PS1/2 PS2 using 2TB internal HDD

[zfreeman]

Hi everyone,
Just signed up, specifically to bring this thread back to life a bit I'm about to embark on this setup, I have all of the hardware ready. But the one thing that I have not found info about, is booting from a memory card vs. booting from the HDD. I have a memory card ready to go, and another tutorial (for a smaller size HDD) on Youtube said that booting from the card is much faster than from the HDD.

I'm planning on filling up the 2TB with games, my question is: has anyone tried using a card to boot everything up? Stick with FMCB on the card, set it to automatically load OPL from the card (I think you can do this?), and then see the games. Does it speed anything up, or slow down, or something else? I'm not worried about running out of memory card space - I have a second card available, and I won't end up with too many save games on there, I don't usually keep them for long after beating the game.

Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

The memory cards are the first to be read upon booting, the hard drive bay is last. It's about 10-15 seconds longer for FHDB compared to FMCB.

Booting the OPL .ELF is the same whether it's from the memory card or the HDD. Reading the list of games on OPL/HDloader takes time; the more games there are, the slower the read time.

 

[Alterator]

The memory cards are the first to be read upon booting, the hard drive bay is last. It's about 10-15 seconds longer for FHDB compared to FMCB.

Booting the OPL .ELF is the same whether it's from the memory card or the HDD. Reading the list of games on OPL/HDloader takes time; the more games there are, the slower the read time.

Well, update - you are absolutely correct. PS2 with 2TB Seagate 7200RPM installed with a Gamestar adapter. Drive has 660 games on it, only about 30GB free. Using FMCB instead of FHDB, it takes about 33 seconds to get to the game menu. I am quite happy, that is more than acceptable to me Thank you all for the info here!

 

[XC-3730C]

Well, update - you are absolutely correct. PS2 with 2TB Seagate 7200RPM installed with a Gamestar adapter. Drive has 660 games on it, only about 30GB free. Using FMCB instead of FHDB, it takes about 33 seconds to get to the game menu. I am quite happy, that is more than acceptable to me Thank you all for the info here!

Would you mind putting together a list of PS2 games you have on there? I am looking to do a similar setup with my Mobdro modded Phat PS2 with green Ghostcase, and Sony Network Adapter + SATA board.

Also, do you have any homebrew, PC ports, and emus? How much space is left?

 

[Alterator]

Would you mind putting together a list of PS2 games you have on there? I am looking to do a similar setup with my Mobdro modded Phat PS2 with green Ghostcase, and Sony Network Adapter + SATA board.

Also, do you have any homebrew, PC ports, and emus? How much space is left?

I will try. About 35GB left. No homebrew, emu, etc.

 

[GBA rocks]

2TB SSDs are finally getting economically feasible...are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?

I wonder about data integrity after years of cold storage (let’s face it, these are “preservation” projects) compared to HDD though...like some SSD cells could lose their charge if not powered for 5 or 10 years...whereas HDDs from 15yrs ago are definitely still readable...

 

[einsteinx2]

An SSD would be nice to increase transfer speed when loading games from a computer, but I doubt you'd see any real difference on the console due to the slow IDE interface. Until SSDs drop so far in price that they're cheaper than HDDs, it doesn't seem worth it. Not to mention the increased chance of bit-rot to the point of losing all data if not powered on for a while (not sure how many years).

 

[GBA rocks]

Not to mention the increased chance of bit-rot to the point of losing all data if not powered on for a while (not sure how many years).

Thats my fear...otherwise I’d use SSDs for ps2, ps3, wii, wiiU...
I think even behind an IDE bottleneck the reduced seek time and faster random reads would help game lists populate faster..

 

[skydancer93]

I have a 2TB SATA formatted and I put a list of games on there. Ever since then, it seems that HDL Dumper Helper refused to connect to the drive saying "the chosen hdd isn't hdl_dump compatible" when I JUST PUT GAMES TO IT!!!! It's connected directly to my Windows 7 PC internally, so at this point, I'm at a loss of what to do. Can't use WinHIIP and HDL Dumb can detect it just fine, but it seems strange as certain ISO's read the same title(ala not refresh when selecting another ISO).

 

[zfreeman]

Try repairing the drive with WinHIIP. If that doesn't work, you might need to downgrade your Java/JRE for HDL Dumper Helper to run properly. There is also HDLGameInstaller for installing games over network. You could use uLaunchElf to rename the partitions (like PP.GameName to P.GameName) so that WinHIIP can detect < 256 games.

HDLGameInstaller: http://ichiba.geocities.jp/ysai187/PS2/HDLGameInstaller.htm

 

[skydancer93]

I have Java 6 installed. How far back do I need to downgrade it?

 

[zfreeman]

Try upgrading first. It should be working with at least 7.

 

[skydancer93]

Didn’t work. Same error

 

[skydancer93]

Reformatted the drive in the PS2 using uLaunchElf 2TB. Even has FreeHDBoot on it. Tried adding games AGAIN with HDL Dump Helper GUI 2.3. Started adding games one at a time instead of on a list. Going good for a while and AGAIN, I get that stupid error message about the drive not being HDL DUMP compatible. Using Java 7 as suggested. STILL having issues. Now what?!

 

[zfreeman]

In retrospect, JRE version probably doesn't matter as long as it runs. It seems to be a common issue, and the only advice is to restart the PC and try again. Maybe running XP would work better, but it's all guesswork. https://www.reddit.com/r/ps2/comments/7y45i1/recurring_compatibility_error_with_hdl_dump/

HDL Dump GUI guide: http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2740
HDL HDD Batcher: http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5257
HDLGameInstaller: http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=27058#p27058

 

[skydancer93]

Last time when I did the batch install I tried doing that and same thing. Didn’t try redoing it with the one at a time method. Restarted the PC and nothing changed.

 

[uyjulian]

SSHDs are pretty reasonable in price nowadays.
A 1TB one on Amazon is US$61.72 while a 2TB one is US$94.99.

You can notice the decrease in boot and launch times if you use a SSHD or a SSD.

If you are having trouble installing games, try using hdl_dump directly or using HDLGameInstaller.

 

[Ace14]

Hi, I have installed all my games on a 2.5 inch 1 TB SSD. During the installation process I mounted and unmounted the network adapter and SSD without fully powering down and unhooking my fat PS2 (a 5000x model BTW). I know now that this was pretty dumb, because this thread warns that I could have easily blown the 12 volt PS10 fuse. So far, I seem to have been lucky though as my PS2 is still working.

Does anybody know if I damaged my PS2 and/or if I can expect trouble for example with the PS10 or PS9 (5 volt) fuse in the future?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[zfreeman]

It will still work, but won't be able to read the internal drive. You have to solder in new '50' fuses. They won't always be PS10 and PS9, depending on which revision you have, but you can easily identify the internal drive fuses by the shape and '50' label. Having a pointed solder iron tip that gets hot enough will do the trick. The hardest part is remembering to detach the power button flex cable when removing the PS2's top. It's easy to damage if you yank it out.

http://store.richspsxparts.com/smdfuse50.html

 

[Ace14]

It will still work, but won't be able to read the internal drive. You have to solder in new '50' fuses. They won't always be PS10 and PS9, depending on which revision you have, but you can easily identify the internal drive fuses by the shape and '50' label. Having a pointed solder iron tip that gets hot enough will do the trick. The hardest part is remembering to detach the power button flex cable when removing the PS2's top. It's easy to damage if you yank it out.

Hi zfreeman, thank you for your quick reply. Luckily my fat PS2 still works (and to clarify, the SSD is still being recognised and I can play games from the internal SSD).
I was just wondering if not properly powering down my ps2 during installation/removal of the network adapter might have caused damage to either PS9 or PS10.

 

[zfreeman]

Yes, it definitely puts stress on those fuses. This is just conjecture, but I think it helps that you are using an SSD. Its electrical draw is minimal when idle, so the abrupt disconnect doesn't stress the fuses as much. However, a SATA adapter like Maxdiypower negates this by constantly drawing too much, versus an original network adapter or even the new Gamestar ones.