The ULTIMATE Guide To Play PS2 Games From A HDD

[@PoutingTrevor]

I remember when you did a video like this some time ago and I was very scathing! Apologies if I was unkind in my comment. You've become someone I really trust with this stuff since then. Great work.

[@Adam-C]

Wait a second. A full, up to date guide that’s also applicable to 2TB HDDs?! Holy moly, Blaine, you actually did it - I think you’ve just created the only complete (and current) PS2 HDD tutorial on all of KZbin! Nice work, man! 👍🏻

[@rationalthought]

obsolete again with GrimDoomer's version.

[@majorgear1021]

@@rationalthought That version is dead, though.

[@ajddavid452]

@@majorgear1021 kinda, Grimdoomer's repo is archived but KrahJohlito's repo's gd2 branch has implemented exfat support

[@bradzilla04]

Excellent guide, thanks! Appreciate that you go over every step in detail and don't gloss over any detail under the assumption the audience knows what they're doing. Was able to get my PS2 running games in about 40 minutes of watching some sections again to make sure I was doing it right.

[@MrBlank0]

Great video! One thing that would make the last part with artwork much easer: Leave your HDD plugged in and have OPL Manger read the games off of it and get artwork that way. It’s the rightmost option of the 3 options at the top of the app screen. It makes an ART folder inside the OPL Manager app folder. You can then copy that to the PS2 with a thumb drive. Removes the step of cutting ISOs and moving them around on your PC. There is also an app that will move the ART files files directly to the HDD, but I couldn’t get it to work.

[@ZBB415]

This should be pinned

[@EddieInzauto]

So you never make the OPL folder on the desktop? Just access the directory structure on the PS2-formatted drive in the SATA-USB dock?

[@MrBlank0]

Yeah. Copying games to the desktop is an extra step you don’t need to do.

[@alexanderfritsch5023]

What if I didn't rename them? am I SOL?

[@thedisaster8720]

​@@theenglishman2751yes

[@Trustanchor]

You make hands-down the best tutorials on console mods. I had been struggling for multiple days to get my PC to recognize the PS2-formatted SSD I installed until I found this video. Ten minutes later, I'm in business. Thank you for everything you do!

[@Jackmiov]

My pc cant detect my hard drive its already formated

[@theultimateninja]

I had trouble formatting the HDD at first. The solution was to format it via the USB FMCB elf file, AND THEN go to MISC to format the HDD to add the +OPL partition. Then go back to the USB elf file thing menu.

[@oAbra_]

What do you mean format via usb?

[@waleedrezeq7794]

Every time you come up with something new, wonderful and useful. Thank you very much for your great great effort. . all the respect

[@keybladesnobody8021]

Just did this in 2024 works amazing

[@maximusthecannabist5170]

Do not create the opl folder it is an extra step that will cause you to move games around more than you should when youn plug your usb or hdd into the ps2 with freemcboot it creates those folders on your usb or hdd when you open opl and choose a path choose your usb it wont ask you to create the folders because they are already created on your usb just save them directly to that usb or hdd all your art and games that you convert to iso will be on that drive if you already chose the opl folder as your path just slelect thenoption at the top that allowes you to reset the path and just choose the drive your games and opl foldrrs are on.

[@lizardking3268]

Man you are the best! After using my macho nachos instructions my HDD wasn’t showing the games list. I found this video and got everything working now! You have great tutorials man!

[@shoked99]

After watching nearly a dozen videos, this one got me up and running with my 2TB drive. Just need to figure out the CD-ROM games. And I have tonyhax on my PS1 but will check out your PS1 USB video next. Thanks so much for your efforts.

[@blainelocklair]

That's awesome! I love reading success stories. We're all in the mod scene together and I'm glad you are enjoying your PS2 in a whole new way now. :)

[@brianstuntman4368]

To be honest, I didn't think I'd learn much from this video. I was wrong! Adding artwork was something I hadn't even considered until now. Great job👍

[@TheIrishAlchemist205]

Been wanting to do this for a while and seems like a great use of an SSD I've had laying around. Can't wait to take this on, thanks for the easy to follow tutorial, looking forward to breathing some new life into my 24 year old PS2!

[@anthonyjamesst-aubin279]

I'm glad I found your video. I had everything to set up my ps2 project, but when I found out that winhip was no longer supported I was in a stump. Once I saw this video it brought my confidence up to proceed with it. Only downside was that there wasn't any extra steps on putting ps2 games that were on CDs to go with OPL manager. Looking forward to your next video.

[@barbsfpv3066]

To people going through this process, be aware that HDL Batch Installer uses its own internal name database to name the game ISOs it uploads to your hard drive. You can work around this by unchecking the "use database" option, or go into the settings and set the database to "external." It'll download it's internal database to the same folder as the application and you can edit it in a text editor, to name your games whatever you want to show in the OPL game list.

[@j.a.styles547]

I've watched lots of videos about this, and yours is the clearest and easiest to understand. Thanks.

[@myopiniongoodyouropinionbad]

*DUDE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS* I just want you to know that I followed this to the letter and got it all working. I had everything except a network adapter and I went to a local game shop and the guy was taking one off an old PS2 as I walked up to the counter. I said "Hi, Im looking for...one of those!" He sold it to me for $10 and it was already modified to fit SATA drives and it was an OEM one. I lucked out man.

[@951Aztec]

A question for anyone: we use the HDL Batch Installer to copy .iso files to the ps2-formated hard drive. Then, the next step ~10:49 mark, we use OPL Manager to figure out what artwork to download - and one of the things this program apparently does is rename the .iso files to a name that lines up to the artwork. But how does the art-to-renamed-file work if the files have already been copied to the hard drive? It seems like OPL manager should be run first on the .iso files, rename them if necessary, then use HDL Batch Installer to copy the correctly named files to the hard drive.

[@adamruss656]

Great video. Only noticed two things that could be improved. First bin/cue files need to be converted to .iso to get artwork to be found. Second, while the audio is correct about the size of the drive, your on screen text regarding greater than/less than is backwards

[@TheTrueMerrio]

Thank you so much for this extensive tutorial. Time to give my old PS2 a memory makeover!

[@RadiantEdge027]

Thank you for the guide! Now i can relieve one of the days of video games.

[@blaqsh33p9]

EXCELLENT tutorial!! Followed it to a T and it worked exactly as described. Thank you for the meticulous detail!!

[@Nolley21]

Just finished it up, can't ask for a easier walkthrough.

[@bebop46]

I give up on the idea of a self-contained PS2 gaming console. OPL crashes everytime when using FreeMcBoot HD. Settled with all the games loaded on Internal HD and boot off of memory card . Thanks for this.

[@smozart92]

Thank you so much, this is by far the best tutorial I've found so far, worked perfect on my 50004

[@filevans]

9:40 to fix that, open properties for HDL Batch Installer and in the compatibility tab, tick disable display scaling on high DPI settings and also run this program as an administrator if you want too

[@JLMtime]

Blaine saved me so much time thanks

[@foreverblue96]

This worked a treat, thanks for the clear steps.

[@JohnnieEpic]

Thank you for your video! I had to use a different elf loader to format my 2tb drive but following the rest your video got me setup and running!

[@BangerSoundtracks]

Perfection! Followed it step by step and it works wonderfully. I also chose the most chunky of my old SATA drives to fit in the expansion bay.

[@sassaez]

This is one of the most professional, educacional videos i have ever had the privilege to watch. Congratulations and thank you, cheers from Brazil.

[@gabetronx130]

amazing tutorial, everything still works, thank you Blaine so much. amazing stuff

[@blainelocklair]

Thank you! So glad it was helpful. Enjoy!

[@intelligenceofacertainkind]

17:35. USB drive is called BDM drive in some editions of OPL.

[@cjones9825]

I'm sure someone else mentioned it but at 6:23 you have the wrong symbols. < is less than > is more than but you have them in the wrong places. Should be < 750GB (Less than 750GB) = 1TB (Equal 1TB) > 1TB (Greater than 1TB)

[@codenameTOSTR]

Thank you so much for this guide! I have a very old model PS2 with a dying disk laser and I've wanted to put a hard drive in there for a while. This was very helpful.

[@gouzanzei254]

I put an ssd inside my ps2, everything works perfectly thanks to your tutorial. Great channel.

[@artthoudoge-8458]

How do you delete games from the HDD? I just can't seem to find a way to do it?

[@General_reader]

How do you backup PS1 games with multiple discs?

[@General_reader]

I would really appreciate an answer

[@cbubbb]

Superb video! thanks --- would be nice to have another short vid on how to setup internal saves in the hdd

[@firstletterg]

For future refrence can we skip the artwork procedure if we dont care much for it ? I feel as if i dont need it.

[@firstletterg]

And can you add roms 5+GB with HDL batch installer ?

[@lapapaya5418]

Can you add more games to the hdd without taking the hdd out and hooking it up to a computer?

[@Capnblinski]

The adapter the HDD connects to has screws that fit into the provided holes in the ps2's frame; no need for a plastic or cardboard piece. Also, the HDD should be supported underneath when not installed in the console as it wants to bend from its own weight at the contacts.

[@T200026]

The plastic or cardboard piece is to help it underneath. He does say that.

[@jakehbbs630]

Did this last weekend using this guide and though there was a bit of a hiccup at the end that nearly made the whole process all for not, thankfully everything ended up working out, so thanks a lot! Quick question: In the case that I want to add more roms to the hard drive, do I just have to use HDL and then OPL for the art like in the initial guide or do I have to do a bit more?

[@kallas9318]

Hey Blaine I love your videos. Can you give us a tutorial for multi disc games? Cause I love your way of explanation :)

[@blainelocklair]

Thanks for your compliment! I'll definitely look into it.

[@chorgox]

at 6:44 when you create the partition you type +OPL and the partition is named ++OPL when I create the partition is called just +OPL why ? thanks so much for your amazing work

[@FemboyBlake]

Same here. Anyone know why?

[@ZSapphire_78]

Works great a year later! Thank you!

[@blainelocklair]

Awesome! Thanks, and enjoy! A PS2 with an internal HDD setup is a game changer. :)

[@boredstudent]

I watched one of your other videos where you used Winhiiip and that's what I used. I actually like this method more than using a micro SD card because for that, you need to split these ISO images if they're 4GB or larger. With a HDD you don't need to do that. That and whether it's a micro SD or USB flash drive, they need to be formated to FAT32 and with FAT32 files can't exceed 4GBs

[@hotdogcandy]

WinHiip is outdated so it makes sense why he created a new video.

[@phrtza]

Great guide! I got mine working in no time. I use the Sony original HDD adapter and SD to IDE Adapter (a short IDE extension cable was necessary)

[@planetos]

this tutorial was fantastic! thank you!

[@rBennich]

I appreciate the guide, but it seems that if you've just selected "local ps2 hdd" in the beginning of OPL manager startup, you could just download all the artwork directly to the hdd, without having to mess around with ISOs and folders. That's what i did before i watched this to double check everything. Or am i missing something? Edit: Oh, i see, someone has already mentioned this.

[@AUGUSTIN-MUSIC]

How many minutes does it take to format the HDD? I am using a 500GB one

[@blainelocklair]

Well, it can be kinda slow, as the PS3 uses the old IDE standard from the 90s and early 2000s.

[@staggus]

Brilliant, the best guide out there!

[@thislsbryan]

As helpful as ever Blaine!

[@dennismiller1120]

Very informative and helpful guide... but I have a question. Okay so you are setup and running, but what if you want to add games at a later date? Can you just copy the iso and artwork from an USB stick? Or do you have to remove the HDD from the PS2 and do it on the computer?

[@adamruss656]

Because most iso will not be in correct naming format, I'd suggest taking the drive out of the ps2 and hooking up to the computer to transfer using the same programs.

[@punishedhaidar]

Great tutorial mate, thanks!

[@El_IsraPS2]

9:16 oh. it looks terrible. seems my ancient hardware and low size displays are kinda out of date. ill see what i can do to fix size issues on new release

[@951Aztec]

Looks great now (ver 3.5.1) 👍 Thanks for your work.

[@Jackmiov]

Hey bro do you know whats the problem with my hard drive hdl batch installer cant find my formatted ps2 hdd

[@El_IsraPS2]

@@Jackmiov let me guess... Windows 11?

[@AUGUSTIN-MUSIC]

My ps2 is just not formatting my HDD for some reason. What should I do :(

[@markdomenie5453]

This is amazing. Thanks a lot!

[@thomasbrooksbank1342]

Can someone help me please? I have a WD 1Tb SATA HDD. When I plug into my computer it does not show up in my file explorer. I have gone through disk manager where I see it is unallocated. I set the new volume gave it a letter and it is visible. I then follow the guide and format the hard drive in the PS2 with HDD manager but when I put it back into my computer, it is unallocated again and doesn't show up in file explorer and is not recognized by HDD batch installer. Also when I format the SATA in the ps2 I am missing the __boot folder. Is there any advice or thoughts where this could be going wrong?

[@OCDRex11]

What did you figure out?

[@fuckenps3]

That is normal, once formatted to ps2 type, the drive will no longer show as a folder in Windows. Not sure about your missing boot folder...

[@fuckenps3]

@@xnogta5550 Once the drive is formatted to PS2 type use programs like: HDL Batch Installer PFS BatchKit Manager HDL Dump Helper GUI ...to access the HDD on the pc and install games/art etc. And although the HDD does not show in Windows File Explorer, it DOES in the safely disconnect USB options in the bottom right of Windows. Always remember to safely disconnect your devices! Let me know if this helped you

[@Jackmiov]

​@@fuckenps3no it didnt you just telling me things i already knew

[@joshuawilliams8230]

Some USB enclosures silently change the sector size on HDDs. I don't think I can post links on YT. Google "klennet storage USB adapters silently change the sector size"

[@JosephDanoUrmeneta]

Hi i followed all your instruction but after i formatted my hdd on ps2 and intall all instruction and put it back on my pc it cannot detect my hdd, my hdd is 320 gig, hope you can help me, thanks

[@gregoryberrycone]

everythings working great so far (im at the 18:50 mark in the video) but my (presumably more up to date version) of freemcboot has ulaunchelf replaced with "wlaunchelf 4.43x_isr" and "wlaunchelf 4.43x_isr_hdd" which would should i be using?

[@blainelocklair]

You can absolutely use the most recent version of wlaunchelf for the hdd.

[@cloudzshadow]

@blaine Locklair I was wondering if you might have any fixes if your hdd won't show up in the hard disk drives to add or delete files? I bought the weme 3.0 adaptor but it only shows up in devices and I can't open it.

[@BirdFluorescent]

I have the same problem

[@No1BRC]

thanks so much- helped me a lot :)

[@kkostelnik1]

Will this process work the same for PS1 games?

[@ilyagurenko4190]

dude, you are a legend !

[@Unhinged_cult]

So I formatted the hdd and then I put roms in it and now it’s saying it’s not formatted

[@sticklicious9048]

So, I plug the HDD back in but the HD Loader isnt recognising it. Do I need a docking station? I'm using a sata to usb cable atm.

[@Jackmiov]

I have the same problem my pc in general doesnt detect the hard drive found a Solution? it seems he doesnt respond

[@Zicky420]

I tried everything and it still won’t work, just say’s not a working ps2 hdd.

[@goldenjo996]

It was really helpful, can't wait to modify my own ps2

[@DumDumGamer-l5x]

2024 here and it's so helpfull!!! Thank yoy so much!!!

[@johnmartini29]

What do i do if the hard drive is not detected?

[@Jackmiov]

I got the same problem He doesnt even respond did you find a solution?

[@johnmartini29]

@@Jackmiov I honestly returned everything and used an emulator on my pc

[@slipstreamProfessional]

perfect timing. thank you!

[@Nesukko]

Thanks a lot! Great video!

[@GioRamos0212]

Thank you for this! ❤

[@xelvania1581]

Hi there. AM I able to use an SSD instead of an HDD and follow the same instructions?

[@djjameswyld]

hey thanks you for the video i know its a little old now but just sorting this my self can you tell me i cant seem to get opl manager to see the .bin/.cue games in the CD folder? to download the covers etc can you tell me what im doing wrong?

[@qritique]

convert the bin file to iso with opl manager.

[@djjameswyld]

@@qritique thanks so much. Sorted. :)

[@fauzulhakim9280]

the mr rogers of ps2 modding

[@infraredds]

Can I load PS1 games on to the hard drive as well?

[@cg7734]

What do I do with the opl folder after getting the artwork? Great vid btw

[@nidzwanfaiz]

Did all the steps correctly,but when I launch any game,it just goes black screen,I’ve already enabled all the modes but still black screen,can anyone help?

[@nidzwanfaiz]

Nevermind I’ve just turned the show ps2 logo off on settings,and it worked like a charm,if anyone needs help with blackscreen when opening games,do that

[@CrappyEntertainment]

Hey man, can you do a guide as to what the 4.9.0 update on ps3 is about?

[@T-B_22]

Thanks for the Help !!

[@matthewr1426]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@BebopMansion]

I got a question Blaine, in your video you install the games in the hdd before renaming the files with OPL manager. Isn't it important to have valid filenames for OPL?

[@oAbra_]

I BOUGHT THE SAME HDD AND FOLLOWED THE STEPS TO A POINT, HDL INSTALLER DOESNT PICK UP MY HDD, PLEASE HELP

[@Gunzerker111]

Same

[@JzLyfe]

You have to becareful which cable you are using to connect the harddrive to your pc. I've heard of some changing your settings in the harddrive to 4k sector size setting when it should be 512 sector size. Again if it changed to 4k sector size your ps2 will not work with this setting

[@edgely]

format in the hdl installer. main(top left corner)>format drives(be careful with the names, make sure you know yours)

[@thelpmeetmrshadyfan]

Same I’m hoping it was my sata cable itself and have another ordered for tomorrow

[@prathamkapoor8140]

Format it in fat32

[@WildanAl]

It Was excelent guide really, i just had a question. how to delete the game from the hardrive?

[@VTuber_Clipp3r]

why not ssd

[@I_am_BiG_Al]

9:46 it doesn't show any hard drive?

[@retrogamingmoviemad]

Great video thanks. Mine works great now. Ps2 could do with a bit of a clean mate lol

[@konyassassin4285]

I have 2 questions 1. Can you After all the modding Save your playthrough normaly on a Memory Card ? 2. Can i use for the modding any usb Drive or Must it be the sandisk ? Sorry for my Bad englisch im from Germany

[@volvoguy804]

I'm actually about to do this project soon, but I believe I can answer these questions. 1. Yes, you will need a memory card still to save games. Be aware that some games have trouble saving into the second memory card slot, at least that's what I've heard. 2. I believe his USB flashdrive is his recommendation. There is no guarantee that any flash drive will work, but most likely any brand will be fine. Just make sure it's at least 32gb and formated to FAT32.

[@konyassassin4285]

@@volvoguy804 Thank you very much, you helped me alot. I will also try this project i Look forward if everything will go out fine

[@dnax1698]

Hey Blaine great tutorial. I hope you're working on the update for playing PS1 games on the PS2 cuz people are struggling to get it to work.

[@samuelbanya]

Hey Blaine can you do a tutorial for box art with OPL using a slim PS2 with Ethernet to a Pi?

[@blainelocklair]

It's an intriguing idea. I don't currently have a Pi but am overdue to get one again. I used the last two to build Picoboot GameCube systems. :)

[@raddious]

I followed the instructions verbatim but for some reason OPL will only open when I have the mcboot memory card in the ps2. Using the hdboot without the mcboot memory card inserted won't work for me for some reason.

[@majorgear1021]

I'm using this method since development on the fat32 method stopped a year ago. I doing the file rename in OPL step first so that my game backups had the correct name as soon as possible. Ideally the new names work with HDL Batch Installer, but I'm not far enough along to test that, yet.

[@majorgear1021]

Update. I discovered that if I attached the PS2 formatted drive first, then transfer the games to it, I can put OPL Manager in HDD mode. This makes it so I don't need to rename game files, and can still download the artwork for all of the games on the drive. I definitely like that better than having to rename the disk image files! I also tested transferring game files with the drive connected with a USB to SATA adapter, and with a SATA cable. Surprisingly, the game transfers went the same speed! I was copying them from my NAS over the network, so that might have been part of the reason. Anyway, my games and ART are on hard drive, and the game menu looks great now!

[@lenevormestrand9133]

you got the less/greater than symbols backwardss

[@kennydixon5054]

Thanks so much for this video, Blaine! Would this all be possible with a Chromebook?

[@chorgox]

is only windows software

[@Artimes.]

How do you install Bin/CUE format this is my issue right now. I can't figure this out because there all seperate files. Do you just install the whole folder or just load all the files at once?

[@davidgill7412]

So HDL Batch Installer replaces Winhip. I believe it can also install PS1 VCD's in the __POPS partition on the hard drive. Definitely waiting for a video on that.

[@garylewis6408]

Got a question. On one of your older videos you had a hard drive compatibility chart. WIll any HD work now ? thanks

[@stevenstrader6534]

Is there a way to get artwork for my isos if I already have them installed on a hdd? , or do I have to paste them all to the opl folder In opl manger to get the art work and then reinstall them on my hdd?.