[PS2] PlayStation BB Unit (PS2 Hard Drive)

[layzee]

Anyone here use hard drives with your PS2? Whether it's the internal official 40GB Sony hard drive (that requires the network adaptor) or external hard drive that I think connects via USB. How is yours set up? Which is the best way? Any word on the failure rate of PS2 hard drives? Are there any major differences between the different version boot discs? Anything to watch out for?

I haven't got one yet. I have two PS2s: one with expansion bay, one without. I just want one mainly for RPGs that support the installation of game data. For a game like Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song, faster loading times would be great.

List (that may or may not be complete) of PS2 games that officially support the hard drive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStati ... ansion_Bay

[Greatsaintlouis]

Totally necroposting, but I couldn't get on to the forums for about a month for some reason.

I've got a hard drive in my PS2, but I use it in conjunction with a hacked bootloader that runs from a memory card and loads some small HD loader (also on the memory card, if I recall) to load games directly from the hard drive. Or maybe the loader is on the HDD and the memory card runs it directly? I haven't seen my PS2 in years, so I really don't remember anything except that the setup process was an absolute pain in the ass. My PS2 is getting really long in the tooth, and it stopped recognizing games that were on the blue-backed regular CDs (in my case, Gradius V, Way of the Samurai, and Skygunners), though games on DVD media still play just fine. All my loader discs for import titles were CD based, which meant they wouldn't work either, but running from the hard drive I can completely bypass region restrictions as well.

I can't give a whole lot of details off the top of my head. It works, as I said, through some sort of loader installed on the memory card; apparently on boot, the PS2 looks to the MC for things like drivers for the DVD player or diagnostic/service utilities, and someone found out a way to exploit that. I've got the official BB Unit, but a totally unofficial 20GB (I think) drive. I'm not sure if this setup works at all with games that can legitimately install data to an official drive present.

I don't know if any of that is what you were interested in, but there it is. I'm moving in about a month and a half and will probably pull out the PS2 again after all that is done, so I could check on what exactly the setup is, if you'd like.

[emphatic]

People are using all sorts of drives with the Network adapter nowadays: http://psx-scene.com/forums/f98/sata-ad ... ter-68515/

I just have a 40GB drive in my PS2, I only play arcade ports, so no need for a bigger drive.

[Gaijin Punch]

My PS2 broke.
Need to buy one next trip to Japan.

[layzee]

Okay, did a bit of research and it looks like I'll need a FreeMcBoot memory card (to run homebrew), the "Open PS2 Loader" program (which seems to be the most recently updated one; to play games off the hard drive), a SATA adaptor (because no more IDE/don't want to use unreliable old HDDs), and a 5400RPM or 7200RPM SATA HDD (because any higher is useless and generates unnecessary heat). I think I'll avoid the official Sony hard drives because knowing my luck, it will fail in days after I use it. Also, running HDDs off the PS2's USB ports is a literal waste of time because they are v1.1 USB (apparently half the speed of the PS2's DVD read speed). My main issue is that it seems like HDLoader (and similar programs) doesn't quite have 100% game compatibility (and as you said, setting up McBoot seems like a pain).

My PS2s are in various states of disrepair: One fat PS2 runs PS2 DVDs/PS1 CDs fine but scratches up PS2 blue CDs. For some reason the CD spins really fast and then the tray ejects itself (happened to my formerly mint Gradius V and Sega Ages Phantasy Star Collection). The other fat PS2 runs PS2 blue CDs/PS1 CDs fine but has trouble with PS2 DVDs. My third slim PS2 is modified so I'll use that to create the McBoot memory card.

Totally necroposting, but I couldn't get on to the forums for about a month for some reason.

Yep, not just you, it was offline for about a month or so.