PS2 Play Games From HDD SATA Hard Drive Complete Guide

[@timmorris6456]

THANK YOU! This is exactly what I was looking for. Really clear and concise. I appreciate that! This should be the first video that pops up when people search for free mcboot

[@retrogamingmaniac]

The PS2 is my favorite console, I'll definitely be trying this out! Awesome video!

[@sinistermoon]

I've had Free McBoot for years now, but I just run images off a USB flash drive. I've been meaning to do all of this, so I'm glad your video is here! Super cool video!

[@aliwashere81]

Thank you so much. Everything worked for me except initially I couldn't find an OPL folder in HDD to paste the ART folder. To fix this, you have to go into OPL and set it up, along with Display Setting (e.g. turn on Enable Cover Art, etc.) this forces OPL to create the necessary folders in the HDD. Then you can go back into ELF and proceed with copy/pasting the ART folder from your USB to HDD. Just posting this in case someone else runs into the same problem I did. Again, this tutorial is FANTASTIC and turned by $10 garage sale PS2 into a gold mine of retro gaming!

[@El_IsraPS2]

That's because what you call OPL folder is actually a PARTITION, (Wich in my opinion should be made with uLaunchELF to set the size you want, since partition extension corrupts them)

[@demonofelru3214]

Thanks that worked!

[@CrashLove37]

Thanks for posting this! I couldn't find it either

[@ravenloverfr6110]

Thank you so much you saved my life

[@VampireHunter666]

I think the problem with using that cardboard is your harddrive will overheat in summer temperatures, the reason why it was left open was to allow cooling which prolongues all electronic equipment life, but i like your mcguver style edits lol

[@RippahRooJizah]

@Fake Account Well ventilation is worth more than simply an air conditioned room. Also just saying air conditioning implies not only whether or not one has one, but you also have to consider other environmental issues as well.

[@Yukanhayt-Mhenow]

I put two small strips of foam tape down each side for the drive to slide in on, it works well

[@peppermintpig974]

If you use a SATA drive you won't have to worry about drive compatibility as long as you have a HDD adapter with a SATA port. I performed a SATA conversion to my official PS2 Network/HDD adapter. Put a 500gb SSD in there. Not that load times are a problem, but I really wanted it to be low power/heat producing as well.

[@DaveMcGarry]

Brilliant Blaine this is JUST the tutorial I needed.. Had all these parts sat around for ages just not done anything with them. Going to set this up for my 6 year old son who is just getting into gaming 🎮

[@brunkonjaa]

"step aside son, daddy needs to check something quickly..."................daddy 6 years later "oh, yeah, im still cheking something"

[@DaveMcGarry]

@@brunkonjaa ha yeah I get it 😉

[@KaibaSeto.]

@@DaveMcGarry Pretty sure he meant that as that you'd be playing with ps2 instead of your son,you know,as a joke

[@DaveMcGarry]

@@KaibaSeto. oh you're right! Whoops

[@paulkyrby]

Thanks, Blaine! Really love how you went through the steps. Now to find my PS2 and give this a go.

[@jerednorman4265]

This is the best tatorial on this I have seen. Nice job. I think it would be awesome if you did a video about putting ps1 games on the ps2 hdd.

[@EddieTheComicGuy]

So because of you and these great videos, I just brought a PS2 and everything else I needed to relive my younger days with this awesome machine!!! (thanks for the links in the description by the way) I can’t wait to play!!!

[@bigyo3385]

Did everything work?

[@EddieTheComicGuy]

@@bigyo3385 I got everything up and running!!! the only thing I couldn't get running was the pop starter for PS1 games...

[@cako7139]

Important: At 12:13 the ISOs you choose, rename them and remove the SLUS_203.28. stuff because later at 20:25 you just have the game name in the Menu like Tekken 4 instead of SLUS_203.28. Tekken 4. Yes the games are still gonna work and yes the Arts are gonna show up as well.

[@johnmecca9008]

Makes it look cleaner.

[@alexandercastillo5133]

In OPL itself it allows you to rename the game file if you forgot to do it on the PC.

[@SilverxXCrown]

For anyone wondering, why the "ART" folder on the usb drive doesn't show up when plugged in to the PS2: First plug in the empty USB drive and start OPL. OPL will then create the folder structure including ART folder on the USB drive. THEN plug it back into your PC and copy the files into the ART folder. Afterwards it will be recognised correctly by the PS2.

[@Liar587]

Thank you so much. It's probably the best video about ps2 HDD setup :D

[@murraykriner9425]

Definitely look further into this. My nephew who is a serious gamer had never heard of this feature and I bought the console from him. Once I get my desktop running again I'll have to chase down all the gear to get this done. Nice job on the walk-through. Thanks.

[@ethelmonk]

Man i love this hobby. Thanks for your help. Thumbs up

[@MrStupidlook]

This video is great. Thanks so much! I ordered what I need from the links your provided and will be setting this up tomorrow. I can't wait!

[@Paddelui]

Just used this video to install a hdd with OPL to my PS2 successfully. Thank you!

[@barebarekun161]

Phew that was rather hard for a non PC guy like me. But I did it with another $25 bucks spent on SATA to USB adapter and a Seagate Barracuda 80GB SATA HDD. The game tested with great results not as smooth as playing on disc though yes the loading time are faster but when the game loads the video and music will stutters a bit not perfectly smooth like on disc it can be anything from game not being 100% compatible or HDD spec or the game were poorly ripped. I don't know if I can do it and the HDD I used were not on the compatibility site that's why I played it safe and an older cheaper lower capacity 3.5 inch HDD and it's 7200 RPM. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@rolandblazevic403]

Hi Blaine, great work, finally got the artwork to work on the PS2 hard drive. I use a USB cable to connect to the laptop, and it connects fine, you just don't see it when you go to Windows Explorer. Thanks again

[@victoriemini]

Blaine you inspire me!

[@sharathsunil8479]

thanks blaine! it was really helpful. all the best :)

[@alexb151]

This was the clearest guide on youtube any chance you've done one using HDL Dumb as well. Can't find any guide videos on that

[@Rager74x]

This is the best PS2 mod video I've found! Thanks Blaine!

[@GatitushLatino]

Looks like someone was using the swap magic on that Fatty! Lol great video dude.

[@TechWithSean]

Would this work with an SSD? And does OPL seen .bin/.cue images or would they need to be converted to ISOs?

[@Bobaheisenberg]

Bruh! PS2 is so old that it would be a waste of an SSD to do that.. It wouldn't make it any faster than a HDD would.

[@SuperSayianSmitty]

i cant seem to see my flash drive when i go into mass. its formatted into fat32 and then i put the art folder in the root of my usb. can you tell me what im doing wrong?

[@carlangelo653]

I've had a lot of issues trying to use several WD drives, and I've only gotten a few to work. The drives that worked best for me were seagate drives, so everyone's millage may vary. If you're having issues and can't figure out which, it might be because of the drive so try changing it.

[@impopio4987]

@@blainelocklair can u make new video on this? but this time instead of winhiip, hdl batch installer instead..since the said program is active and has a github.. requesting TUT video thanks

[@kicknw1ng223]

Awesome video bro thanks for making this easier

[@Larry]

is there a maximum drive size you can use?

[@bsteph95]

2TB

[@jayzee2634]

@@bsteph95 apparently with 2tb, there may be some issues so it’s best to go with a 1tb maximum

[@xne14gax26]

Hallo you

[@constantgrievance9201]

from my looking around online 1tb is the soft limit, with 2tb being possible but apparently there's some weird stuff that has to be done to make it work

[@user-bv3yv6yn1z]

Winhip has 256 games max limit.(hd loader 48 bit,hdd sata 1tb )Can it be possible to fill in all space hdd,bypass limitation?

[@bonsaiocean]

Thank you so much for making this! You are a hero in 2021

[@randomretroplays3123]

Great tutorial, very helpful and easy to follow 👍

[@jordangabrielle9261]

I know this is 3 years old and you may not see this but thank you so much

[@kaiser1963]

OPL causes audio issues on fmv hdloader is better and dosent have that issue but hdloader dosent work when u install FMCHDB (FREEMCHDDBOOT)on it why is that?

[@Karls_Clips]

thank you so much for a really indepth installation video, i followed your instructions and am about to test it on my ps2 once the games finish installing, i have tried using memory sticks to play games but most seem to crash after awhile. i cant wait to re enjoy alot of my ps2 games i still have to this day.

[@TopherPettitGaming]

Hey Blaine, the only step I'm having a problem with is the art folder transfer. Did you create the OPL folders on the hard drive via playstation or were the automated with some program?

[@sergioquintero8801]

you probably figured it out by now since your comment is 4 months old, but you need to launch OPL and then once youre there exit or restart the ps2 and then go into launch elf and the opl+ folder should be there now.

[@ryansweigart2098]

@@sergioquintero8801 Hey man. So I just did what you advised them to do and it didn't work for me. Would you possibly have any other solutions up your sleeve?

[@luke070610]

Great video! Thanks! Is there a method to boot directly from the hard drive without using a memory card?

[@Bozar069]

I just got a PS2 off ebay to do this with and I was pretty surprised how expensive they are now. Atleast 2-3x what they were going for the last time I had one.

[@rs1n]

This is fine for a handful of games. But when you have a large collection, and games with multiple discs or multiple games in a series, you will run into problems with name collision. In your video, your file names include the game IDs which help with the name collision, but then creates a new problem: alpha-sorting is pretty much useless inside OPL's games menu. I recommend ditching Winhiip altogether (it's old, buggy, and limited in features). Instead, use HDL BATCH and OPL BATCH to install the games and artwork/VMCs/etc. respectively.

[@CrashLove37]

Great advice, WinHiip gave an estimate of 12 hours to move all my games, but HDL Batch did it in 2.5 hours, PLUS it automatically fixed the names so they were sorted alphabetically. Definitely take HDL over WinHiip.

[@10p_b3_cruzyumie.6]

i saw the opening screen and i cried...thank you

[@APOL1000]

Best tutorial I found. Thank you, man.

[@paulm64]

Hi! Great video! 👍 I followed your instructions and it worked great! I used hdload to copy my real disc's to the hdd.

[@uiiemotsome]

Very Entertaining sirrr haha. After I watched this I missed my ps2 to operate it again even though already had pcsx2 emulator.

[@MrTotallyPointless]

Thanks man this is another great one! I have one question everything worked great although when I go into ulaunchelf to move my art files there is no partition named +OPL to transfer to. It has stumped me. Any insight would be great thanks again for the great tutorial

[@muzaidy]

I have the exact same problem, no OPL partition to copy the art to. Did you solve it? If yes . Please share.

[@steverogers8163]

@@muzaidy He skipped a step. You need to go into the OPL on the PS2 first and make those changes and save. Once you've done that the OPL folder is added to the HDD. Now you can add the art files.

[@nr4864]

@@steverogers8163 Make *what* changes? Please elaborate

[@synrge1909]

im following your tutorial to the letter and when I go into LaunchELF to copy the ART folder to hdd0 I have no +OPL/, what have I done wrong?

[@JoshHatfield]

I like these videos because it's like Bulldog from Frasier is helping me.

[@jozztv1661]

Blaine I'm glad you got rid of the cap looks better now

[@mvl71]

Time to dust off my PS2. I already have a hdd built in using the original hdd/network adapter, but the games menu looks very sparse, just the title nothing more. Your menu looks fantastic with all the artwork and such. I'm definitely going to have a look at that. Thanks for the videos!

[@janbiela8596]

Thanks for the tutorial :) I have a question though: I tried to find the HDD you recommended and could only find the WD10EZEX Caviar BLUE. Is this the same one as in your list?

[@thebungisound810]

Sounds like an interesting project to do! specially because those chinese hdd adapters are really cheap for the wonders they do, thanks for the video!

[@Astolfo2001]

Amazing! I better keep this in mind when I get my PS2 back from the movers.... :)

[@relaxedgamingplaythroughs7879]

Great guide and presentation Blaine, do you know if it is possible to get PlayStation 1 games working in conjunction with this method? Thanks

[@James-uv3bi]

Blaine, first off thank you for your videos. Your tutorials are second to none! I have a question I hope you can help me with... I have followed this guide completely, but when I play games through OPL it doesn't recognize controller port 2. The strange thing is, the analog stick light, lights up, indicating to me that it is getting power...I've swapped the controllers (I have 2, both work in port 1) But no games recognize the 2nd controller. My question is, is this a problem that I need to fix in the settings of freemcboot? I have built this PlayStation to play with family and friends and it really bums me out that it doesn't recognize the controller. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks

[@juanc.3372]

Love your channel

[@brianhawk955]

Will this work for all PS2 ISO's? I remember trying this years ago, but instead loaded the ISO's from a USB drive and they either wouldn't load at all or they would stutter.

[@kelvintuanpham4508]

I cant see OPL folder on Hard drive, what is wrong?

[@DanVanDam]

if i had the moneyi would totally do this for my blue disc games, its a pain to play my games anymore if the game is blue, due to the thing spinning in the tray :(

[@rabendranath]

Thank you so much Blaine for this great video!! Currently adding games to the HDD and waiting for the PS2 adapter to pass customs to finish the final step ;)

[@rockykhan6338]

Rabendarnarh your parcel coming from China??

[@rabendranath]

@@rockykhan6338 That's right my friend, I received my package 2 days ago, it only took 10 days for it to arrive, so I was surprised it didn't take longer. The adapter works great as well as my HDD, so I'm very happy.

[@rockykhan6338]

@@rabendranath buddy I'm from India I'm waiting for my parcel since June the parcel is still at hong Kong airport flight haven't took off

[@rabendranath]

@@rockykhan6338 Aw man that's too bad, I'm from Chile, I bought my adapter from a well established local website (Mercado Libre, think of it as a Chilean eBay) and they took care of the customs paperwork, since that website is well-known all the packages arrive in short time. Where did you buy your adapter from?

[@rockykhan6338]

@@rabendranathactually I haven't bought the adaptor my ps2 set is full.. I bought a memory flash drive its still stuck in Hong Kong waiting for customs to clear It it seems Indian customs are not allowing the imports and causing delay due to recent China India clashes in laddakh

[@edmaster93]

Amazing tutorial, i have request, have you tried to play some japanese games on it ? I having a hard time with th picture that shake in the game just with hard drive. Burned in a dvd or played thru usb doesn't have that problem, just un hdd. My ps2 has the latest version of freemcboot and a chip matrix.

[@rooskiwolf1653]

I believe Mod Chips play havoc with HDDs. I have 2 PS2, one modded, one not. I always had problems using a HDD on the one with the DMS4 Lite, but the stock PS2 I have never has a problem.

[@AEG201rs]

Does the original ps2 hdd adapter works? Or I have to buy the adapter that you have.

[@Manic_Panic]

It's not recommended to use WinHiip anymore. The software is extremely outdated and you won't be able to fill 1-2TB hard drives since it's limited by 255 games. HDL Batch is easier, up to date, has no limits and recommended to use now.

[@dice138]

Hey Blaine, first of all, thx for the video. I ran into a problem when tried to run fmcb on my fat ps2. I wish this msg will reach you and you'd be able to help. Actually, I've been running fmcb card with version 1.966 on my other ps2(slim) and the card was multiple install when first formatted. So I am using the same fmcb to run this fat ps2. I followed every step in your video and I even use the same WD hdd you recommended. Everything went smooth until when I get everything plugged into my fat ps2(hdd, fmcb card and the thumb drive). I turned on the ps2 and the free mcboot logo pop up for 2 seconds. And then it went dark. I waited for at least 2 mins and it still couldn't load up the start up menu. I tried several times with both memory card slots and it still couldn't work. At first, I thought it's the hdd. So I unplugged the hdd and start again. But it still wouldn't work. Then it shouldn't be the hdd problem at least up to this point. I even took out the fmcb card and restart just to make sure the machine itself works properly since it's been sitting there for few months. And of course, it works fine. Then I re-inserted the fmcb card and it went dark again. Now I have to assume it's the fmcb. But like I said, the card has been using on other machine. I tested it and it's works perfectly right before I used it on the fat ps2. I really don't understand what happened. And fyi, my ps2 was hard moded also(actually so was my slim one and it had no problem with the card). Do you thing that has anything to do with the problem? Please help me out!!! Thx.

[@Christosseventy7]

Thank you for such an easy to follow video. Is there a preference in using SATA or IDE HDD?

[@1upoverboss500]

Wow!! Thanks blaine!

[@reidall23]

Does the SATA to PS2 HDD Adapter that you suggest come with a network port adapter? The description that Amazon gives says no...but in the picture there is a network port adapter shown on the back. If it doesn't come with a network adapter, may I substitute the Leagy SSPH 10350 to use instead? If not, could you suggest an adapter that does have network capability? I am having trouble with the chart. I have the WD10EZEX, and all of the other devices that you suggest. Please forgive me if this is a really ignorant question...I am very new to the modding scene. Thank in advance for any help you can give.

[@retro-gamingemulated8203]

Fantastic video I have over 1000 ps2 games on my P.C my question is can you only import iso files or will it read bin and cue files, once again fantastic content.

[@Wh1teD3ath]

Great option since Ps2 games have skyrocketed very recently. Completed my Silent Hill and Fatal Frame collection but games such as, Kuon and Rule of Rose are astrononomical as far as pricing.

[@user-cg7tn2gs5d]

You shouldn't pay more than the new price man, we have to prevent ps2 games from over pricing

[@UmadPushSquare]

Hi Blaine, quick question I can’t seem to get any madden or ncaa ps2 games in progressive mode (only 1080 I) using gsm! I am using actual disc do u think that’s the problem because I’ve seen people be able to get madden in 1080 p thank u

[@robbygrant6358]

I did all the steps but i have no +OPL folder on Hard drive to add art to.

[@omoshioine]

Thank you for the guide.

[@ayellowbeard]

Once I get passed OPL on HDD in 139 steps I might do this!

[@debutchi]

anyone else experience trouble where the hdd requires you to initialize it every time you plug it into your computer? im using the exact same hdd as in this video but every time i add a game to it, plug it into my ps2 to test it out, and then plug it back into my computer it pops up in disk management as saying it needs to initialized and does not appear in winhiip even though i have initialized it a few times already i essentially have to format my hdd every time i connect it to my computer and put games back on it all over again?? does anyone have a solution for this?

[@BeckoningSage]

Were you able to solve this? Having the same issue as well.

[@debutchi]

@@BeckoningSage i havent messed with it since i made that comment lol im sure u could make a post on reddit and someone there could help u out, im just too lazy to want to make an account. let me know if u manage to figure it out tho!

[@TerrionCarter]

I used HDL to format my HDD and installed game from disc inside the PS2. Game played fine. Connected HDD to PC and it's not being recognized, even following these steps.

[@kipper2k]

old but goody thread, i haven't found any info on adding art for PS2 games in CD format, OPL manager only appears to fetch DVD titles, is there a "howto" for this. Thx

[@michaelp4491]

Great guide, thanks.

[@Xanduur]

I have the original FFXI HHD kit. The drive is only 40GB, but I’ll give this a try

[@ozzyozcorn]

If I'm not using a usb what do I do in the settings to open the OPL and do I set the HDD to what if I'm not using a usb? I just bought a custom one made on Ebay, I don't wanna mess anything up doing the initial setup when I just need the OPL launcher and not the usb at all, do I just go straight to the hdd and select it

[@singo7427]

thanks for Complete Guide

[@kode4420]

Thank you so much for the great video.

[@ALXLYN]

Hi Blaine. What theme are using on project Eris here? It looks great

[@bman8363]

Hi Blaine, I have heard ppl say you can use a 2tb hdd although winhiip has a size limit. Will you consider doing a tutorial on 2tb hdd using hdl dumper or hdl dumb ?

[@PoutingTrevor]

Read my comment above. It'll tell you how.

[@bman8363]

@@PoutingTrevor Thanks for the reply. I am not sure which comment you are referring to

[@VampireHunter666]

what happens when copying games using winhip and copying around 40 games you get err duplicate message on disk 2 of the game and it skips that disk?

[@austematicthatragic4352]

no

[@rs1n]

Ditch Winhiip (outdated, buggy, limited, and cannot handle games with similar names) and use HDL BATCH 1.15.

[@CaseTheCorvetteMan]

Don't use cardboard, use rubber or plastic. Cardboard is combustible.

[@Key_C0de]

Hello Blaine. Why do you prefer playing games from an HDD?

[@Concreteowl]

I have a problem. My PC isn't supported by the manufacturer anymore and the existing drivers only support 800x600 resolution. When I try to get the art as a batch process the GUI loads up but it's stretched across the screen and the fields for clicking on on the right side are not accessible. I don't know if there is a way around that. Short of doing that I could manually search for art but I don't know what the naming convention in the art folder is or the file type. Looks like . PNG am I right? Are the named the same as the game file?

[@jerardjohnson803]

I am trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can't format Drive 2, which says PS2. I keep getting an error message, but I can fomat Drive 0, which is the same drive as Drive 2, but when I go through the remaining steps and plug it into the PS2, it doesn't find any games. It's frustrating me, and all I want to play is Def Jam fight for NY...lol

[@VampireHunter666]

How do you get McBoot FMCB 1.966 the one i downloaded comes with Japanese installation language and I don't know what I'm doing

[@PoutingTrevor]

You'll need to buy a memory card already loaded with the software from somewhere like eBay. Once you have one you can update the software yourself, download new apps, and make multiple memory cards containing FreeMcBoot.

[@SolidNate99]

Hello, it looks like I bought one of these with everything pre installed including the free mcboot. Is there a way to transfer games from a USB flash drive to the hard drive? Or is that too easy :) Also, it sounds like you were using a simple USB cable from your computer to the PS2 to transfer the games from the computer to the PS2. Is that correct?

[@VampireHunter666]

Won't you need to plug in a SATA built into your ps2 motherboard changing from its current IDE plugin?

[@PoutingTrevor]

If you have an official Network/HDD adapter, you need a conversion kit. Look for 'SATA Upgrade Adapter for Sony PS2 PlayStation2 Repair Network Official Adaptor' on eBay.

[@hartfordsmoke]

I'm stuck at the part where you have to format the drive in winhip. When i select format an error shows up saying "There has been a problem writing to the destination hard drive" what do i do

[@mrJalisco70]

So do we just put a regular MC in slot 2 if we wanna save our games?

[@tomg5187]

You are my hero sir! I recommend anyone look up “hdlbatch” a handy little program to quickly (very quickly) install numerous games to a ps2 hard drive :). Thanks again matey :) heres a youtube high five! :P

[@JagGentlemann]

Hi, I'm planning on getting a PS2. Is the HDD compatibility so strict? I have enough with 250GB, but most of the HDDs in that list have some sort or issue.

[@julian_requiem4929]

I have a question, my disc management is not letting me initialize my disc. What is wrong with it?

[@HeadlockedGaming]

Hello, does anyone know how to clone a ps2 hard drive for backing up in case first fails?

[@thebasementonlinegaming5394]

could you also use an external hd connected with usb ?

[@king_usagi2545]

I bought a hard drive from someone that had most the games I want but some of them don't run. Does this also help with "fixing" the problem if I just re-download the game onto it?

[@jonathansuarez8221]

have a 2TB 3.5 WD BLUE, I have it connected that way to my PC, and WinHiip can recognize the drive there. It doesn't show the correct space though under select drive, (-184gb) and when I set the options up and go to format the drive the drop down menu doesn't have 48bit.

[@uliseschavez8371]

Thanks man everything work but my games don’t show like yours in my just show the case of the game and black in the background

[@Straight_pipe_memes]

Can you post a video on how to get zip or another extraction software that’s safe to download