An SSD on a PS2 to Play All Your Games! - Adam Koralik

[@samirihawi5504]

Fun fact: when playing a game using OPL, you can close the game and return to the PS2 menus by pressing L1+L2+START+SELECT+R1+R2 at the same time instead of having to reset the console every time you want to change the game.

[@boredstudent]

It works but not if you have mode 6 turned on in OPL. And unfortunately some games in order to work properly need some.of those settings turned on.

[@greywolf7750]

@@boredstudent what do you mean by that? Can you explain what the modes do 1-8?

[@AndyyPeNET]

​​@@greywolf7750 I can't tell you exactly what each mode does because they disable cutscenes, the soundtrack or voice lines, for example, but depending on your problem and how much time you can spend in your game before crashing, you have to apply different modes. If your game doesn't even boot, you need to apply mode 5. If it does but still crash somewhere in the game, then you need mode 1, and 2-4 are in between. Modes 7 and 8 were removed because they were rarely used and in addition, mode 6 was changed and it isn't as aggressive as mode 5 but not as strong as mode 1 either. It works best for games which don't boot up and you don't lose any of the content either. Now I might be wrong while explaining because there has been some time since I did my research, but applying modes where they aren't needed isn't a good idea. You can check the many OPL Compatability lists that tell you exactly what mode you need to use for each game that is supported.

[@harisshakil2040]

Is there a way to turn this hot key off?

[@Yaotl-Icel]

@@harisshakil2040 Yes, but only for each game, you should press triangle on the game, the activate mode 6 and save the configuration. Sorry for my lame english

[@Lisata598]

SSD upgrade was the best thing I ever did to my PS2. Load times are so much better. You should replace the internal CR2032 battery on your system to get the orbs spinning again like they're supposed to.

[@donte5589]

Haha is that why that's not working I was beginning to think I imaged that happening when I was younger

[@Repdetec04]

Is it just a regular 2032 battery and a simple pop out replacement?

[@scottjohnevans97]

Interesting timing with this video Adam as I've recently been playing PS2 for first time in a decade. Been playing Jak 1, Crash 2 and Sonic Unleashed.

[@EricAbroad]

same here!

[@tiernanmccarthy]

Booted up my old PS2 as well last week. Crazy to see saves on Shovelware like Barnyard in 2007. Makes me glad I finally got a 360 a little later.

[@scottjohnevans97]

@@tiernanmccarthy I didn't get console after ps2 until 2011 when I got ps3. I had opportunity to get 360 in 08/09 but I was too young and dumb to care or no the difference between ps2 and 360 lol.

[@victorjimenez7213]

I don’t play video games anymore, but I like hearing you talk about this stuff. The passion for it shows and honestly that’s enough to make me watch these videos. Good work as always my friend

[@Cyclingismywholelife]

I’m just a Nintendo guy, been playing since the 80’s. I like video games but only own Nintendo, I agree that listening to him talk about these things he loves is nice, even if it’s not in my wheelhouse.

[@joeydelmarsjr.646]

i dont play much anymore maybe 20mins per day, but i do believe in perseving games, so i tend to collect games now a days

[@Cyclingismywholelife]

@@joeydelmarsjr.646 I do still play games pretty regularly, when the options were limited to sega and Nintendo things were simple to buy and collect. Then emulators came out and it was like when file sharing became a thing, we no longer needed cd’s for music. I no longer look for old games, but I do only buy physical copies of games, if possible.

[@handsomedubbledee]

That's sad. Go back to playing them. Don't quit. Even if it is for an hour or so. Life happens all the time but you have to make time for yourself and have fun. Escapism is good, my friend

[@niallmccann6780]

I collect a little, game wise. I e bought a lot of the consoles over the past 3 years. Not the more obscure. Saturn, megadrive, snes, ps2 etc. It's great fun. Modding is great as well. I've modded 2 ps2 and don't have the time to play but I love that I have them.

[@GrimmHollywood]

Adam, a fellow named Grim Doomer just released an updated version of OPL where you can use ANY amount of storage you want - in it you can bypass Winhip and just drag and drop the games. Would love to see your tutorial of it. Macho Nacho productions was where I saw it first.

[@neccros007]

Also there are SATA board swaps for the OG adapter if you want to keep the original adapter

[@ZombiePhoenix]

Yep, that's definitely doable. Here I've been running my PS2 games off of SD from the network adapter side.

[@CCH3900]

It may be old school. But hey, it works. Great way of extending an old PS2.

[@haloharry97]

If not broke don't fix it.

[@guyb6665]

Glad to see you're still doing your thing Adam

[@FanaticalFootballFan]

I agree with you on Hard drives. I would be extremely careful with mechanical drives (never dropped any of them on the floor) then they somehow fail. Ever since I went to SSDs. Never had a problem.

[@TottyRops]

I did exactly this to my PS2 about a month ago, the only difference is that I have installed a Noctua quiet fan so it's pretty much silent. This upgrade with Free McBoot is totally awesome!

[@zybch]

Pretty much the same for me too. I'm planning on servicing the DVD drive as well just in case, (hopefully just the belts) but its so nice to be able to use my PS2 Fat like my xboxes and not have to worry about swapping discs as I tend to jump in and out of games a lot.

[@GrimmHollywood]

Whoa! What size noctua did you go with?

[@TottyRops]

@@GrimmHollywood 40x10mm, ther's an additionl 3D print you need to mount it.

[@GrimmHollywood]

@@TottyRops oh wow excellent! Thanks a lot Clare! Appreciate it big time!

[@jaberd100]

@@TottyRopsdo you have any overheating issues?

[@GamingintoEternity]

Adam, I really appreciate this video. I still use my fat PS2 and have contemplated getting a freemcboot card. I might take the leap after seeing this episode.

[@SpongeyBubby]

Not sure if anyone said this in the comments but you can also get a SATA upgrade kit for the original Sony adapter if you still wanted to play online. My experiences with the third party adapter were a little frustrating because of slight stuttering the thing would have every 10-15 seconds but after I got an already modded Sony version it pretty much ran full speed without any problems.

[@kylebookout1789]

Great comment! Was wondering this exact thing.

[@brandontadday6288]

Thanks Adam! Been watching your stuff for a while now (your RetroTINK videos got me into the world of upscaling). I have been meaning to get around to trying out free mcboot for a while now and finally decided to give it a go. Currently working through backing up my collection and am just waiting for the SSD to arrive so I can load them all though OPL. Thanks for your advice!

[@azzezino1]

I'm sharing this with all my friends

[@SanchezS1998]

Now this is the content I subscribed for.

[@stephen_ne8406]

thanks adam, i had this video saved and just got it all setup today by following your video

[@noneed4me2n7]

It’s nice when you take a break and when u dive back in the techs made leaps forward. I’m a big proponent of ripping all my games to a more easily sorted and recoverable format. I’ve done that now for everything I own from the 360 and Wii U era and back. Still haven’t done a PS2 or 3 yet but I have all the games and consoles on standby and I have ripped the games but been busy with real life crap to finalize it all.

[@brianstuntman4368]

I did this a few years ago, re-purposing an IDE HDD I had spare after a PC upgrade. After that, I never really used it because I've been messing with so many other consoles. I think now's the time to for me to revisit the PS2, except this time I'll go with an SSD for the same reason you did (no moving parts, also quieter and possibly less heat).

[@majorgear1021]

You sound like me. I installed the parts, got the FMcB mem card, loaded a bunch of totally legal game backups on a hard drive , and played it for a few mins. I do need better video cable, I have a cheap Pound cable.

[@ZombieRofl]

Watched your PS2 to HDMI video a long time ago. And there you are again. Same setting, same awesome content.

[@AdamKoralik]

Welcome back.

[@outlawdg]

this is like.. a fuckin crazy good video, I love the way you explained stuff so on point and clearly had a strong understanding of what you're talking about. It's like a teacher who was just knew exactly wtf they were talking about and structured their lesson perfectly for newcomers

[@bronzin1445]

This is definitely the way to go when it comes to playing native hardware. The one downside to playing the PS2 natively is that it all but requires you to play on a CRT due to how much the console relied on interlaced video. Unless of course you have a scaler like the RetroTink 5X

[@Manic_Panic]

Not really. First of, the SSD does not make a single difference because the PS2 only supports IDE drive speeds plus, it wears out quicker than a normal HDD. I guess you can say it makes your PS2 more lightweight but that's really it. Secondly, you do not need a CRT TV at all, a modern, cheap HDMI adapter that converts component signal from analog to digital, offers component like image, doesn't have any extra input delay and has progressive scan support. Just remember to force 4:3 instead of widescreen and enable "game mode" to reduce the input lantency of your TV on your tv settings.

[@francocavecchia8246]

@@Manic_Panic the SSD does make a difference. When you use an HDD, if you only have 200 games or less, performance is equal, until you hit larger numbers like 300, 450 games. It then becomes a no brainer, since SSD has no delays when locating data unlike HDDs. The more data, the slower and harder it gets for the HDD to locate info. Also, fragmentation doesn't exist on SSDs. Second, the actual wear of an SSD is so insanely high (thousands of hours, millions of writes) that its more prone to outlast HDDs because of the lack of mechanical moving parts. I've got two 50001 phat models, one has been running OPL on a SSD and the other one has had two HDD replacements due to faulty VMC writes and mechanical failures.

[@Manic_Panic]

@@francocavecchia8246 A few problems with your comment. Once again, the PS2's board only supports IDE speeds, you could even have 1000 games on a storage device, it won't make a difference between a IDE HDD, SATA HDD or NVME SSD, or if there is a difference, it's 1 second for caching reasons. Secondly, the SSD does wear out quicker. However, these are console storage devices that never update so regardless of the storage type, they both should last decades unless you're constantly installing/uninstalling games. It sounds like you were using broken HDDs, I use HDDs for my PS2, classic Xbox, PS3, 360, PS4 and data backup on PC and none have ever failed me. Though on PS4, an SSD upgrade would be nice since it can actually take advantage.

[@BioGenx2b]

Honestly, just using component cables is plenty for me. HD Retrovision component cables for the PS2 on my Samsung TV looks sharp and gorgeous. True, it's jagged AF, but it's easy to get used to.

[@BioGenx2b]

@@Manic_Panic He's talking about seek times, which do get worse on mechanical hard drives and can cause noticeable performance issues. SSDs have instant seek times unless they're under heavy load, which is guaranteed to never happen on the PS2's controller.

[@KoenvdW88]

You can actually set your PS2 to boot off the HDD instead of having to leverage FreeMcBoot, so there's that. SSDs can cause issues with certain games because they expect spin-down (go figure), but you can configure your loader for that. Recent updates to these loaders have been very interesting, with the 2TB limit now being broken and giving you the ability to boot games off multiple sources through the same loader.

[@jrdamanat]

Yo bro how can i configure my loader to run properly with my SSD? It runs well but a lot of times the game will stop working (as if someone opened the disk drive as you're playing the game and none of the disk info will continue to be read but the game will still continue to play) and it's hella annoying? What settings do i need to change?

[@halomasturxbo101]

I did research on the PS2, and found that in Brazil only, there was a PS2 disc that allowed PS2 users, in concept, to stream through Netflix. I do not know if it was successful, but it was still a good idea.

[@stickygaloop]

Good video for those that might not know, also wanted to add in case either you or somone else wasn't aware: You can technically skip the need for a memory card by using a fork of Free Mcboot called Free HD Boot, it takes a bit more work but it does free up a memory card slot. Also fun fact, on the icon screen there's a HDD icon that can appear if certain software was installed, since it could be used in certain games like Final Fantasy XI as you mentioned and other titles (mainly japanese) such as Resident Evil Outbreak and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.

[@retroftw]

This! Use Free HD Boot people 😀

[@rijjhb9467]

I didn't have much luck with that program and my fat PS2. I get a black screen as if the console is bricked. Luckily it's not bricked, it's just that FHDB cannot boot, for some reason, and since the program is on the hard disk the mod is permanent. Now if I ever try to turn on the PS2 without a FMCB I get a black screen. I tried to uninstall FHDB but it made no difference.

[@retroftw]

@@rijjhb9467 just repartition and format the drive. Shouldnt be hard to remove.

[@spaceghostp6672]

I appreciate how you explain things man, I got a much better understanding of this process and how/why it works

[@FanaticalFootballFan]

I would love to see you do the same for the original Xbox. Seeing a Xbox running off of a 2TB SSD is awesome. Plus the recent Insignia project to revive the original Xbox Live is great. Someday I’ll be able to play Steel Battalion online. :)

[@Sugurain]

I added a SATA SSD to my OG xbox using a top of the line Marvell chipset SATA > IDE adapter, I used an 320GB SSD cuz that's plenty to me. I'm gonna be sincere, I did NOT get a noticeable performance boost with the SSD, same boot time for XBMC, same time to load a game, same transfer speed from partition to partition, and from network to HDD. My previous setup was an 320GB 7200rpm IDE HDD from seagate, using an 80-wire IDE cable. I believe the IDE connection on the xbox is just too slow to take advantage of the SSD whatsoever. I did SSD upgrade to my PS3 too, and in this case I found a noticeable speed up in loading times.

[@tristanbush6576]

I've been using a Mechanical HDD for a while and it's worked fine, but you kinda sold me on the SSD being more reliable, so I may look into upgrading.

[@cutieincosplay]

I love your sonic shirt! 😻💙🦔 It's so cool that my old consoles can still get life out of upgrades! I hope to see a VMU upgrade for my dreamcast ☺️ The retro community is awesome 💕

[@AdamKoralik]

Agreed. Funny thing about the shirt, I got it at a Walmart. I would wear it in Japan and get stared at because it has Japanese text on it. I assumed it was a bad translation. Something like "the fastness is the key." But no, it actually says "the rat has the ultra sound."

[@cutieincosplay]

@@AdamKoralik haha I love that! It must have been confusing at first!! 😹 I never thought that Japanese text on shirts could literally say anything and I would just see it and think it's cool 😎

[@RogerCRocha]

Excellent video! 👍 Despite the lack of production, very concise and objective. Cheers. ✌️

[@Nathan-mu1pz]

Great timing, I've been preparing for this very project

[@sportsgt]

PS2 HDD SUPPORT WAS HUGE IN JAPAN - WITH A WEB BROWSER, MUSIC PLAYER, DLC AND ACTUAL MINI GAMES/DEMOS BEING ABLE TO BE DOWNLOADED TO THE HDD.. BUT IT WAS DOA IN NORTH AMERICA (I THINK SONY WAS SCARED OF PIRACY AT THE TIME) WITH A FEW GAMES THAT MADE IT OVER WITH HDD SUPPORT - OH YEA AND THE PS2 HAD A LINUX KIT THAT WAS AVAILABLE FOR BOTH JP AND USA REGIONS THAT USED THE HDD FOR SEMI LIGHT PS2 DEVELOPER KIT THAT RAN IN THE LINUX ENVIRONMENT ALSO YOU CAN UPGRADE YOUR HDD CONNECTOR WITH A SATA MOD THAT REPLACES THAT IDE CONNECTOR/POWER PLUG WITH MODERN SATA DATA/POWER CONNECTORS WHICH ALSO LET YOU KEEP THOSE NETWORK CONNECTIONS FOR PLAYING DNS ALTERNATIVE PS2 GAMES ONLINE

[@jonathansacci2325]

I just did this with my ps2, as well as install the no tub fan upgrade. Amazing!

[@RetroRizer]

great video Adam!!!! ive been kicking around the idea of doing this for years now.

[@presicion25]

I've been messing around with PS2 modding (and console modding in general) since about 2008. I was able to get a hard modded Fat PS2 back around 2009 or so. It runs a certain dashboard named ToxicOS. The last 2.5inch drive I installed with the Sata adapter is a 1tb and using Winhiip I read there is a 253 game limit but I haven't installed that many games on to it as of yet since I usually emulate everything nowadays. Back in the day, I used to install games on to it using Discs and it was a lot slower using an old IDE drive. Still loving the content, been watching your channel for many years. 👍

[@Melbester9]

Very cool video Adam. I never knew you could use SSDs on PS2. I knew for HDDs you can. Crazy how the tech we are in now can still use stuff from older tech like past consoles. Also could you do a video for PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4 and PS5 all together with you for comparisons and what your greatest PlayStation console is. Perhaps when the PS6 comes out, you could do this as well. You never did a video with all PS consoles at same time for historical purposes, I think it would be cool to see your perspective on it.

[@mackdee911h3]

I also agree with using an SSD. Less noise, less moving parts, plus the fact that while the speed increase is negligible, the speed degradation would probably be lessened. Moving parts stop moving as fast eventually and therefore stop transmitting as fast. It may not be for everybody, but it was a no brainer for me.

[@JazawaToad]

Man back when I did mine like 7 years ago it was such a pain in the ass. I did it with a IDE drive, and a very ghetto IDE to USB adapter that definitely got the job done, but slowly. The entire process was painful bc all the programs were slow, as was my PC at the time. And every single app or program you try to use on the PS2 had to go through the memcard so they were exTREMELY basic programs. I'm very very glad its super easy now, and it makes me want to update mine.

[@Mobius_Ap3x]

Great video as always Adam! I think it depends on the game sometimes as well. I know Crash Bandicoot & The Wrath Of Cortex takes forever via CD so does Men In Black II Alien Escape they have very long load times! Luckily if you put that bad boy in it takes a bit less time, not PS5 speed but quicker than they are through the disc, etc. Highly recommending upgrading all systems if possible to a Solid State Drive especially PlayStation 2! 😎

[@pandaoverboard]

I love this type of content. Subscribed! Well done

[@brianoconnell6459]

Back in the early teens, I didn't have the tech handy to rip games to HDD or say "Yarr!" to do the same, but there is also a way to dump games to the HDD via FTP on your local network.

[@tylerdean980]

The only thing I don’t like about the adapter is the lack of networking, there’s a lot of cool stuff you can do with it, including running all your games off a server or NAS. That’s really handy if you just want to have one device with all your games on it and all your consoles and computers just access it

[@That_Handle]

Unfortunately, that gets in the way of [online multiplayer].

[@bewsket]

Not sure if anybody commented about this but you can actually get a sata upgrade board and do a little mod yourself (no soldering required) to your existing network adapter. all it does is changes the ide port to sata, and network port still remains. its even cheaper on ebay and probably the best solution for those who already have the device. Especially when you can use ethernet to transfer games to it without unscrewing and screwing it in each time

[@Antonio_Ortiz]

Would rather use this option than deal with inconsistent emulators. Also, thumbs up for the Sonic shirt.

[@Cookiedon15]

I did this to a PS2 last year. A caveat is that I had to adjust some settings to fix some bugs and glitches on certain games but it is what it is

[@rijjhb9467]

Not having the ethernet port is a huge handicap though. By using the original Sony adapter you'll get: 1- Unlimited storage space for your games (and screenshots/cover art/themes etc...) 2- Play games directly from LAN (this is what I ultimately end up doing most of the times, it's a huge time saver) 3- install games on the PS2 HDD via LAN. Meaning that you won't have to remove the HDD from your PS2 ever again. If you need to use a SATA HDD, I think someone made an IDE to SATA adapter specifically for the PS2, this is the best way to go.

[@aaliguy9986]

Great setup, Adam!

[@Darkrift666]

blast from the past, i remember playing around with this stuff before ps3 came out lol

[@WhiteJarrah]

SSDs sound good in theory, but my deal breaker has always been they are much harder to recover data from if they crash.

[@christopherdecorte1599]

The sata adapter I use is the official Sony adapter with the sata upgrade board it's around 15 usd but also retains full ethernet and modem capability. My preferred ripping method is the console itself as I play games I install them from authentic disc directly to hdd or ssd. If my disc ends up being bad then I do the search internet because I don't wanna buy a new copy. Edit: switching out the ide connector board is really easy it's only 6 screws total take about 5 minutes to do tops.

[@lordeilluminati]

but even using the original discs it is faster and more reliable to use a computer than the console itself, especially that you are using a disc reader which is easily replaceable, compared to a console disc reader which is far annoying to replace (the actual replacement is easy, it is not like the next generation which introduced drives married to the motherboard, but you cant put ANY laser reader on a console in the same way that you can on a computer)

[@christopherdecorte1599]

@@lordeilluminati true but gives time to make snacks and just pointed our the option to others.

[@vitalitymirth]

Thanks for the useful information.

[@gregjarvis1232]

I can see the price of fat ps2 consoles going up in $ I think this a much better option than how expensive working backwards compatible ps3 are

[@jaberd100]

Is there a way to bring the startup screen back? Need to get the full ps2 experience😅

[@AdamKoralik]

Not that I know of.

[@batlin]

I think very recent builds of OPL have a built-in ExFAT file system driver, which allows the PS2 to access bigger hard drive sizes, which is pretty sweet.

[@zakkthewzrd]

should i get an ssd or an hdd

[@batlin]

@@zakkthewzrd I'd always go for an SSD these days. It's still cheaper to buy a huge capacity mechanical hard drive, so if it's important to you to store ALL the games then go for it. But I prefer the faster seek time of SSDs and don't need to completely fill it with games.

[@zakkthewzrd]

@@batlin i dont need large storage sizes,i only play 3 or 4 games at a time so a 250 gig ssd is more than enough for me

[@SeaSlug]

There is a mod for the Sony adapter that swaps the ide for sata

[@AdamKoralik]

I mean, cool, seems like a lot of work for something so cheap.

[@Browean]

Quick question on imgburn how do you fix the error? In the case of it being too similar, just change the name? 16:26 for reference Edit: alright for some reason like you mentioned in the video it changed the name to the same just had to edit it.

[@AdamKoralik]

Solved then?

[@Browean]

@@AdamKoralik correct my bad

[@lordcanti]

16:40 if anyone runs into this it's due to the file name being long. Winhiip will only count to like a certain number of characters in the file name due to the ps2 file system. So if two games have the same characters for the first whatever characters in the name it'll cut off and thus think ur throwing over the same game twice. This was the most annoying thing when I set my ps2 up lol.

[@shacharstern1979]

Really appreciate this info. It would have driven me mad not knowing why it does that

[@ravajbains8672]

OPL is updated more regularly and you can force output changes such as 480p etc thus my loader of choice

[@gangstertalk]

I've been using dogshit HDD's on my Ps2 forever. Crazy that it can run on SSD's now.

[@Jelster64]

For my PS2 slim, I share a directory of isos from my computer using samba (SMB). It reads games through ethernet. I like it a lot, it's convenient and the concept is just neat

[@preamstrikbiz0]

I love that it can do that ! Very important information to know !

[@neccros007]

If you can source the PS3 PS2 card reader you can make your own FreeMcBoot cards on a regular PC

[@jockitoy]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@IMe7x]

@Adam Koralik i would highly recommend formatting the drive with ULaunchELF instead of WinHiip, because the formatting is much better & accurate with ULaunchELF.. Also use HDL Dumb to transfer PS2 games, you can do it with either a sata adapter (much faster) or through ethernet (though it's very slow in comparison to sata). The reason i say this is that WinHiip doesn't transfer games very well and you'll often have corrupted/non working games because of it.. Now i suggested to start with the formatting cause hdl dumb is not compatible with the formatting method of WinHiip.. HDL Dumb is not a cmd program (hdl dump is), and it has ui and very simple to use.

[@IMe7x]

Also OPL is much better than HD Loader btw. I recommend using one of the latest stable builds..

[@Repdetec04]

Awesome video! Great information. They sell the back panel ssd adapter and 64mb card with McLean on Amazon for 22! Does this work with ps1 game roms or only ps2? For ps2 roms. It saves the game to the same memory card normally?

[@AdamKoralik]

Just PS2 games. Game saves function normally onto the memory card, yes.

[@thedude5909]

Since im a keyboard warrior, i´ll honor myself with some knowledge(? There is a software that lets you use a 2TB HDD or SSD, it´s called HDLBATCH, it´s not hard to use, the only downside is that does not let you delete games once added as far as i know. There is a way to convert the OG network adapter to SATA ,why you would do that? well that way you can play PS2 Online on private servers( via xlinkai or some other private ones, yes this is still a thing) and you can boot games using the LAN port and a PC, that is way faster than USB. All in all you get SATA and Ethernet, the best of two worlds. I´m glad that you choosed FreeMcboot , there is a version of that runs on the HDD called FreeHDboot, but it takes forever to boot and it´s kind of outdated. The last bit is soo true, the best way to play PS2 games is via PS3, but if you don´t want to stress your FAT PS3 (God knows they need all the good care in the world to not die) this is a solid way to play PS2 games and if you pair that with a CRT you get all the 2000´s experience whitout all the downsides

[@eyesvisionsight]

def appreciating the content

[@414nismo]

Thank you for this video!

[@donaldsmith5667]

informative and awesome. Thanks for posting.

[@JamesTheFox]

Good work here. Though I wanted to ask if you know how it is that HD Loader and Open PS2 Loader are able to play games of a different region? I always thought that because the PS2s were region-locked that there must be some kind of hardware limitation that had to be overcome with chips etc. I had done my research poorly about a year ago, and thought these software exploits couldn't do this at first.

[@jaberd100]

So with hd loader you can play games from any region? I have a pal ps2 and I really want that ntcs framerate.

[@spanishginger]

Welp. Gonna have to spend a day just archiving all my PS1 and 2 games before hand. Thx Adam!

[@AdamKoralik]

Not sure about PS1 game support to be honest. But archiving is a good idea anyway.

[@televisionandcheese]

@BA5ED-_-HAX™(ross3695) don't use the OPL emulator, it's not the best There's instead a modified version of uLaunchELF, which has it's own PS1 emulator which works much much better

[@incudust953]

Great video. can u save games on the freemcboot or do you need an additional memory card?

[@AdamKoralik]

You can save to it.

[@Chusterkuun]

It's worth noting that if you are using an ssd or a laptop hdd you probably will want an adaptor to secure it inside the bay. Especially if you have the PS2 standing vertically. There is nothing supporting the weight of the hdd so it can start to loosen after a while. I noticed my games were stuttering and soon realized it was because my hdd was not making a proper connection. Also, this is mainly for PS2 games. Playing PS1 on hdd requires different softaware. It also has significantly less compatability oddly enough.

[@316whatupz]

I'm planning on installing a 2tb HDD to my fat ps2 (currently have a 1tb installed). The rGeeks adapters corrupt easily. Another issue with SSDs on ps2 is that it is reported that OPL runs some games too fast. Also when installing games don't use WinHiip, it has a limit of 255 games. I learned this the hard way. Use HDL Dump, it has no installation limit

[@lordcanti]

Great video as always!

[@IanNewYashaTheFinalAct]

8:10 maybe another argument pro-HDD is that unless you game daily or frequently on a PS2 console, using SSD isn't a good idea as it could lose data if not powered on for a long time. Either way, back up your games on multiple drives frequently and at least using SATA interface (laptop 2.5" or even desktop 3.5") is much better than the more archaic and more rare PATA/IDE drives

[@totallyworksperfectly5424]

I know it's been a year, I just have a quick question. Just wondering can you just use the ssd to save your game progress? I want to play directly from disk

[@AdamKoralik]

Memory card is still required.

[@totallyworksperfectly5424]

@AdamKoralik thanks mate, so of I get a 8mb memory card. I can use my ssd?

[@AdamKoralik]

@totallyworksperfectly5424 If you have Free McBoot installed. I have a PS2 memory card video coming out tomorrow actually if you want to wait a bit.

[@totallyworksperfectly5424]

@AdamKoralik thanks, will wait on your video. Really appreciated it

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Personally I would recommend using an official PS2 HDD adaptor with a purple SATA mod thingy (it's on Aliexpres, for example). No soldering, you just unscrew a few things and put it in. I've heard it's more reliable than a full SATA HDD adaptor replacement from GameStar. And, optionally, there are also 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch HDD adaptors. I use one that is basically just a black, plastic bracket (Orico brand). Just for a bit of extra stability.

[@lordeilluminati]

the issue with your suggestion is that official PS2 adaptors are very sought after nowadays. When these aftermarket adapters were released they had a bunch of issues, especially the first versions that had a yellow sticker covering the hole that the RJ45 port was supposed to be, now these issues dont exist.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

@@lordeilluminati That's good to know. I could only speak from experience.

[@WillCMAG]

I happened to have bought a memory card with FMCB. It was a version of a Fujiwork memory card I hadn't seen before. Also, it was in the price range of other memory card's exclusive to Japan. What led to me getting FMCB in the first place was related to the FFXI box set. I bought it off ebay sometime years ago in order to get the hard drive software. The hard drive in my kit happened to have a Seagate model number on the drive. So I bought a used one that was the same model by Seagate. Then I tired to see if the hard drive software would work on it. Well it didn't work. So I just gave in and bought the card with FMCB on it. It's been great and I've ripped a few games to the hard drive. I might install a ssd in my ps2 later on down the road. It's still impressive that newer drives can work in the PS2 with a adapter. PS: The FFXI bundle includes the following: Hard drive software, 40gb Hard Drive, instructions for the hard drive software and installation, and copy of the game.

[@CrimsonDragoon23]

I’d do this, but unfortunately, my PS2 can’t read my network adapter slot. I read somewhere that the fuse that powers it can blow out over time, so I hope that I can find someone that can replace those fuses so I can get this done.

[@AdamKoralik]

That's unfortunate.

[@ffvllcloud151]

Anywhere to buy a pre-loaded ps2 ssd? I looked on etsy and just saw fat hdd's only

[@AdamKoralik]

No idea. It's not really legal to do so so your options will be a tad limited.

[@GameJunctionMedia]

Good video man!

[@JLMtime]

if you have the newest OPL from 9/2022 (dont use stable get a new beta) there is no need to touch HDloader ive never seen any game run on HD & not run on OPL only small issue is the MX4SIO dose not support saves after that it will be perfect IMO

[@Blazer-eh3ng]

I remember having trouble getting HD loader on a newer memory card. just kept my old version card for emergencies

[@K9_kfg]

dieheard PS2 enthusiast here. Haven't seen the full video when i write this but I've modded my system with an SSD. some games require certain config settings and cd games are a bit tricky to work but it's a great way to play some preserved games and imports from other regions. only downside with these hdd adaptors is they don't have ethernet ;_; so no online ps2 gaming, but still a great mod to do to preserve a great system. also also, if you have an og adapter, you have ethernet and adapters for ide to sata do exist to adapt it!

[@brianoconnell6459]

While the SATA connector is robust enough to support the SSD (which weighs close to nothing by comparison to the intended 3.5" HDD, a super cheap and dirty fix to prevent the drive from bouncing around in transit is to take a pack of foam mounting stickers from the dollar store, and adding a few layers to the bottom of the drive.

[@OrangeGeemer]

I have this same thing, but with SD cards (with a sata to SD converter). PS2 games are great, but 480i is such a pain to upscale.

[@radosaworman7628]

9:00 we live in a society where PS2 is cartrige console XD XD

[@djrkzr]

Wouldn't be easier to install freehdboot or hdd OSD so you don't need mem card exploit anymore? Especially when you've got ready hdd images on the Internet, all you need to do is patch your hdd(which skips the step with formatting the drive).

[@ButcherGrindslam]

Yeah. I installed some games on SSD as 1TB HDD is overkill and it can't be filled with anything else (like music or videos for SMS Player) because of incompatible file system and slow USB.

[@angeles2425]

OPL will make your experince more complete with screen shoots and wireless controller support plus it will run alomost any game unlike HDloader.

[@johnhawthorne4716]

I am finally getting round to this soft mod, if any one is having problems with your brand new SSD not showing at all, you needs to make a simple partitian in order to get things moving. Via Windows Administrative tools Computer management Storage and Disc Management You will then see Unallocated Disc and can even Label the letter To (P)

[@weisnoobs]

I see a video from Adam, I click like

[@TrevorFosterTheFosterDojo]

Perfect video for PS2 emulation of your library

[@BImThreeHunna]

I made the same face when I found out you can do this as you did in the thumb nail

[@darktetsuya]

while I haven't gotten around to using an HDD to play stuff off of, a longtime friend of mine hooked me up with one of these cards about 2008-2009 or so. I still have my card I just need to find another fat ps2 (which I kinda wanted one anyway since my wife has a stack of US games so if she wants to play those she can) and we'd have all the extra benefits of the HDD Loader!

[@SuperSteve152]

HDL Batch Installer is the easiest solution I found to transfer content and games.

[@gearsofinspiration8528]

Opl now supports using a ps2 drove directly or can use hdl batch gui using opl's nbd server. I've used the drive directly and works well I've also used the ndb server and that works ok

[@mazda9624]

In 2022 I've been playing so much PS2 that the lense on my main console has worn down significantly in the last few months. I've been thinking about doing this with one of my other PS2s (launch unit from 2000) that won't read discs at all anymore so that I can actually get some use out of it. My one question is how do the games access the Memory card for save games since the freemcboot memory card is in slot 1? Can I place the Freemcboot card in slot 2 and then use slot 1 for my actual memory cards with my save games? Also, has this method ever caused any issues with your games/saves? I'd love to just back up my entire collection and only play off an SSD moving forward, but I'm worried about potential bugs/incompatibility/chance that my save files get corrupted.

[@lordeilluminati]

you can use the fmcb memory card to store other save files, but since the fmcb files are big, it is not recommended. You only need the fmcb memory card on the boot sequence, after loading opl or hd loader it doesnt need to be inserted anymore (the program itself is running on the RAM and the settings are read on the drive the game is running from) so you can use another memory card on slot 1 to save and load games, it doesnt need to be connected at all times.

[@mazda9624]

@@lordeilluminati Really appreciate the info. My only remaining question is will the freemcboot memory card still work from slot 2? If so I'd never need to swap it out and I could just leave it there permanently while I use slot 1 for all of my regular memory cards.

[@Ness_3]

How do you connect your ps2 to your monitor? Do you use component cables or one of those cheap ps2hdmi adaptors? Good video btw

[@AdamKoralik]

For this video or like, when I actually want to play?

[@Ness_3]

@@AdamKoralik I am a bit lost so, what is for you the best way to play ps2 in a modern monitor?

[@AdamKoralik]

@@Ness_3 Watch my video on the RetroTink 5X.

[@Ness_3]

@@AdamKoralik I was doing it while replying and that really helped me out, thanks man!

[@johnvinshields]

Great video, how does this work for save states? Do I still need to use the old 8mb memory cards or is there a better alternative? Thanks!

[@AdamKoralik]

The Free McBoot enhanced memory card will still operate as a memory card. Just never delete the Free McBoot files.