Hi, I've always had hard/soft modded PS2 units without a hard drive, so I'm used to using my modchip to boot directly into uLaunchElf for homebrew. I recently bought a FAT PS2 (no modchip) and I made a cross-region FMCB install on my memory card. I want to buy a Network Adapter + a generic IDE HDD (maybe SATA with Maxdiypower's modded official NAs), but I have no idea what can be done with it in terms of modding. I tried to search for info here but I just ended up more confused than anything. Questions: I have a FMCB memory card. What do I need to install on my HDD to be able to install OPL games and maybe some homebrew in it? Do I need the HD Utility Disc? Do I need to install anything at all? Should I keep the FMCB install on the memory card? Does the HDDOSD (I'm assuming that's the HD Utility Disc) allows me to do anything more than copying saves from MC to HDD? If I need a setup disc to use the HDD, is it possible to load the disc through other means (busted lens unit)? Are there any compatibility issues when using the Official NA with SATA board mod from Maxdiypower? From what I could gather bootleg HDD adapters are crap, but how about his mod? Any IDE to SATA modding I could do myself with common adapters? There are games that officially support the HDD unit. Can I use these games and other sony official stuff with an unofficial Hard Drive Disk? What else can I do that I couldn't with a slimline PS2 that I'm missing?
I haven't done this myself but apparently it works, but to be honest I'm quite happy with the performance I get out of my IDE harddrive. Yeah - you can. Take a look at this. I've got a fat console myself with a 128MB FMCB memory card soldered directly to the memory card slot with a switch on it so I can toggle the memory card FMCB on/off when booting. I also have an unofficial HDD attached to the expansion bay which has the HDDOSD image written to it with a few games which didn't support HDD-booting on it, working perfectly.
Several ways to install games onto the PS2HDD : using the CD/DVD drive : . HDLGameInstaller – by SP193 (PSX-scene thread here). DVD9 games can’t be installed this way (CD/DVD drive limitation). over the network, using a pc client : . OPL embedded HDL server. . HDLGameInstaller again. . HDL_Dump – by AKuHAK (PSX-scene thread here). your HDD directly connected to your PC : . HDL_Dump again. . WinHIIP 1.7.6 To install homebrews on it, copy/paste the ELF using uLE. HDDOSD doesn't bring more features than the one you already mentionned. You would need a 48Bits patched copy of it if your HDD > 137GB. Switching from FMCB to FHDB is really up to you. It's not necessary, but it's nice if you want to use your MC for only PS2 saves (example). SP193's Q/A page about FMCB/FHDB can help you maybe : http://ichiba.geocities.jp/ysai187/PS2/FMCB/FMCB_19_QA.htm
OK, got it, so I have to install the HDDOSD image to a Hard drive through PC, apparently the HD overrides the Memcard OSD so I have to install FHDB too. From what I can tell there's really no problem with the SATA adapter from Maxdiypower. Let me see if I got this right: 1 - Boot PS2 with HDD on, format it through uLaunchElf's hdd manager 2 - Insert HDD into PC, write HDDOSD image with Winhiip. Perform error check. 3 - Insert HDD into PS2, run uLaunchelf, run FMCB installer, install FHDB. 4 - to install games in HDD, use HDLGameInstaller to run it directly from the Browser, or use OPL normally to run games copied onto HDD partition +OPL. Got it, I'll just have to wait until my PS2 and NA arrives.
Yep, almost. Only this : You need HDD Raw Copy Tool to install HDDOSD image, not Winhiip. Running Winhiip is only useful at this point if you has some games already installed on your HDD before you install the image (Winhiip "scan and repair" function helps restoring the partition scheme broken by the HDDOSD install). PS2 Games won't be installed in +OPL. Each game will have it's own partition named PP.<game_ID>.HDL.Nameofyourgame. +OPL partition is meant to store all OPL related files (VMC, game artworks, cfg files, cheats files...) into folders : - VMC folder = for VMC - CFG folder = for <game_ID>.cfg files = game infos about settings, compatibility modes... - CHT folder = for cheats files - THM = for OPL themes - ART = for game artwork.
I'd still recommend to scan/repair the PS2HDD after writing the HDDOSD image, even if no games were previously installed. Just repair the drive with WinHIIP, and pray for it to renew the __mbr sectors properly. If you don't and your HDDOSD image is not "suitable" for your drive, you may be unable to create new partitions. Messing with HDD images should only be done in last resort (busted optical unit, read screen of death with the utility disc...). The utility disc cannot be run by ESR, so I guess it isn't compatible with the USB and SMB loaders either...
