Need a new PS2 HDD. Help.

[evil_ash_xero]

I got a new HDD docking station, and I went to put my PS2 HDD in it and smoke started to come out of it. Great.
I put it in the older docking station, and it no longer registers.

So... I need a new one. Can someone tell me where I can get this one "new", or close to it?
The only good thing is that I backed up all the games on it, a while back.

[Fudoh]

With the proper adapters you can put almost anything into a PS2. SATA drives including SSDs, Compact Flash or SD cards. If you want the same 500gb capacity maybe a SATA SSD would be best. These start at like $50 and an IDE to SATA adapter isn't expensive either.

[nmalinoski]

If you value networking and have the correct torx bit(s) to disassemble the network adapter, you can swap the IDE interface board with one of these SATA interface boards. I've purchased from that specific seller in February of last year, and the board I received has given me zero problems since.

If you don't value networking or you don't want to mod your network adapter, you can get an unbranded SATA network adapter from eBay or AliExpress for about the same price; just know that the network ports in those are mockups and nonfunctional.

[Dochartaigh]

$19, brand new, 250gb, no adapters needed:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y ... UTF8&psc=1


I'm sure you can find larger if you want, but the 50x games I have loaded on three different PS2's (all with the above HDD) only take up 155gb so still a decent amount of space left.

I used these same HDD's on my 2x OG Xbox's and ~2 years later they still seem to be perfect.

[nmalinoski]

$19, brand new, 250gb, no adapters needed:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y ... UTF8&psc=1


I'm sure you can find larger if you want, but the 50x games I have loaded on three different PS2's (all with the above HDD) only take up 155gb so still a decent amount of space left.

I used these same HDD's on my 2x OG Xbox's and ~2 years later they still seem to be perfect.

Those PATA Maxtor disks, while easy to just drop in with original equipment, have proven, in my experience, to be noisy and slow to initialize, and PATA equipment is becoming more scarce as time goes on.

Once I modded my network adapter for SATA and stuck in a 3.5" SATA disk, even one from 10 years ago, I couldn't hear the disk, and HDD initialization felt quicker.

[Dochartaigh]

Those PATA Maxtor disks, while easy to just drop in with original equipment, have proven, in my experience, to be noisy and slow to initialize, and PATA equipment is becoming more scarce as time goes on.

Once I modded my network adapter for SATA and stuck in a 3.5" SATA disk, even one from 10 years ago, I couldn't hear the disk, and HDD initialization felt quicker.

What's "HDD initialization"? How fast it boots up, or how fast it'll load a game in the menu? I haven't measured the boot-up speed or anything, but loading a game (through open ps2 loader) it immediate shows the couple solid colored screens then the game launches.

My OG Xbox's already have fan noise, PS2's I haven't noticed much noise from (but the TV's always have noise from the game on, usually at a pretty low level though...and my switcher ALWAYS has fans on...so I'm not the best example for a perfectly quiet room lol).

These are definitely old tech though, with that older connector for sure.

[maxtherabbit]

I still happily use IDE drives in my PS2, how long the drive takes to spin up really means jack shit to me

There are a ton of cheap IDE drives on ebay

[RocketBelt]

I looked into the sata route recently and decided to stick with a 3.5" pata drive out of convenience.
The later, higher capacity models spin up quickly enough and the acoustic management on them can be very good. They're a world away from the old boneshakers you had in your pentium 2 pc

[evil_ash_xero]

Thanks for all the advice.

I do have a couple more questions. I wasn't the one who set up the HDD and card. I'm not sure what I have to do exactly, to get the HDD to be formatted for PS2 use. I know how to put games on it.
Will I have to do the whole thing over, since it will be a new drive? I'm not sure what to do with the card. It has all the software on it, but maybe it won't work with a new HDD?

Advice?

Also, the system is chipped, if anyone was wondering.

[Fudoh]

You can burn what you need, but easiest way should be to just get a McBoot Memory card. It has all the tools ready to set up the hard drive.

[Dochartaigh]

I do have a couple more questions. I wasn't the one who set up the HDD and card. I'm not sure what I have to do exactly, to get the HDD to be formatted for PS2 use. I know how to put games on it.
Will I have to do the whole thing over, since it will be a new drive? I'm not sure what to do with the card. It has all the software on it, but maybe it won't work with a new HDD?

I followed the below tutorial. I honestly just didn't want to be bothered with having to buy a FreeMcBoot memory card, having to leave it plugged in, or having to find out how to make the HDD boot up with FMB instead. This basically shows you how to format the HDD, then you put a HDD image right onto it which has FMB and ALL the programs you would ever want to run on your PS2 to do pretty much anything. I used their older image but it looks like they updated it recently:

http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=5208

My only problem was my pesky Windows 10 computer - it didn't like either of my two old HDD external readers, so I literally could only do this on my Mac running Windows 10 Bootcamp (which for some reason Windows ALWAYS runs better on my Macs than on an actual PC Most others seem to have zero problems.

[evil_ash_xero]

You can burn what you need, but easiest way should be to just get a McBoot Memory card. It has all the tools ready to set up the hard drive.

Now, the fellow did make a card for me that has Free McBoot on it. I just was wondering if when I set the hard drive up, if I'll have to do something different?
I guess I'll ask more specific questions, if I have any problems, once the HDD comes in next week.

[evil_ash_xero]

I do have a couple more questions. I wasn't the one who set up the HDD and card. I'm not sure what I have to do exactly, to get the HDD to be formatted for PS2 use. I know how to put games on it.
Will I have to do the whole thing over, since it will be a new drive? I'm not sure what to do with the card. It has all the software on it, but maybe it won't work with a new HDD?

I followed the below tutorial. I honestly just didn't want to be bothered with having to buy a FreeMcBoot memory card, having to leave it plugged in, or having to find out how to make the HDD boot up with FMB instead. This basically shows you how to format the HDD, then you put a HDD image right onto it which has FMB and ALL the programs you would ever want to run on your PS2 to do pretty much anything. I used their older image but it looks like they updated it recently:

http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=5208

My only problem was my pesky Windows 10 computer - it didn't like either of my two old HDD external readers, so I literally could only do this on my Mac running Windows 10 Bootcamp (which for some reason Windows ALWAYS runs better on my Macs than on an actual PC Most others seem to have zero problems.

I did have to do some of this before. It's just been a while.
This should be super helpful. Thanks.

[nmalinoski]

You can burn what you need, but easiest way should be to just get a McBoot Memory card. It has all the tools ready to set up the hard drive.

Now, the fellow did make a card for me that has Free McBoot on it. I just was wondering if when I set the hard drive up, if I'll have to do something different?
I guess I'll ask more specific questions, if I have any problems, once the HDD comes in next week.

FreeMcBoot doesn't have any dependency on the hard disk; you should be able to see this by popping it into slot 2 (probably works in slot 1, too; it's been a while) and powering on the PS2. If the card has FreeMcBoot correctly installed, it should have FreeMcBoot labeling during the boot sequence and on the root system menu.

As for formatting the new hard disk, if you just want to go the HDL/OPL route without any of the HDD ODSYS/FreeHdBoot stuff, you can connect the disk to your PC and use WinHIIP to format and install games (You can also use HDL_dumb/HDL_dump, but these have not been as reliable/robust for me as WinHIIP has been).

[fernan1234]

A spare MC with FMB (loads faster than FHB, but FHB is not a bad option), a SATA adapter for up to 2 TB HDD (a 3.5 one is fine), and OPL are the only way to go. Don't waste time thinking about anything else.

[DejahThoris]

A spare MC with FMB (loads faster than FHB, but FHB is not a bad option), a SATA adapter for up to 2 TB HDD (a 3.5 one is fine), and OPL are the only way to go. Don't waste time thinking about anything else.

Except loading over SMB shares on a network. Because that works fantastic.

[fernan1234]

A spare MC with FMB (loads faster than FHB, but FHB is not a bad option), a SATA adapter for up to 2 TB HDD (a 3.5 one is fine), and OPL are the only way to go. Don't waste time thinking about anything else.

Except loading over SMB shares on a network. Because that works fantastic.

I haven't tried it but last time I looked into it there were reports of inferior compatibility compared to HDD. For HDD once you load it up you're done for good, in the long run it's just much more convenient.

[DejahThoris]

A spare MC with FMB (loads faster than FHB, but FHB is not a bad option), a SATA adapter for up to 2 TB HDD (a 3.5 one is fine), and OPL are the only way to go. Don't waste time thinking about anything else.

Except loading over SMB shares on a network. Because that works fantastic.

I haven't tried it but last time I looked into it there were reports of inferior compatibility compared to HDD. For HDD once you load it up you're done for good, in the long run it's just much more convenient.

It's neither more or less convenient. I turn on my PS2, pick a game and it plays. Same as your setup. Nothing else needed.

The biggest plus to the network loading is that the games can be put on a raid setup, where as if you rely solely on an internal drive and it dies then you need to hunt down a bunch of PS2 games again.

[fernan1234]

It's neither more or less convenient. I turn on my PS2, pick a game and it plays. Same as your setup. Nothing else needed.

The biggest plus to the network loading is that the games can be put on a raid setup, where as if you rely solely on an internal drive and it dies then you need to hunt down a bunch of PS2 games again.

True, but whatever storage you have your games in is technically vulnerable to failure. Since my PS2 collection is large I keep a backup in another drive anyway. I can see the network setup being more convenient for some, but I think greater compatibility is really the main advantage of the HDD way.

[Dochartaigh]

FreeMcBoot doesn't have any dependency on the hard disk; you should be able to see this by popping it into slot 2 (probably works in slot 1, too; it's been a while) and powering on the PS2. If the card has FreeMcBoot correctly installed, it should have FreeMcBoot labeling during the boot sequence and on the root system menu.

I WANT FreeMcBoot to have dependency on the HDD though. It's easier for me to have FMB installed directly on the HDD itself (which is screwed into the PS2 and going nowhere) instead of loaded on a removable memory card, 3x of them actually for the 3x PS2's I run. Doesn't bother me if it takes a couple seconds longer for FMB to load off the HDD instead of a memory card

[nmalinoski]

The biggest plus to the network loading is that the games can be put on a raid setup, where as if you rely solely on an internal drive and it dies then you need to hunt down a bunch of PS2 games again.

I don't think this is an appropriate comparison, because the storage method of your game archive (or whether you have one) and how you load games are two separate concepts. In addition to the approaches you listed, you could easily load games over the network from a single disc, or you could keep your archive on an array or a single disk, and load games from an internal hard disk in the PS2.

Same goes for using ESR or a TEST PS2 for playing burns--you could use an array, a single disk, or have no backups at all.

FreeMcBoot doesn't have any dependency on the hard disk; you should be able to see this by popping it into slot 2 (probably works in slot 1, too; it's been a while) and powering on the PS2. If the card has FreeMcBoot correctly installed, it should have FreeMcBoot labeling during the boot sequence and on the root system menu.

I WANT FreeMcBoot to have dependency on the HDD though. It's easier for me to have FMB installed directly on the HDD itself (which is screwed into the PS2 and going nowhere) instead of loaded on a removable memory card, 3x of them actually for the 3x PS2's I run. Doesn't bother me if it takes a couple seconds longer for FMB to load off the HDD instead of a memory card

I'm probably being an ass here, but it's confusing when you refer to FreeHdBoot as FreeMcBoot, because I'm under the impression that, although they achieve the same goal (aftermarket ODSYS), they're not the same; FHDB is what you want if you want to boot from the HDD (or you have a TEST PS2), and FMCB is what you want when you want to boot from the memory card (or can't boot from HDD, as with slim PS2s).

[ldeveraux]

Jeez, doesn't anybody burn old fashioned discs any more?

[Dochartaigh]

I'm probably being an ass here, but it's confusing when you refer to FreeHdBoot as FreeMcBoot, because I'm under the impression that, although they achieve the same goal (aftermarket ODSYS), they're not the same

I honestly don't know what the proper name is. Just know it's on my hard drive, automatically loads when I hit the power button, and the Free McBoot logo comes up while it's booting (which could very well say "FreeHDBoot" instead of "FreeMcBoot" and I just never noticed that slight difference

[fernan1234]

Jeez, doesn't anybody burn old fashioned discs any more?

I'd rather burn the PS2 itself and be done with the whole thing.

[ldeveraux]

Jeez, doesn't anybody burn old fashioned discs any more?

I'd rather burn the PS2 itself and be done with the whole thing.

There's a joke in there that just went over my head. Do you mean that you'd rather just toss everything on the HDD and be done with it?

[nmalinoski]

Jeez, doesn't anybody burn old fashioned discs any more?

I'd rather burn the PS2 itself and be done with the whole thing.

There's a joke in there that just went over my head. Do you mean that you'd rather just toss everything on the HDD and be done with it?

He probably just doesn't like the console. In my opinion, its worst offense is probably being a console with 480i as the only video mode for most of its games. At least for the games I play, I'm finding these days that the Xbox versions are superior, in that they almost all support 480p and have 5.1 surround from TOSLINK, where the PS2 versions only supported 480i and 2.0 from TOSLINK.

[fernan1234]

He probably just doesn't like the console. In my opinion, its worst offense is probably being a console with 480i as the only video mode for most of its games. At least for the games I play, I'm finding these days that the Xbox versions are superior, in that they almost all support 480p and have 5.1 surround from TOSLINK, where the PS2 versions only supported 480i and 2.0 from TOSLINK.

The PS2 is one of my favorite consoles. What I dislike are discs, especially having to burn them myself. So as much as I like the system I probably wouldn't play it much if burned discs were the only option. Thank heaven we don't have to. Also 480i is fine, even on a flat screen as long as it's in the right conditions. But if not, we're also lucky that a lot of games can be forced to 480p.

[maxtherabbit]

Jeez, doesn't anybody burn old fashioned discs any more?

I do, happily

I love burning CDs/DVDs

[ldeveraux]

He probably just doesn't like the console. In my opinion, its worst offense is probably being a console with 480i as the only video mode for most of its games. At least for the games I play, I'm finding these days that the Xbox versions are superior, in that they almost all support 480p and have 5.1 surround from TOSLINK, where the PS2 versions only supported 480i and 2.0 from TOSLINK.

The PS2 is one of my favorite consoles. What I dislike are discs, especially having to burn them myself. So as much as I like the system I probably wouldn't play it much if burned discs were the only option. Thank heaven we don't have to. Also 480i is fine, even on a flat screen as long as it's in the right conditions. But if not, we're also lucky that a lot of games can be forced to 480p.

Well you and I disagree then. I'd much rather have a mostly-permanent copy of a game than risk a HDD going south for no reason. It's good to have backups too, but I don't mind the disc, especially considering what happened to Emuparadise et al.

Also, wasn't 480p just becoming a thing in 2000 when the PS2 was released? IIRC, the XBOX came out a year later which would help explain the upgraded video support.

[maxtherabbit]

Also, wasn't 480p just becoming a thing in 2000 when the PS2 was released? IIRC, the XBOX came out a year later which would help explain the upgraded video support.

dreamcast came out before the PS2, and over 95% of its library supports 480p