Modifying PS2 Network Adaptor to fit WD drives...

[RayB]

Has anyone here ever modded their Playstation 2 network adaptor to fit a hard drive that did not fit correctly otherwise?

I just got the adaptor, and a Western Digital (1200). The IDE socket and power socket are not quite spaced the right distance for the adaptor. What's the best way to mod the adaptor to fit?

Using IDE cables and power socket cables are out of the questions because the drive takes up the whole bay in the PS2. There's no room for cables.

~Ray B.

[Pieman2004]

Well I think you can, but you have to cut some pieces on the adapter so that the connections can slide around more or something of that nature.

I'll go look at my network adapter and see if what I said even makes any sense.

[RayB]

Edge: I see you removed the metal shield. What else?

[Edgedamage]

Whoops hit send by mistake.
#1 Removed metal shield and cut off bottom left screw hole.
#2 Removed two screws holding power connector they are tiny torx but a jewlers flat blade screwdriver work also.

[Edgedamage]

#2-A another shot of connector.
#3 The back of the connector circut board is painted with white paint but to be safe I placed black tape over the metal holder.

[Edgedamage]

And put it back together and TA DA!!

Nothing against maxtor but I find WD HDD's very quiet maxtors are loud. Once you have the network adapter apart you will see it is very easy to mod.

[RayB]

Awesome! So nice of Sony to make the power connector on its own little movable board!

[RayB]

Welp, I got it all hooked up, but it wasn't easy. I did not have any screwdriver that could remove the weird 6-pointed star style screws that held the connectors in. The best I could do was cut the openings in the metal shield a little wider (using a Dremel). This allowed the two connectors on the network adaptor to be moveable as far apart as possible.

Even though I did this, I really had to apply alot of physical force to keep them as far apart as possible, and then the WD drive had to be inserted perfectly straight. If it went into one connector first, at a slight angle, then it just wouldn't line up with the other connector. Took alot of effort, but eventuall, it went in!

YAY!

[JoyMonkey]

I just tried to hook up an old WD drive to a PS2 network adapter. I followed Edge's instructions above, but got into a little trouble when I had to remove the two small screwsholding power connector.
I removed the screws but the connector still wouldn't move as much as I need it to. So, I took a dremel to the adapter's casing to get a look at the back of the aluminum housing - it turns out there's a rivet holding the power connector in the center.

If you look at this photo, my adapter has the expected circuit board behind the power connector, then it's got a small steel plate that's riveted to the aluminum housing.

I'm not sure what to do here. Maybe I'll try grinding the end of the rivet until it fits through the hole in the housing.

Anyone any ideas?

Edit: Never mind, I ended up grinding the 'rivet head' off and everyone lived happily ever after.

[GGKoul]

Ok, I see its easy to do this.  But will the PS2 read the drive even though the PS2 isn't modded?  I mean will it see the drive and allow me to save games to it?  What can you do with a drive in the PS2?

[JoyMonkey]

Ok, I see its easy to do this.  But will the PS2 read the drive even though the PS2 isn't modded?  I mean will it see the drive and allow me to save games to it?  What can you do with a drive in the PS2?

You can't use the hard drive like a memory card (ie, PS2 games won't save onto it and it's not shown in the PS2 'Browse' screen).

Putting a hd in allows you to run games directly from the hd (so they load much faster and you don't have to swap discs if you want to play a different game), you can also put homebrew applications like emulators, frontends/launchers and media players on there. The PS2 I used this network adapter for (it's a friends PS2 that's got the 'DVD read error' problem) is not modded and now it can play imports/backups and SNES/Genesis games.

[AmericanDemon]

I didnt realize that your system didnt have to be modded in order to use this. 

I just spent money on a modded PS2 so I could play import titles and now I find this would have been a cheaper alternative.  Oh well. 

[Daniel270]

I didnt realize that your system didnt have to be modded in order to use this.

[GGKoul]

Ok, I see its easy to do this.

[JoyMonkey]

I see... where is a good place get these homebrew apps ?

I'm still a little new to it, but I found a lot of great tutorials and required files at www.exploitstation.com . I'm told PS2-Scene.org is also full of goodness.

Here's a bonus newb fact: You'll see the word 'ELF' mentioned everywhere. Contrary to popular belief, these are not Santas helpers. They're PS2 executable applications (what you'd call an exe in Windows), and the PS2 likes to see elf filenames in all uppercase.

[spiffyshoes]

And when your creating your installer CD don't forget to use the new Independence Compiler 3.0 it makes things super easy.

[elpresidente]

I tried to do this with my WD drive but couldn't find a screwdriver that would work so I ended up just cramming it in there. It works just fine for me. I don't know if this will cause problems in the future.

[daywane]

homebrew applications like emulators, frontends/launchers and media players on there. The PS2 I used this network adapter for (it's a friends PS2 that's got the 'DVD read error' problem) is not modded and now it can play imports/backups and SNES/Genesis games.

Hay.. A kid next door has a PS2 that will not read any more. I could get this one for a song.
What do I do just put the hard drive in my pc and put the game in that way then toss it into PS2
It will read about 70% of the time on DVD 90% on cd.
I adjusted the screws for him and this is as best I could get it for him.