Loading to a Hard Drive

[NeoRage]

Just wanted to see if anyone can help me with the specifics of loading PS2 games to a hard drive. I used HDDumb (think that's what it's called) when the HDloader was first out and I ended up erasing all of my games trying it and only got it to work once . From what I remember from then you had to have the hard drive connected directly to your computer and could not use an external enclosure, is that still the case? I'm going to give this another shot all these years later because the McBoot program has really sparked my interest again.

Thanks for any help!

*I just remembered that the problem back then was also playing DVD9 games with the loader, Has this been fixed?

[alexis524]

search for HDadvance, which lets you run an external HD on a modded ps2. I don't know much about it, since i use HDloader with a 750GB HD, compatibility is pretty good, but compatibility with HDadvance may not be as good as with HDL.
you can go here to check out the compatibility rates: http://list.sksapps.com/
hope everything works out for you,

caio

[NeoRage]

I'm using HDAdvance and HDLoader from McBoot memory cards and I have two 1TB internal hard drives, 1 750GB and 1 500GB and I'd like to use them with it (The ones that are compatible), But I need to know how to transfer files from the PC to the hard drives. Which drive are you using that's 750GB and compatible? I read that the maximum game limit with the loaders regardless of HD size is 255, is that right?

Thanks for the compatibility link!

[skate323k137]

the best thing to do is put the hard drive in a USB2 enclosure (or you can hook it up as a slave in your desktop PC and switch it back to master/cbl select when you put it back in the PS2) and load your images using WinHIIP. It can format the drive for you (for larger drives above 128 GB be sure to activate the HDloader 48 bit option) and load all of your ISO's appropriately. It can transfer from original discs to HDD using your PC, but i recommend making an ISO first, then using WinHIIP to transfer all of your images. It's 20-30 times faster to install images from your PC than to do it on your PS2. (and 2-5 times faster from disc to HDD)

also check combatibility lists, but the hdloader 0.8c thats floating around should support most dual layer discs.

[NeoRage]

Thanks for the post! I'll try winhiip now and look for that version of hdloader, Maybe that will take care of it all.

[alexis524]

no problem on the link, and damn i thought i had a big HD, but you take the cake my man. i tip my hat to you.

I'm using a seagate. i don't have the model/serial in front of me right now, but can post it l8r if you want. I grabbed it off of frys.com for $120 shipped about 8 months ago. still stoked....

but you are correct again, 255 TITLES is the limit that HDL will list, but you can still install beyond that, just that the title won't show.
Again, that's from memory, but if i'm wrong, anyone can feel free to correct me, no worries.

Skate gave EXCELLENT advice by mentioning to make sure you format your HD with winhiip according to the drive size. Winhiip is by far the easiest to install iso's the the ps's HDD. I use an external enclosure to install in my work PC, install the iso, swap it out and into the ps2 fatty it goes. You can even apply patches to iso's from within winhiip, it's really easier than it sounds. lemme know how you make out

[NeoRage]

I stocked up on hard drives for my computer and ended up not using all of them so they went to game systems (Xbox is still my favorite modded system for all of it's functionality) . Sucks about a limit that's not about hard drive size!

That would be great if you could post your hard drive info later! I like seagate too, I use to use maxtor all of the time but I've had zero crashed drives since I switched to seagate.

[executioner]

WinHiip FTW using a IDE-to-USB cable.