once so breaking out the IDE to USB isn't too bad.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, the LAN transfer speed is really slow on the PS2. So if you're doing a bunch of games, it's definitely worth it. Heck, even for just one game, it'll probably be faster to take the HDD out and put it back. That's how I was doing it at first, but it got old. The LAN transferring is also incredibly finicky. These days, I go a long time in between using it. Every time I use it it's like I have to relearn how to use it first.

[Jagosaurus]

Yeah, the LAN transfer speed is really slow on the PS2. So if you're doing a bunch of games, it's definitely worth it. Heck, even for just one game, it'll probably be faster to take the HDD out and put it back. That's how I was doing it at first, but it got old. The LAN transferring is also incredibly finicky. These days, I go a long time in between using it. Every time I use it it's like I have to relearn how to use it first.

Yeah WinHIIP via IDE to USB is fairly quick.

LAN can't be as slow as PS2 USB 1.0 port to HDD for POPS transfers... painfully bad . Does LAN work for POPS on HDD? I haven't even bothered googling that yet.

[Forlorn Drifter]

How is compatibility with POPS? I'm considering getting a PS2 and modding it at some point, but I just want to see how good it will work overall. I think I'll end up with about 50 games between PS1 and PS2, though some would need translations/I'll emulate-until-I-can-afford.

[Jagosaurus]

How is compatibility with POPS? I'm considering getting a PS2 and modding it at some point, but I just want to see how good it will work overall. I think I'll end up with about 50 games between PS1 and PS2, though some would need translations/I'll emulate-until-I-can-afford.

POPS is about 80% in my testing. You can always use a slim (need flip top) & boot burns for the other 20%.

Shooting you a PM good sir.

[Jagosaurus]

My 80GB POPS IDE HDD was acting strange last month. I stupidly was running emulators with it plugged in so I thought one of the partitions the emu(s) tried to create clipped or corrupted my POPS partition. I remember some1 in this thread saying PGEN or PICO screwed up a HDD for them (nightrnr maybe?).

I spent about 2 hours clearing the drive and reformatting from ground up to run POPS. It was running great after. Boot today.... no go. Lots of intermittent issues, files disappearing, then appearing, can't paste files. etc. My OPL drives with same network adapter are working fine. I think this old HDD (which I saved from a work PC) has finally bit the dust. I'm throwing in the towel on it vs investing more time on it. I have POPS via USB in the meantime.

I've been stubborn and still using IDEs. 3 of my 4 (& my oXbox IDE) are still running strong. I have 3 spare SATAs laying around. Might have to finally buy a converter kit or one of the new SATA ready adapters.

[nightrnr]

Yeah, that was me Jago (mostly Picodrive). It made me decide USB might be the way to go where possible (which means Sega CD is best left to other systems). Probably explains my struggle getting Doom to load on that drive too (was SUPER picky about which partition it recognized and copy pasting did corrupt my Wad files. I think it was a 30GB drive, so pretty small (still works for OPL on what I fit on there).

Again, USB is just a better option for the smaller stuff, even it is slower.

But aging drives is the other half of the blame. So I'm in a similar boat there. I'll have to get a SATA network adapter eventually, but I'll continue to work with what I have until I have to mak the change. My trusty 250GB drive is still going strong (fingers crossed for now).

For HDD use, it's all dedicated for actual PS2 games. I get most mileage out of them that way.

[Ziggy]

So to load new games onto the HDD in my PS2, I would usually network to the drive using software on the PC side. But I don't have that set up right now, and I don't feel like taking the HDD out of the PS2 and connecting it to a computer. Is there any other way to load a game onto the HDD? Like, I can't believe I can't just load an ISO onto a USB stick or even DVD-R and then rip it to the drive using only the PS2. Or can I ? I remember doing this with HDAdvance, it would let you rip a disc to the HDD using only the PS2. Why hasn't the homebrew community made an app that can do this as well?