Anyone have experience with "Fake" PS1 Memory Cards?

[Seraphic]

Looking to pick up about 30 PS1 Memory Cards I can have easy access to my RPG game saves at different points throughout the game. I normally transfer to a single memory card between PS3<->PS2, which is tiresome. The official SCPH-1020 memory cards are about $8 or so on ebay (which is more then I am looking to spend). Does anyone have experience with the "fake" ones sold on ebay? I normally try to avoid counterfeit products, but for about $1 each, it is hard to pass up. As long as they are reliable and do not fail after being used a few times, it seems like a no brainier for a $240ish vs $30ish purchase.

[Thomago]

I experienced saves that were written/readable on a PSone using a non-genuine memory card to be unreadable on PS2. So, if switching between PS1 and PS2 (for example because of emulation glitches on PS2) is a usage scenario for you: Beware!

[garrz32]

My experience of cheap cards are they are shite!..You get what you pay for I suppose

[nmalinoski]

The only memory cards that have ever died on me were third party ones.

[tongshadow]

I have a fake PS1 memory card and while it works as intended, they wont work properly on a PS2 because only the official Sony Memory Cards have the chip that allows it to be detected by the PS2.
You can still save and load saves, but not manage them on the Browser, so you cant transfer and delete save files at all.

There's a work around however, some games (Xenogears, Driver 1/2) let you manage the save files, so this is a solution if you by chance get a fake PS1 MC and cant see it in the PS2 Browser.

Not worth imo, get a legit one.

Edit: Not sure if Im allowed to post these links, but heres a guide to how spot a fake one:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f10/how-nev ... al-111540/

Dont worry, colored/transparent memory cards are legit

[bobrocks95]

I was always really disappointed with PS1 and PS2 memory cards only coming in a single size. For the Gamecube I have a 16x memory card I'll probably never fill, but for PS1 and PS2 I have a little pile of memory cards sitting next to the console that I have to swap between depending on the game.

Is there any chance for a fan-made larger memory card in the future, or have the chips inside never been reverse engineered?

[Ghegs]

Rather than having several memory cards, consider just having one and storing the files elsewhere while you don't need them. This is fairly simple with a PS2 and Free McBoot, you can just copy the save files from a memory card to a USB stick and back when needed. I can't recall off-hand if you need to pass the PS1 saves through a PS2 memory card, it's been a few years since I've fiddled with this. Back then I took backups of the save files I'd be most annoyed if I lost them, and I did test the process to make sure the restored saves work, so it is a viable solution.

[Lord of Pirates]

Rather than having several memory cards, consider just having one and storing the files elsewhere while you don't need them. This is fairly simple with a PS2 and Free McBoot, you can just copy the save files from a memory card to a USB stick and back when needed. I can't recall off-hand if you need to pass the PS1 saves through a PS2 memory card, it's been a few years since I've fiddled with this. Back then I took backups of the save files I'd be most annoyed if I lost them, and I did test the process to make sure the restored saves work, so it is a viable solution.

FMCB is the best solution for PS1 and PS2 saves. You can copy directly from either MC type to or from USB.

[tongshadow]

I was always really disappointed with PS1 and PS2 memory cards only coming in a single size. For the Gamecube I have a 16x memory card I'll probably never fill, but for PS1 and PS2 I have a little pile of memory cards sitting next to the console that I have to swap between depending on the game.

Is there any chance for a fan-made larger memory card in the future, or have the chips inside never been reverse engineered?

No way for PS2, as virtual memory cards are already a thing in Open PS2 Loader.
There are third party 64mb+ Memory Cards also.

[bobrocks95]

No way for PS2, as virtual memory cards are already a thing in Open PS2 Loader.

Surely I'm not the only person that uses original discs? There's gotta be a market there for it.

There are third party 64mb+ Memory Cards also.

Do those use compression and have a tendency to corrupt your saves like other third-party memory cards seem to?

[Johnpv]

I've never had problems with 1st party Sony memory cards, and I don't know any one who HASN'T had a problem with a 3rd party one. I remember when the PS1 was still new, and a bunch of my friends and I did not know any better, just buying memory cards for the PS1. Everyone of us lost at least 1 or 2 saves to a 3rd party memory card. The worst for me was when it corrupted and took my few hours from the end of the game FFIX save with it. Never have been able to bring myself to go back and finish the game. Fuck 3rd party memory cards. You're asking for problems using them.

[donluca]

I must have been lucky back then: I have a drawer full of 6-7 third party PS1 memory cards and all work great to this day.

I even have one of those "multi cards" with a small LCD on them where you could switch banks and act like a 8 memory card in one and it still does its job.

The McBoot option though is the one which makes the most sense today honestly.

Otherwise if the price gap is not too big I'd go for the originals for the sake of having authentic hardware.

[gray117]

I've got a memor 32 although these days I think there's just usb adapters for memory cards ... so no need to even mcfreeboot is there?

Anyways, aside from a read/write error the point with most memory cards (or usb sticks or whatever) is that the memory used in them can loose it's charge, and the cheaper types also have retention issues. So after x cycles you can be more or less expect some kind of failure [without something sophisticated as you might find on your ssd where corrupt sectors can be quarantined]. X can vary massively, and can even be influenced by environmental factors such as temperature. Typically low grade memory devices will be slow, more prone to read/write errors and most likely to fail with medium use whereby you have a perfect storm of retention not being sufficiently maintained, and the read/write samples cycles amount to enough to risk failure through both corruption and failure chances.

So... yeah pretty much as everyone says: IF these saves are important to you, then back them up. After all, doing this will allow you to have really elaborate save archives if that's of interest.

[maxtherabbit]

just to give credit where credit is due - free mcboot doesn't actually manage files

the file manager included with FMB is called (w/u)launchELF and is a separate project

[Mero]

My cheapo PS1 memory cards from the late 90's are still alive and kicking, maybe I was just lucky.

[Steamflogger Boss]

I will throw in my name as another that had zero issues with 3rd party PS1 memory cards. I have a bunch of 3rd party and oem lying around and never had corrupted data. All still working to this day. Now Gamecube otoh...

[Kez]

Yeah as a kid I kept all my "best" saves on a memory card that came free with a game magazine. MGS Big Boss ranking, 100% special missions, 100% THPS2, my "perfect" FF7/8/9 saves.. cut to adult me dusting off the old toys aaand yup, all lost forever.

[Hoagtech]

I bought x4 of these cheap ones for diablo saves mostly.

2 out of 4 were corrupted within a few days. I ended up spending extra for translucent oem and never had a problem.

Even with the fail rate of knockoff ps1 memory cards they are still better than any n64 controller pak memory card. Those things..

[ASDR]

Saving on PS1 is such a pain. One of the worst aspects is that the card is divided in only 16 blocks so a game has to use a minimum of 64K. That's of course a total waste for many games that only want to store half a dozen settings, a high score and a level number. Also that memory card manager UI is so slow and atrocious! Wish there was just something like PS2 OPL with virtual memory cards saves to a network share.

But hey, compared to this gem



it's like science fiction. 2Kb of storage, needs AA batteries, no way to keep saves when swapping batteries without also buying a Tennokoe 2 card, no build-in ability to delete saves once the 2Kb filles up (except taking out the batteries, I guess). Makes those 2Kb Neo Geo save cards look good! At least the battery lasts 10+ years and there's a build-in save manager.