External SONY hdd to non-JAP Playstation2

Well,
As the title states I'm wondering if I can hook-up an external SONY hdd unit (SCPH-10210/20400) to a non-JAP console that was intended to use an hard disk drive with the network adapter in the expansion bay instead. You may ask why i'm concerned about that. The fact is I want to add an hard drive to my PS2s (SCPH-39XXX/5XXXX) and I like VERY much how the console design looks combined with the external hdd, so impressive!

Obviously I still not have any of those external hdd unit so I can't judge by myself.
So my few questions to kick-starting this thread are:

- Has anyone tried already? Can be achieved?

- Is the connector of the external hdd the same as the one of the network adapter (expansion bay type)?

- If modding will be the way could be external hdd owners be so kind to shot some pics and show me the inside/parts of such unit in order I can get an idea of the job involved in the mod? Any link to preexisting pics is fine as well.

Thank you in advance.

 

The HDD is identical to the HDD on expansion bay kits. Once you remove the HDD from the enclosure, that is.

 

Please don't cut one up just for the HDD. They are already so rare. T_T

It won't work because the connector is different. If you are interested in these early consoles, you might as well get one along with the HDD unit and power supply.

 

Sure hard disk drives are hard disk drives, simply I meant the external enclosure inside and its parts ^^

Oh, well, actually I'm still inquiring and getting infos, no mod it's already planned since I need firstly to know how the external enclosure is made, what's inside and so on...then I can consider if can be done or not. Sure, I would be concerned if can be reversible some way also. But dunno at the moment, need to get information first, then see what can be achieved and how. Let's say that I'm just curios right now ^^

BTW I get the impression that those external units are pretty common in japan (and that would not surprise).
I saw many of them sold in bad conditions and without the PSU and the internal drive.

Does anyone know the name of the connector used for the external hdd enclosure and the one used in the network adapter (expansion bay type)?
Is it a proprietary connector or it's a SCSI connector of some sort?

 

The expansion bay bus is a simplified form of PCMCIA bus. A PCMCIA console will have the full PCMCIA implementation including with voltage level control. That's why the chip is bigger and more complex on these units. But because the implementation is identical both PCMCIA and Expansion Bay network adapters have the exact same chips inside (depending on revision, too).

The connectors used are standard products but they're somewhat uncommon. If you really find the HDD interesting, why you don't work towards getting a complete set ? (PS2 + Network Adapter + HDD power supply)

Back in 2009 I had to pester a lot the Open PS2 Loader developers but eventually I managed to convince them that it was a good idea make it support the PCMCIA set. You can play games in it on all three modes now. Works just as good as with the EXP BAY model.

 

I don't know about inside Japan, but it seems as if they are getting rarer and rarer on Yahoo Auctions Japan.
At least, good units that work and that belong to a complete set are rare.

Personally, I don't think that they are too common because only the SCPH-10000, SCPH-15000 and SCPH-18000 models of the PlayStation 2 console support this.

They're all proprietary connectors, as with the rest of the PS2 accessories. The SCPH-10190 not a standard PC CARD.

They are? So what are they called?

In the end, it didn't lead to compatibility with just the first 2 models, but with a new understanding of how the PlayStation 2 is supposed to be programmed. :O
If not for these Protokernel consoles, we wouldn't have realized that SONY had designed the boot ROM to be backward-compatible and that we have been always using a lot of those board-specific modules (e.g. LIBSD and those X-modules).
Also, this coding problem with most homebrew software also meant that they wouldn't run on the PSX, COH and TOOL consoles.

 

Thank you for these informations.
Well, about getting a complete set (JAPconsole+external hdd+needed toys) would be really nice of course, but I don't how much could cost me at this point and I have already two console laying around after all (although one more cannot hurt lol).

Very true, sadly items new or in pristine conditions are more and more rare to find.