PS2 Hard Drive question...

[pointdablame]

Well if you dont want to mod it, you can give me your midnight blue ps2 and you can have mine

[b3atmania]

Has anyone seen a version of the HD Loader that will boot on a non-modded Japanese PS2? I have the SCPH-50000/MB package that came with the network adapter and official 40GB drive.

At last! I found a site that sells the Japanese region HD Loader: http://www.linker4u.com/

[jujuman]

Got mine in the mail today gonna try it with a maxtor 20gb 32049H3 model
will post results

Has anyone else seen more game compatabilites?

[jam92102]

I had trouble with Mafia.  It played and there was sound in the cut scenes but no sound in the gameplay.  Also my maxtor 20g drive works just fine.  Only holds about 6 games though.

[jujuman]

DUDE!

Dirv3r works!!!
Loads fast as shiznat!

[jujuman]

Well driv3r works well the drive i'm using is a bit older and has a slower txfr time. in some instantces in the game it would hang for a sec then the game would pick up we it hung.
I mean that the ps2 did not reset at all but a glitch here and there but after it got going for a few hrs the drive works great.

I know its been asked but no one has tried it, can you load a game to one HD then remove the drive and transfer it to another. After the 2nd HD has been formatted with the hdloader program. sort of like upgrading the drive. In the event that this is possible the data could be transfered via multiple conduits  

I'd like to know befor I start to fill this 20G drive and then need to start removing some games to make room for others
B

[pointdablame]

Well driv3r works well the drive i'm using is a bit older and has a slower txfr time. in some instantces in the game it would hang for a sec then the game would pick up we it hung.
I mean that the ps2 did not reset at all but a glitch here and there but after it got going for a few hrs the drive works great.

I know its been asked but no one has tried it, can you load a game to one HD then remove the drive and transfer it to another. After the 2nd HD has been formatted with the hdloader program. sort of like upgrading the drive. In the event that this is possible the data could be transfered via multiple conduits  

I'd like to know befor I start to fill this 20G drive and then need to start removing some games to make room for others
B

Why would it really matter if you are backing up your personal game collection? Once you put in the new drive, you'll just need to spend a few hours backing up all of your legally obtained games to your new HDD.  Won't be too difficult at all, I've done it with my xbox collection before.

[abrannan]

Well driv3r works well the drive i'm using is a bit older and has a slower txfr time. in some instantces in the game it would hang for a sec then the game would pick up we it hung.
I mean that the ps2 did not reset at all but a glitch here and there but after it got going for a few hrs the drive works great.

I know its been asked but no one has tried it, can you load a game to one HD then remove the drive and transfer it to another. After the 2nd HD has been formatted with the hdloader program. sort of like upgrading the drive. In the event that this is possible the data could be transfered via multiple conduits  

I'd like to know befor I start to fill this 20G drive and then need to start removing some games to make room for others
B

The PS2 drive uses a different File system than normal PCs (and the Xbox I believe).  It' would be a matter of finding a program that can read the FS.

[Alex,N]

lets say you have the Official HDD for the ps2 and you bought a secound with more space could you hook them up to your computer and transfer the data from the ps2 HDD to the bigger HDD?

[crashwg]

Is the HDloader program on a cd or dvd?

[Alex,N]

I'm getting it today so i'll tell you later

[jujuman]

It seems to be a CD
it comes up as Crazy Taxi
CDFS
562mb in size

but only 72 files in 7 folders 145mb with all files selected
half of the CD is written on when you look at the bottom
Comes with a manual and case
J

[jujuman]

Ratcher and Clank Going Commando, LOTR Fellowship both work with HDLoader

[jam92102]

I'd like to find a way to make a "backup copy" of hd loader that will actually work on a non modded ps2.  Like some sort of program that will burn it onto a dvd and make the ps2 accept it.  Any ideas?

[abrannan]

I'd like to find a way to make a "backup copy" of hd loader that will actually work on a non modded ps2.  Like some sort of program that will burn it onto a dvd and make the ps2 accept it.  Any ideas?

Won't work.  If there were a way to do this, then there'd be "backup" copies of every game out there, since it would work under the same premise.

[Bgnome]

abrannan is correct.  you would at least need to physically modify your ps2 in order to boot backups.

[Dave_K.]

I'd like to find a way to make a "backup copy" of hd loader that will actually work on a non modded ps2.  Like some sort of program that will burn it onto a dvd and make the ps2 accept it.  Any ideas?

A'hoy matey!  Me thinks this thead has sunken lower than Davey Jones locker!  Pirating the program that lets you pirate games is just too parasitic for my brain to accept.

[pointdablame]

Seriously...... wow.

You want to pirate something that could potentially be used for pirating in itself?  Do you steal movies from blockbuster too, instead of renting them... so that you can make a "backup" of it??

sheesh.

[jam92102]

Actually I bought the hdloader.  My friend is too cheap and wants a copy of mine.  As far as copying games whether anybody admits it or not that's what this product was made for.  Why else would you find it on all the mod chip sites.  For all you who only copy games you own then i say kudos to you.  But I am not rich enough to spend 50 bucks for a game that usually isn't even worth 20.  To each his own I guess.

[crashwg]

Nope you aren't going to be able to play a backup copy of anything on a PS2 without modding or a swap trick.

As for if a backup will work on a modded PS2...  Feel free to send me a copy and I'll test it for ya.  

No, seriously... send me a PM!    

[Dave_K.]

For all you who only copy games you own then i say kudos to you.  But I am not rich enough to spend 50 bucks for a game that usually isn't even worth 20.  To each his own I guess.

Jam, this is not directed at you personally, but if someone can't afford 50 bucks for a game that isn't even worth $20, then why would anyone be interested in it in the first place!?  And with this rampant pirating, can you blame distributors for jacking up the price?  

Anyway sorry for bringing this off topic, I know this is a senseless argument.  

[abrannan]

I'm thinking we're about 5 posts away from either invoking Godwin's law, or this thread being locked (I vote for the latter, by the way).

[esk1mo]

well the majority of games work with HD LOADER i have it very good program, the reason some of them dont work is they are dual layed and the hd loader only will only save the bottom layer to your HD, but you can save it by following this process through your pc these are dvd 9 games

http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/tm.asp?m=72482

there is a group of games that are just incompatible,  dvd 5 games im not sure why but hear is a very good compatibility list i have a  almost ful 127 gb (160) full and havent found a mistake yet

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/casey.miller/HD%20Loader%20Compatibility.htm

[igorian]

For all you who only copy games you own then i say kudos to you.  But I am not rich enough to spend 50 bucks for a game that usually isn't even worth 20.  To each his own I guess.

Individuals like you are why Sony is fighting HD Loader.  The site I bought mine from was shut down by Sony Injuctions.  Just timing is why I was lucky enough to get mine.  Some of the other sites still selling are because they aren't in the US.

So you can't afford a $50.00 game.  Niether can I really, but I have copied into my drive one or two games my dad had gotten.  Once I realized how great one was, I went out and bought it to be legal, the other, I've deleted.  You ask why pay for something not worth it?  Don't!

By the way, I use the product to only get full functionality of the drive in my system.  Before, since it was only usable for FFXII, it seemed pointless.  I'd considered upgrading to a 120GB, but when I saw that it wasn't compatible with other PS2 functions I decided to remain with the official 40GB Sony.  Those other functions:  One of them anyway is that only the official drive lets you copy game saves to the HDD.  No other drive does.  Many have multiple memory cards, but I only have one that was maxed out.  I weighed the pros and cons between the HDD and more memory cards.  The HDD made much more sense for the price.

P.S.  I hate Final Fantasy, never even registered it.  Does anyone want to buy my code?

To each his own,

[dema]

I agree with some of the recent comments that the thread has taken a bit of a wrong turn. I think it's bad to pirate games on active consoles because it hurts everyone in the industry. In order to make a console viable it's important that the developers get paid their due in order to make bigger and better, and to absorb some of the losses from their clunkers.

I was interested in the PS2 hard drive and HD Loader, and the XBox mod-chip, because I liked the idea of being able to integrate it into my arcade cabinet. Every game that I download to a hard drive is a game I own, and sometimes I've even gone out and bought used games from stores and from Ebay/Amazon shops in order to put them on the drive.

I'm not judging anyone, but hopefully the HD Loader and Xbox mod chips are being used more often for the owner's convenience than for taking games for free.

[pointdablame]

I agree with some of the recent comments that the thread has taken a bit of a wrong turn. I think it's bad to pirate games on active consoles because it hurts everyone in the industry. In order to make a console viable it's important that the developers get paid their due in order to make bigger and better, and to absorb some of the losses from their clunkers.

I was interested in the PS2 hard drive and HD Loader, and the XBox mod-chip, because I liked the idea of being able to integrate it into my arcade cabinet. Every game that I download to a hard drive is a game I own, and sometimes I've even gone out and bought used games from stores and from Ebay/Amazon shops in order to put them on the drive.

I'm not judging anyone, but hopefully the HD Loader and Xbox mod chips are being used more often for the owner's convenience than for taking games for free.

Very well put.  I agree totally.  My Xbox makes me so happy because I can play any game I want on it without having to get up and change discs.  For my lazy ass, this is fantastic.  Pick a game, play, reboot, pick another, etc etc.  

If you can't afford the games though... just don't buy them.  Piracy is bad mmkay?

[jam92102]

I see everyones point on the piracy.  I just want to state a few points, didn't check if I stated them already.  The reason's (at least I believe don't know if it's fact) that games are 50 bucks is because people pirate them.  In turn some people, like me, pirate them because they're 50 bucks.  Now most games I've played are not worth 50 bucks regardless of why they are 50 bucks.  This is proven time and again when you see a game come out and two or three weeks later it's half that.  There have been a few games that I thought were worth my money (GTA series, Kingdom Hearts, and I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting).  But for the most part a lot of games I play only hold my interest for a day or two.  To me that is not worth anything near what companies charge for games.  

Some of you may think they are worth it and I'm not bashing you for buying games.  My friend that I was talking about that wanted the hdloader has over 60 games that he bought brand new.  I don't think less of him for it, I just see all that money he throws away when he plays a game for a week he just spent 50 bucks on then never touches again.  

So I guess in conclusion on everyone's moral list I'm probably scum.  But I think companies trying to make 50 bucks on something (not all the time) that's worth 10 are scum.  Sorry if you all don't agree.  

[abrannan]

I see everyones point on the piracy.  I just want to state a few points, didn't check if I stated them already.  The reason's (at least I believe don't know if it's fact) that games are 50 bucks is because people pirate them.  In turn some people, like me, pirate them because they're 50 bucks.  Now most games I've played are not worth 50 bucks regardless of why they are 50 bucks.  This is proven time and again when you see a game come out and two or three weeks later it's half that.  There have been a few games that I thought were worth my money (GTA series, Kingdom Hearts, and I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting).  But for the most part a lot of games I play only hold my interest for a day or two.  To me that is not worth anything near what companies charge for games.  

Some of you may think they are worth it and I'm not bashing you for buying games.  My friend that I was talking about that wanted the hdloader has over 60 games that he bought brand new.  I don't think less of him for it, I just see all that money he throws away when he plays a game for a week he just spent 50 bucks on then never touches again.  

So I guess in conclusion on everyone's moral list I'm probably scum.  But I think companies trying to make 50 bucks on something (not all the time) that's worth 10 are scum.  Sorry if you all don't agree.  

First off, console games were $50 long before they were easily pirated.  NES and SNES games were $50 when those were the modern consoles.  $50 has nothing to do with piracy.  $50 is the established price point for console entertainment.  I'd wager that the price you're willing to pay has dropped due to piracy, though.  Why pay $50 for a game when you can download it, or other games, for free?  Piracy, and yes, emulation, have made electronic entertainment so much easier to obtain that the difference between what you can have for free (legal or not) and what you're asked $50 to pay for isn't worth the difference.  Add on to that the fact that we're asymptotically approaching reality, so next year's game will be just that much more real than last years.  Look at FPS's.

2005: Half Life 2
2000: Half Life
1995: Quake I
1990: Wolf3d

Wll half-life 2 be as much improved over half life as Quake was improved over Wolf3d?  Or even Half life over Quake 1?


Discussing piracy on the internet is always a tricky subject, because you don't want the lawyers coming after the website owner.  So, piracy becomes the 500 lb. gorilla that everyone has to talk around.  

[dema]

So I guess in conclusion on everyone's moral list I'm probably scum.  

I don't think you're scum, I just think there are better ways of filtering out the rubbish, and there are a lot of it out there. I can't tell you how many games I've bought that are such garbage that I play them once or twice and then never touch them again. But the fact that they suck and I was a sucker for buying into the hype of commercials, screenshots, and magazine articles, doesn't make me think that I should get some of my money back by burning other games. The reason is because someone loses in that equation, namely the people who make the good game. The only way for the industry to thrive is to take money from the bad games/developers and pay for the good games.

A couple solutions would be to either rent games before you buy them to avoid the bad ones, or to buy them used. I'm starting to do more of that rather than buying a game that I'm not sure if I'd like. I've been burned too many times in the past...Turok Evolution, Driver 3, etc.

[jam92102]

I kind of agree with you both and see your points.  And at the suggestion I'll stop discussing this because I love this site and would hate to see it shutdown.  Nice debating with you all though.

[Dave_K.]

I used to always rent games before buying them, but now with blockbuster charging $6 a pop for just a week, its just not worth it.  I'll still someones do it when I see a 2 for one rental coupon in my gaming magazines.

Here is my strategy for buying games.

1) Never buy a game new when it first comes out.  Its worth waiting for real people to review the game first.  Its also worth it to wait for the demo (which usually comes out after the game is released...see #2 below).

2) Subscribe to magazines that come with free demo DVDs (like Official Xbox Magazine, and Official Playstation Magazine).  The price of a $39 subscription is worth the 12 DVDs with about 5 demo's on each disc (not to mention all the other cool content on the dvd).  I can't tell you how much play time I've gotten out of mine...I must have like over 100 demos! its TOTALLY worth it for finding games you are actually interested in buying.

3) Borrow/trade with friends (come on, they can't be playing their entire library all the time!)

4) Finally, buy the game used or after the initial marketing blitz it over (and prices come down).

[crashwg]

Get em while they're still available!

http://www.hdloader.com/

I ordered mine today even though I can't afford it just to make sure I get a copy!

[Fig]

Yea I ordered mine a few hours ago. I hope everything goes good and the still sell them  

Question. Ive read this post and there was nothing said that it will back up ps1 games.Has anyone tryed this or not because I still have a few ps1 games that I still play Thanks

[igorian]

Yea I ordered mine a few hours ago. I hope everything goes good and the still sell them  

Question. Ive read this post and there was nothing said that it will back up ps1 games.Has anyone tryed this or not because I still have a few ps1 games that I still play Thanks

eskimo had listed this link:  http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/tm.asp?m=72482

It details HDL_DUMB.  A program by which it may very well be possible to intall CD based games instead of just DVD based games.  HDL_DUMB runs on your PC to accomplish the HD Loader incompatible loads.  I plan on testing it soon, so if I find out I'll let everyone know.

[abrannan]

Yea I ordered mine a few hours ago. I hope everything goes good and the still sell them  

Question. Ive read this post and there was nothing said that it will back up ps1 games.Has anyone tryed this or not because I still have a few ps1 games that I still play Thanks

It won't.  If the HDloader site was still active you could read it in their FAQ.

[crashwg]

It details HDL_DUMB.  A program by which it may very well be possible to intall CD based games instead of just DVD based games.  HDL_DUMB runs on your PC to accomplish the HD Loader incompatible loads.  I plan on testing it soon, so if I find out I'll let everyone know.

The problem with loading PSX games as apposed to PS2 is not the fact that they are on cd but rather the fact that when you boot the PS2 with the HDloader disk in the PS2 goes into PS2 mode.  The only way to switch out of PS2 mode is to reset the console so as you can probably figure out it's not posible.

But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone will pick this project up and alter it so the PS2 boots in PSX mode, then it would be posible.

[moobyghost]

Question:

I am going to Michigan on Tuesday for two weeks vacation. While I am there we are crossing into canada for a visit. right now American money is worth more than Canadian money. 100 bucks usa = 125 canadian. So my question is, if I bought a PS2 harddrive in Canada becuase it would be cheaper, would it still work fine in my ps2?

[Stingray]

Canada also uses NTSC so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

-S

[AlexC]

FYI : I did some testing with HDL-DUMB program and with it you are able to copy a ps2 game "backup" to your HD and play it on your UNmodded ps2.  

[crashwg]

FYI : I did some testing with HDL-DUMB program and with it you are able to copy a ps2 game "backup" to your HD and play it on your UNmodded ps2.  

Some other usefull information you might want to know:

I have the HDloader program along with a DMS3 modchip and I could NOT load burned copies of games to the HD.

Also, I could not find the HDL-DUMB program.  Fortunatly there's another program called "WinHIIP" that does the same things and I got it to work.

Now I'm not entirely sure I did everything right when it comes to loading burned copies inside the PS2 so here's what I did, incase someone wants to tell me what I did wrong:

I installed the HD in the back of the PS2
I popped the HDLoader disk into the PS2
I hit "install"
I ejected the disk
I inserted blank disk
It gave me some message about it not being a valid PS2 game

I also tried holding X when I reinserted the game as that is the button that is supposed to send the PS2 code from the DMS3 modchip and that didn't work either.