Classic Pac Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Recently I got myself a fat model PS2 and I been looking in to adding a hard drive. I know I need a Network Card and getting a hard drive shouldn't be an issue. But after looking at a You Tube vid on how to install one, how easy is it to find a PS2 HDD Utility Disc? According to that vid I saw you need that to format that drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Hello. I did a little oking around and found a site which might have what you need. To know for sure, I'll leave it up to you to research in more depth, since you know better what you need anyway. http://www.walshcomptech.com/selectpccbbs/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 What does putting a Hard Drive in a PS2 do for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzamess Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Hello. I did a little oking around and found a site which might have what you need. To know for sure, I'll leave it up to you to research in more depth, since you know better what you need anyway. http://www.walshcomptech.com/selectpccbbs/ It took some special effort to dredge up that link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 (edited) What does putting a Hard Drive in a PS2 do for you? Allows you to back up games to HDD for faster loading and having many games at your disposal for the most part. http://www.wikiwand.com/en/PlayStation_2_Expansion_Bay Edited January 2, 2015 by OldSchoolRetroGamer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 It took some special effort to dredge up that link. Your sarcasm isn't appreciated Monzamess. It's crap like that that makes people less likely to try and help anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Suddenly a flash of brilliance hit me and I realized the OP was likely talking about a Play Station 2, not a Personal System 2, so my link is useless here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Suddenly a flash of brilliance hit me and I realized the OP was likely talking about a Play Station 2, not a Personal System 2, so my link is useless here. hey at least you was trying to help Can any HDD be used in a PS2? Or does it have to be a Special Playstation drive? I actually have the adapter but no HDD, wasn't really worried about it when I bought the system as I figured the HDD was only for online games as it uses the network adapter and I don't play online. But if I can load games from it, its probably worth having Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 hey at least you was trying to help Can any HDD be used in a PS2? Or does it have to be a Special Playstation drive? I actually have the adapter but no HDD, wasn't really worried about it when I bought the system as I figured the HDD was only for online games as it uses the network adapter and I don't play online. But if I can load games from it, its probably worth having I think nearly all IDE drives will work in the PS2. What does putting a Hard Drive in a PS2 do for you? Not much until you soft mod it. Then you can copy ISO's to it, and play them directly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoquickcapri Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 hey at least you was trying to help Can any HDD be used in a PS2? Or does it have to be a Special Playstation drive? I actually have the adapter but no HDD, wasn't really worried about it when I bought the system as I figured the HDD was only for online games as it uses the network adapter and I don't play online. But if I can load games from it, its probably worth having http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/?p=list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 When you get the hard drive installed, it activates the IEEE and USB ports, so you can use a USB keyboard and mouse, and give you more options where to save game data, by actually giving you the Move command, which I found out to my surprise you don't get by default. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 Oh so there is an ISO available http://theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/ps2-isos/sony-utility-discs-compilation-2-release/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 found out when I tried to download it the site I posted the link too was hacked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzamess Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Your sarcasm isn't appreciated Monzamess. It's crap like that that makes people less likely to try and help anyone. I thought _your_ reply was sarcastic because I assumed it was obvious the OP meant the Playstation2, and also Googling "ps2 hard drive" turns up several applicable "how to" type links right on the first page of results. So, I thought you dug up something about the IBM PS/2 as joke. That was a stretch on my part. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Pretty much any IDE drive should work in a PS2 but I want to put in a Solid State Drive at some point using an IDE/SATA adapter. You need to research Free McBoot, Open PS2 Loader, and WinHiip. Free McBoot is the softmod that is used (including a new version that can be run off the hard drive instead of a memory card - something I've yet to try), Open PS2 Loader is the program you use to run programs off the hard drive (far better than HDLoader), and WinHiip is the program on the PC you use to install images to the drive (never use the PS2 for image installs - the DVD-ROMS are total crap for this purpose). The compatibility rate currently is between 85 to 90% Out of my collection of nearly 100 titles only a small number, roughly five or so, that either run with some problem or not at all. Once you've played games from the HDD you'll never want to go back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Yeah that's the only thing, you have to keep removing the HDD from the PS2 to install images. At least with Xbox you can FTP in no time. I'd advise getting a cheap IDE drive dock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I had pretty much given up on soft modding a PS 2 to get a HD to work. I followed this method: http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/armax2.php and despite having the correct version of armax with the media player, I could never get it to work. It is likely that I do not have a compatible thumb drive around. I have the official HD drive as well... and it just sits in a box. Would be nice to use it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I had pretty much given up on soft modding a PS 2 to get a HD to work. I followed this method: http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/armax2.php and despite having the correct version of armax with the media player, I could never get it to work. It is likely that I do not have a compatible thumb drive around. I have the official HD drive as well... and it just sits in a box. Would be nice to use it.... There is a new version of FMCB that runs off the hard drive instead of a memory card. However, I've yet to upgrade to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I will give that a try then. Nothing to lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I thought _your_ reply was sarcastic because I assumed it was obvious the OP meant the Playstation2, and also Googling "ps2 hard drive" turns up several applicable "how to" type links right on the first page of results. So, I thought you dug up something about the IBM PS/2 as joke. That was a stretch on my part. Sorry. No worries. All happies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 If you're using an HDD on PS2 probably a good idea to get a HDD (IDE) docking station, so you can easily load/remove games. Unlike the Xbox, FTPing really isn't feasible, and is very slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Let me start out by saying a lot of you assume I will find the Hard Drive Utility first. I have to install it before I start using it. I checked out a couple of Retro Gaming stores on Friday and I found out that those discs are kinda hard to come by. One store owner said he only sees them maybe once or twice in an entire year at the very most. That same store owner directed me to a rom site, he advise me to check out the disc image and see if it works. As of right now I haven't even tested the disc I just burned. Getting the IDE Hard Drive is no problem I have a friend who repairs computers and he already has a bunch of them. Now if one of you had a legit PS2 HDD Utility Disc then the rest will come easy, but until that happens it's more wait and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I don't think you need the Official HDD Utility Disc, especially if you aren't using an Official PS2 HDD. Why not try WinHIIP? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) I believe Rex Dart is likely correct. You don't need that utility for putting in any old ide drive inside. First of all, I doubt the official utility wouid see anything other than official drive. You are probably wasting time with finding an ISO. I doubt an unmodded PS2 will have anything to do with a burned disk.... you would need the mod/exploit installed first, correct? Edited January 4, 2015 by cybercylon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I really need to look into this. I have free mcboot on a memory card, but I've never really used it. I have just about every PS2 game I want, but I wouldn't mind installing them to the HD for improving the loading times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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