The "myth" of PSX longevity?

The overwhelming majority of dead DESRs I've seen have had bad HDDs. Considering how old they are, this is not at all surprising - it's been well established that consumer grade discs suffer from an increasing failure rate with operating time (I.E. if you have drive with a 3% failure rate in the first year, it will have something like a 5% failure rate in year 2 and 7% in year 3) - and these drives are all much older than the 3-5 years that discs are generally used for in typical commercial applications.

I have no idea what the actual failure rates are - but personally I would be not be at all surprised to find that a launch model DESR had a bad drive - drives are typically rated for 100,000 hours MTBF and given the 8766 average number of hours in a year, you hit this in about 11 years. Those machines are now 13 years old, so anything that's been on continuously has already beaten the odds.

Of course, it's possible that you get a unit that's spent most of it's life turned off in a box - but you have no way of knowing that.

 

I never rejected the fact that "all hard drives die". Instead, I was asking for first-hand experience by PSX users who do not just store the device, but actually use it... who do not just purchase a broken unit and try to DIY/fix/hack it, like you were going to in 2013, but actually use it. The latter is an exciting topic too, but I keep video game systems and occasionally collect new ones to actually *use* them.
And I do not consider my personal positive long-term experience with two PSX units as presentable at all, which is all the more reason for me to actually start this very thread

That's what surprised me, too... people often seem to focus on the system's obvious flaws, instead of actually enjoying it. After all, there're enough working units out there.

 

It doesn't matter if the hard drive is in a PSX or not. The results are the same. The hard drive doesn't know what device it's in. Your question isn't about the life span of the custom PSX electronics, it's about the life span of a hard drive - which is well established by now.

No one has ever said the hard drives fail more than is the norm. Just that the hard drives Will fail and when they do, you cant replace them.

If yours is working, great. WHEN (not if) the hard drive fails, it wont.

I don't see what your point is linking to a post about mine when I was planning to look into this and then state you are actually going to use it. First - who said I wasn't going to use it? I don't see how wanting to help be able to fix them implies I'm not going to use it.

Second, it's people who are looking to keep them alive you need to be helping, because if you want to keep yours running - its them that's going to provide the information.

 

I don't see that either, we're getting there...

I guess the theme of mutual help is common sense and pretty much what this board is all about. And I'm also a big fan of how people collecting video game related hardware just elaborate related topics from a point of view that does not require "many years experience in corporate IT".

 

Last try...

No one needs an opinion on hard drive failure rates - facts are facts. Its been done to death by the IT industry already. Related topics about the PSX or video game hardware specifically are not required.

The longer it has been running, the closer it is to death.

 

I doubt that you are the authority here on what discussions are "required" and what not.


Following the additional enlightenment regarding possible/inevitable hard disc failures, that I had already illustrated in my initial post, back on topic... I'm wondering if any of you are actually still using the system, and what about your longevity experience?

 

pinepot, i have a PS3 TEST I use exclusively, its honestly pointless to game on these machines. im only getting one because i caught the bug again. shit i just bought a Pal ps2 board from Ad thats chipped just for games i know that will require a controller (taiko etc). can't use the DVR function either so yea, just a curiosity.

 

I'm still using my 5500........................................................... as a doorstop

 

About time #psxdoorstep

 

Well, if you want anecdotes, then my personal DESR-7000 suffered a HDD failure after about 4 years - this was a unit I got new in Japan. The unit was then hand-carried back to Japan, serviced by Sony and then lasted about 3 more years before the HDD failed again. I bought it back wrapped in a poly sheet and then padded with clothes in my hand baggage, so I don't think it was subjected to anything extreme. At this point, both SD TV and the PS2 were starting to look a bit old, so I didn't bother to get it fixed again.

 

Unless someone will hack it to accept more reliable drives PSX is nothing but a glorified paperweight. And since nobody cares about it except for a few collectors/fans it's not going to happen. Because rest of the people only care about games and PS2 is just a little less common than hydrogen and just a bit more expensive. For DVR part - well, not everything that's old is gold.
P.S. Really surprised that it ran for 3 more years after repair - those drives are utter crap.

 

According to the service paperwork, they just put a new drive in it. When it failed the second time, I took it apart, and the the replacement drive had a manufacturing date that was only a few months before the repair date, so I guess at that point (about 2007) they were still getting the drives made. The replacement drive was a Maxtor, so I guess I should have felt lucky to get 3 years of 24/7 use out of it anyway.

 

@TriMesh: Thanks for sharing the story. Too bad the Maxtor drive didn't last longer. Back then, repair cost about JPY 24000, right?

Coincidentally, all the disassembly/teardown guides I found so far contained Seagate drives (1, 2, 3, 4). There's a replacement drive available on eBay right now advertised for the 5100/S models, also by Seagate. Probably a coincidence.

BTW, one of my PSX is a 5100S and I was surprised to learn the hardware info from the settings menu (the part showing MAC/IP addresses, software version) says "5100S" instead of just "5100". I thought they just took a 5100 and wrapped it in a silver colored case, but they wrote that piece of additional information to the main board or hard disc...?

 

What mainboard is installed in yours? The model name is recorded in the MECHACON's EEPROM, on the mainboard.
My DESR-5100 has a XPD-001, with a 160GB Seagate.

 

Sorry, I do not intend to open that 5100S until the HDD has died... it's in mint condition including the seal/sticker and although I am frequently using that unit, I'd like to keep it that way as a collector's item.
Since I possess no skills to read the EEPROM anyway, where would I find that mainboard spec info printed on the hardware once I open it up?

 

Nah, don't open it up then. I thought that you already opened it up.

Have fun with it, while it lasts.
Where did you get it from anyway? Are there any signs that it was used as a demo unit?

It's just printed on the mainboard, like "XPD-001".

The EEPROM just contains the parameters for the CD/DVD drive, system settings and the IDs to display (i.e. i.Link, console ID and the model name "DESR-5100").
The EEPROM's content may have no direct relationship with the exact model of mainboard installed.

If you want to make a dump of the ROMs and the EEPROM, PS2Ident can do that. The only thing that it can't do, is to infer the mainboard model unless it is already known.

 

I can't remember exactly, but it was something like that - it was a fixed price repair service no matter what the fault was.

Most of the DESRs I've seen have had Seagate drives, too - although this might be a skewed sample since the only ones I have taken apart are the dead ones. I doubt they can possibly be worse than the Maxtors, though.

 

About two years ago I bought it online from this store for about USD 60...
Came complete with box, except for the AV cable and antenna adapters. It contained three random TV recordings from 2011. Perhaps someone tested the functionality back then, so my guess is that it sat on a shelf for quite some time. The quality surprised me, too. Only a few hardly visible surface scratches. Functions, incl. internet all working fine. Installed the cumulative update followed by v1.31 (both from CD).

I guess it was one of those (nowadays) rare occasions where you can find video game related gems in Japan's rural areas, like a "recycle shop" or a dedicated video game shop close to the train station in the middle of nowhere... One of the reasons I enjoy reading this board

Thanks, I'll remember that in case I decide to open it one day.

Although I manage/try to follow the more tech-savvy findings here, I'm afraid I won't be able to do that. But good to know for anyone with the matching skills.

 

Yeah, another Japanese user scanned his receipt and, if memory serves me right, had the two lasers replaced for about the same amount of JPY. I even found two Japanese shops offering repairs... but their blogs/websites were outdated, so I doubt they still offer any spare parts by now...

 

can you access DVR hardware through PS2 mode?