PS2 Slim IDE to MicroSD mod

[Blakejansen]

Anyone ever perform this mod or similar? I have been bored and I have been looking at new soldering projects. From the videos I have watched, it looks like a lot of fun. For those that have performed the mod, was it worth it?

 

[Ryccardo]

Adding the disk connector (on a 700xx) is a legitimate, though tedious, soldering job and works (with the caveat you need FMCB anyways to make the disk bootable for FHDB/HDDOSD/PSBBN)

Never tried a SD to IDE converter (most every CF card has that natively with a plain mechanical adapter, which - although of course it has happened, with ones missing the DMA lines - is much harder to screw up than the common conversion chip with performance and compatibility issues; on the other hand, if you want a stupidly large drive* partitioned with PS2's APA, any form of instant-seeking SSD will make it bearable)

* that, for a PS2, is "give or take more than 80 GB full of game backups", at which point the amount of partitions doesn't fit in cache anymore so a sequential read of one sector every 128 MB or so turns into restarting from the first sector at each partition

 

[Blakejansen]

Adding the disk connector (on a 700xx) is a legitimate, though tedious, soldering job and works (with the caveat you need FMCB anyways to make the disk bootable for FHDB/HDDOSD/PSBBN)

Never tried a SD to IDE converter (most every CF card has that natively with a plain mechanical adapter, which - although of course it has happened, with ones missing the DMA lines - is much harder to screw up than the common conversion chip with performance and compatibility issues; on the other hand, if you want a stupidly large drive* partitioned with PS2's APA, any form of instant-seeking SSD will make it bearable)

* that, for a PS2, is "give or take more than 80 GB full of game backups", at which point the amount of partitions doesn't fit in cache anymore so a sequential read of one sector every 128 MB or so turns into restarting from the first sector at each partition

You use CF cards directly? I just looked online and they are expensive.

 

[tech3475]

I have an mSD2IDE adapter in an old computer, it hasn't given me any issues so far and behaves exactly like a regular HDD, that said, the highest card I've put in it is 128GB.

You use CF cards directly? I just looked online and they are expensive.

Probably because they're more niche now, but I've used an mSD2CF adapter in my Amiga without any issues so far.

Ironically my 1GB CF card did give me issues.

Edit:

Have you thought about just getting an mx4iso?

 

[Ryccardo]

You use CF cards directly? I just looked online and they are expensive.

Depends on what size, they stopped being mainstream at the time a 2 GB microSD more than doubled the price of your original R4 (which was about 30 € when new) and only 4-digit-priced cameras used them until the end, so the larger/faster ones did cost a truckload, but of course on the used market prices are all over the place (I bought a 32 GB one for less than 20 € in Germany, and a 32 GB genuine $ony Memory Stick for the same locally)

(these newer cards over 8 GB seem to have problems in classic PCs due to supporting CHS addressing over 8.whatever GB, a SATA to IDE converter is better on a system like the PS2 where larger sizes and faster speeds are useful, or a mSATA to IDE one for physical space challenged ones like laptops and Mac Minis)

 

[Blakejansen]

I have an mSD2IDE adapter in an old computer, it hasn't given me any issues so far and behaves exactly like a regular HDD, that said, the highest card I've put in it is 128GB.



Probably because they're more niche now, but I've used an mSD2CF adapter in my Amiga without any issues so far.

Ironically my 1GB CF card did give me issues.

Edit:

Have you thought about just getting an mx4iso?

No because I am probably not going to play it. I just really want to solder something.I need either a microSD mod which fits completely inside the system or a microSD mod that you cut part of the case for the slot. I am fine with an internal SD mod, but not sure if I can FTP to add or remove games.

 

[SylverReZ]

No because I am probably not going to play it. I just really want to solder something.I need either a microSD mod which fits completely inside the system or a microSD mod that you cut part of the case for the slot. I am fine with an internal SD mod, but not sure if I can FTP to add or remove games.

Gou Mods previously sold microSD modded PS2 slims on Etsy. The installation is spaghetti heaven.

 

[Blakejansen]

Any schematics available? I am iffy if I will ever do this mod, but I am definitely considering it.

 

[JakobAir]

Gou Mods previously sold microSD modded PS2 slims on Etsy. The installation is spaghetti heaven.

I often pray to spaghetti heaven. Doing so has served me well. In the name of the holy garlic bread, amen.

 

[SylverReZ]

Any schematics available? I am iffy if I will ever do this mod, but I am definitely considering it.

You need to buy an SD to IDE adapter, remove the IDE connector and then wire the pins up to the points on the diagram.