Play Games from Hard-drive on PS2 Fat reccomendation

Hey guys,
I'd like to mod one of my PS2's to play from an IDE hard drive vs. the laser drive. One is chipped the other not. I'd like to mod the non-chipped one if possible, less of a risk and i'd hate to screw up my fav.

I've seen you tube video's but most are from 2012 or later and I just wanted to make sure I used the most current/best way.

Any suggestions?

I really appreciate any help or pointing in the correct direction. Thanks

 

You can get a Sata network adapter, it's not official but works a treat. Can use a laptop drive, when you want to install games just pull the drive out and connect it to a sata to usb. Much easier than a desktop drive

 

SATA Network adaptors are unofficial compatible adaptors, which usually offer sub-standard compatibility with software (and perhaps even, hardware).

If you mean a SONY adaptor with a SATA to IDE adaptor, that would be a different deal.

The OP can use FMCB/FHDB with OPL to play games. Installation of games can either be done directly from his PC with WinHIIP or over the network with HDLGameInstaller or HDLDump.
Games can also be installed on the PS2 itself with HDLGameInstaller.

If he desires a SONY experience, he can install a cracked version of the HDD Browser update and install games with either HDLGameInstaller or AKuHAK's HDLDump.

 

It's worked just fine for me, never had any issues loading any game so far.

 

Your mileage will vary, depending on the adaptor that you got and the software that you use. The one that I got wasn't working well, to the point where even power-management didn't function properly (can't power off console normally, not even via software).
Being badly implemented, some of them don't even work well if you use software that they were not designed for. Like for example, you may not be able to boot from them (i.e. they aren't compatible with the ATAD module in ROM) or to use the SONY HDD Browser update.

When I updated the ATAD (ATA Driver) module, I actually broke compatibility with at least one clone adaptor. It expected a value of 0x86 to be written, to enable DMA transfers. When I split up the writes for that value (0x80 to enable DMA, 0x06 for something else), it got confused and stopped functioning.
The immediate effect was that some adaptors remained compatible with OPL, only up to v0.9.1.

So in general, you can't say that there are good clones out there. There may be some that work better than the rest, but you can't tell which ones they are because none of their makers bothered to brand their products differently (they all want to fly under the SONY flag).

 

I made this mod, with a SD slot extended to the face of the PS2, so it's eaily removable and updatable.
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f20/my-ps2-hdd-setup-reading-off-sd-card-adapter-133944/

 

I have some spare 500 and 250 IDE's, so I thought i'd just use one of those. Play it safe and not let the ones I have go to waste. I have the OES Network adapter (my original from back in the day) and I also have a memory card with free mcboot on it. Just looking to see the most current or best instructions for doing this. On a regular PS2 fat if possible or a chipped one if not. Have both..just wanted to save my chipped one.

 

Get an original network adapter. and old classic ide drive, maybe a ide to usb + power adapter for easy usb to desktop game install. Then take HDDRaw and the included __mbr.img file and write it to the new ps2s hdd like you would a raspberry pi's sdcard. Install the hdd and network adapter in the ps2 power on, uLaunchElf will auto boot like freemcboot and its all game after that. easiest way i found