The BEST Portable Emulation System EVER! (RetroBat)

[@QUADRAXIS666]

Mr. Techdweeb! I recently followed this guide of yours to make a tester on a flash drive and after it all worked great I've bit the bullet and bought this drive (it's Prime Day, was literally the cheapest usb 3.2 drive of that size on amazon!) and I'm making the big boy rom storage / emu drive of my dreams when it gets here on Thursday!!! So thank you!!!!

[@TechDweeb]

That's super generous, thank you so much! Also I'm so glad you found it helpful 😁

[@Cyko..]

This is a really smart idea. I have a few older computers laying around and wanted to make use out of them by installing retro games on them. This is a lot quicker and easier as all I'd have to do is unplug the drive to the other saving hours and days of transfering files, scraping the artwork, etc! I wasn't aware that Retro Bat worked on Windows. Thanks for the helpful video!

[@TechDweeb]

That's the PERFECT use for a drive like this!

[@JoseRueda-x3z]

​@@TechDweebWhat theme do you use in the minutr 11:31?

[@jackdoobie]

Don't buy drugs... hint hint.

[@TechDweeb]

It worked! My subtle hints worked! You fell for my brainwashing like a CHUMP! That's how I say thank you by the way. Mild mannered insults.

[@jackdoobie]

@@TechDweeb I've been called worse by better... many times.

[@mrvandyk]

@TechDweeb I’ve been trying to use my switch SNES classic controller on retrobat but can’t get it to work… tried disabling autoconfigure, manual, all the works and just no luck. Please help out!!

[@billy_naing]

Great video as always. I love seeing the tiny tv running in the background.

[@TechDweeb]

I know right! Love that little guy :D

[@pin00ch]

@@TechDweeb Where did you get iit?? I WANT!

[@pin00ch]

I found it!! SANPAO

[@MegaManNeo]

I'm doing emulation stuff for... I dunno over 20 years but with modern systems (including my SteamDeck) I never thought about using an external drive for all my console/handheld games. Very interesting indeed, it'd save me disk space on my PC's SSD and allow me to play those games on the SteamDeck... well, provided I use a small USB stick anyway.

[@bill5974]

Literally did this instead of making another Batocera drive on a 1TB SSD and it's amazing. I can't recommend Retrobat enough.

[@akima2700]

Another Great video!! 😊can’t wait to see your emulation station guid next!!!

[@dwsonye]

Because of you have an S23 Ultra paired with a Backbone PS edition controller as my hand-held gaming device. Looks like I have another project now. Ty for all this great content!

[@TechDweeb]

Haha that's what I like to hear!

[@ralphmcmahan2139]

The wired controller you mentioned (Yaeye) are great. The 2.4ghz model is nice too.

[@markmaisy4858]

Great video. Plan to do this myself, had loads of rom sets pre Nintendo's purge, dabbled with Hyperspin years ago but found it a pain in the arse, just deleted everything and gave up. Seeing just how far Retrobat, Launchbox and Batocera have come and made a user friendly interface has reignited my interest. Recently purchased two drives from Aliexpress 2&4tb mainly for rom content, I'd sooner have a drive with stuff on I'll actually play!

[@skRapKlan]

Hahah awesome video, as usual! Loving your content dude! These quick to pick up emulation systems are really cool, and getting better and better! Thanks for staying on top of things!

[@TechDweeb]

Thanks for saying so!

[@josephbradshaw6985]

I did this exact thing so I could play on an old offline PC. Eventually I transferred everything to that PC and run it off that hard drive, but I also kept the external HD ready to go for when at friends' houses and such.

[@GKitz211]

As I changed from original systems fluently to emulators at the end of the 90's on Windows 95, I would have not even dreamed of something spectacular like Retrobat. Love it!

[@JD96893]

PERFECT TIMING!!! I just got a usb adapter for my spare Crucial SSD and was thinking 'man, i wish there was an easy way to play my retro games from here without making it a boot drive'. I was just transferring them to it and dumping them in different folders to access easily, but this is waaaaay better! I often jump around using different PCs or my laptop and the one thing holding me back in my retro gaming was the lack of a cloud save function like with steam or GOG galaxy. Also needing to have multiple copies of the same game. This way im not stuck playing X game on the laptop and X game on my desktop! Brilliant!

[@michaeldemers2716]

Thank you. This is perfect for me. I have my favorite ROMS already I just wanted a way to keep my saves together from PC to PC.

[@adamkane7513]

Great tutorial, *TD!* I have been playing MAME & Gens off a portable drive for years now. I am a clumsy fukka so damaged 2 HDDs despite one of them being a Freecom Toughdrive.

[@RadicalRandy98]

Been wanting to do this for awhile now, today is the day for this project.

[@TechDweeb]

Good luck!

[@SaifAli96]

I love this channel, comedy and games at the same time

[@harrison4ever125]

This is exactly what I needed to know right here. Great video sir.

[@gapster77]

This is a great vid 👌🏻 Nice little project.

[@Klimowicznicholas]

Went with your recommendations and bought the 4tb Seagate drive. Thank you. Please make a future video with your setup. Would love to see that.

[@TechDweeb]

I definitely will!

[@nightsquats]

I bring my rp2+ to hotels/motels to hook up to the tv in the room. Mobile setups are extremely valuable! I am Close to getting a "flat" portable moniter for 100% guaranteed mobile solution for upscaling beyond hand-held. I just can't decide on one but when I have the scrilla to attempt it we'll see. Cheers!

[@HAMBURGER-s1l]

Thank you! I want to try RetroBat so I don't have to use some resources from my PC. Fantastic video. Liked and Subscribed. 100% agree...you can't tell where do download roms..or the Ninjas will come after you . Liked and Subscribed. 😁

[@ryanbartlett672]

Thanks. As always, perfect blend of information and humor. The kid-like talk and mannerisms gets me laughing a few times per video.

[@blairlohnes8103]

Is that really how you sound or are you playing a character? These videos are amazing! Can't wait until you hit 100k subs. Keep it up! You're killing it!

[@TechDweeb]

It's 50% me, 50% dweebed up version of me for the character. I have a naturally kinda dweeby voice (my nickname in grade school was "the dweeb"), and I embellish it for the camera :)

[@tiredpinata6363]

“Tiny best set go” has so many roms with box art included if you want to skip the picture process

[@TechDweeb]

☝️

[@scottcrow2127]

Thanks!

[@TechDweeb]

No thank YOU my dude!

[@SenbonKaguya]

Awesome video! I'm a data hoarder, so being able to have a portable drive with all my games on it would be great lol. I have emulators on my PC/Steam Deck, but having something like this would come in handy for sure. Definitely on my to do list in the near future 🙂

[@Seriouslydave]

I used to be too still hang on to old apps etc it's a curse. Used to colle t mp3, then movies, games .... then I realized if you tried to play just 1 game every day it would take 3 lifetimes to get through it so now I mainly stick to top 25 or 100.

[@SNKev411]

Thanks for creating this video I want to setup many drive because I have Roms from an old hard drive to make copies for myself

[@TechDweeb]

Good call

[@SNKev411]

@@TechDweeb TD your legend bro

[@mrams1]

Loved the video. Please make another video to show all the customization which you did

[@TechDweeb]

Will do 👍

[@chadsmith3363]

Love your videos! I always learn something, and they also remind me to take a decongestant :)

[@PankoBreadcrumbs]

I found one of your videos on an Anbernic console I was looking into and I've got to say I love your channel and your energy! I'm subscribing now before your channel really goes and takes off, thanks Tech dweeb!

[@TechDweeb]

Thanks for saying so!

[@BananaGeekLord]

I'm glad KZbin suggested this. I've been using emulators for years, but mostly just on my phone. Recently I've been thinking about getting one of the mini pcs I've been seeing and seeing up something on there. Then I can get rid of some of my old consoles. Really just needed to know which set ups go use, but now I know about reprobat, so I consider this a win.

[@TechDweeb]

Awesome! RetroBat was a 'game changer' when I discovered it. It's really the easiest and funnest way to do emulation on PC.

[@Mosestylez]

Which MiniPC are you thinking to buy?

[@BananaGeekLord]

@Mosestylez I'm not 100% sure. Some have a Ryzen 7 that I could get for $300-400, and seem like they can mostly handle everything. But from the videos I've seen, they could be a bit better with PS3 and Xbox games. Although I'm not sure how much is the emulator and how much is the system. But there are a few with the Ryzen 9, and those tend to be a bit more expensive, yet that extra little boost seems like it might be better in the long run to just save up the extra bit and upgrade to one of those. I've got the PS5 with a disk drive, so I can still play my PS4 games on there. I mostly just want to go up to the PS3 and I'll be happy.

[@Mosestylez]

@@BananaGeekLord I got myself a ASUS PN53 like 2 weeks ago, and I'm already selling it. The fan noise is too dam loud, even on idle. Maybe I'm just picky about the fan noise, but If you want something quiet, don't buy that 😅 For me now, I MIGHT buy the Minisforum UM790 Pro or just wait until AMD releases their next APU lineups (nothing have been confirmed yet).

[@glennshoemake4200]

​@@BananaGeekLordI'm using Onexplayer 5800u handheld and it's fast enough to play ps3 and Technoparrot without any issues. Also able to play some xbox 360 smaller games that aren't too demanding quite well. The Ryzen 7 uses 5800h which draws more power and is slightly faster.

[@rubenrodriguez2590]

Awesome.... Thank you for the video. Loved it. I can't wait to create my own emulation drive.

[@TechDweeb]

Do it!

[@Chomakot]

That cassette disk looks awesome tho

[@TechDweeb]

I plan on sprucing up is drive of mine, stay tuned for the dedicated 'tour' video ;)

[@chrisumali9841]

Thanks for the demo and info, awesome video. Have a great day

[@bigmarkusify]

You should start putting time stamps, that would be great! Thank you your content is top notch btw!

[@TechDweeb]

Good call!

[@silgo7923]

Just built an emulation pc, with wood grain stickers for that VCS vibe… and was thinking about this very subject, perfect timing

[@TechDweeb]

Nice!

[@JWG.LLC_The_Artist]

I love how you filled the gap that Steve left behind all those years ago (watching blue's clues)

[@TechDweeb]

That's wholesome AF

[@bellytelevision]

You're the best, Tech Dweeb!

[@3050cheo]

Your skydiving inside the sewers, you do an ollie 180 on a toilet seat, but you fall in front of the president. What color do you choose for your controller?

[@TechDweeb]

Orange and black stripes. Obviously.

[@baroncalamityplus]

Just FYI to anyone who watches this and doesn't experience an easy setup. Retroarch / Retrobat can be finicky. You aren't crazy, this happens to lots of people. The developers are hobbyist like you and they don't have the resources to cover every possible problem. The FAQ/wiki covers only the most common problems. Reddit retro gaming subs are probably the best place to start looking for an answer.

[@TechDweeb]

Good note!

[@Harie0]

Seconded. I've only used Retroarch, and I frequently have difficulty remembering where the options are. I even had to look up how to change discs for a PS1 game that I was playing. It was... interesting having to "open" and "close" the lid.

[@RETROBAT]

Good video ! Thank you ! ;-)

[@TechDweeb]

Thank YOU for your awesome software! I love to share it :)

[@MrExtahsee]

Just came across ur channel. Love the edits and funny bits and parts, earned urself a new subscriber. Keep it up!

[@TechDweeb]

Thanks for saying so! Welcome!

[@TheCaliMack]

This would simplify my hard drive coz the amount of PS2 games i have atm is eating up my dedicated gaming drive 🤣

[@user-vi4xy1jw7e]

What's the tentacle anime? Asking for a friend.

[@TechDweeb]

Haha I dunno, I just googled "tentacle anime" and it was the first one that came up. It's SFW by the way.

[@HiFiMonki]

Nothing to add this time around. I already knew all this. Just wanted to say I appreciate you. ❤ (😂)

[@TechDweeb]

And I appreciate you saying so!

[@crystal_is_cozy]

This was nice, I’m going to do this tonight!

[@TechDweeb]

I'm around if you need a hand with anything!

[@crystal_is_cozy]

@@TechDweeb thank you ❤️

[@craigrussell3062]

Hey TechDweeb, I got a retro gaming question forya. I bought this thing called a Picade at a thrift shop, which is a mini arcade cabinet with a RaspberryPi mini-computer in it. I designed a bunch of art for the cabinet to make it look like a 90s Ninja Turtles arcade machine, and I want to install some kind of frontend that gets to MAME and/or directly to the TMNT roms without having to navigate a bunch of Raspberry Pi stuff with arcade controllers every time. Any suggestions? Ever mess with RaspberryPi?

[@TechDweeb]

RetroPie should do the job. You can have the device automatically start on the "Mame" section of emulation station, or apparently you can manually edit /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh to automatically start on a specific game (It's in the RetroPie FAQ).

[@craigrussell3062]

@@TechDweeb Oh sweet! I suppose I could have figured it out myself, but I'm not TechDweeb enough. Thank you so much for this answer and all your content! Big fan.

[@johnsmith9205]

Edit: what I said here was about an old build of RetroBat, the new one doesn't have this issue. One issue I have with RetroBat in particular is that it refuses to run if UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation, or User Access Control, depending on how you wanna look at it) is disabled, which some slimming tools for Windows 10 do by default. If they could make that behavior optional, or remove it altogether, RetroBat has great potential.

[@TechDweeb]

Oh really? I have UAC disabled and it works fine for me 🤷‍♂️

[@johnsmith9205]

@@TechDweeb Oh, I have to try a new build then :) Thanks!

[@johnsmith9205]

@@TechDweeb It does work! Thank you so much! Finally a Batocera on Windows without the Batocera! No more need to fiddle with my BIOS settings because I don't want to take the computer apart and replace the dead CMOS battery.

[@776football]

Turtles in time! I was just playing that on my rg35xx

[@TechDweeb]

One of the all-time best beat-em-ups!

[@danhoppy5517]

Great video. I already made a Retrobat drive with all of my favourite games on to swap between my computers, but I should have gone for Batocera instead. Linux Mint and Retrobat are not a good combination!

[@ivancho5854]

I know where you're coming from. Mint is utterly excellent, but then what to do about emulation? I assume that Batocera is more optimized, but that means that a reboot is required. RetroArch isn't the best, hence all of the front ends. It's a dilemma. If only Batocera could run at the same time as Mint and it were possible to jump back and forth in windows between them. I'm dreaming I suppose. All the best Dan.

[@littergamer]

I wish we can do this on arcade box or stick game or whatever his name

[@TallDarkRetro]

Retrobat has come a long way since version 6. I switch between this and launchbox, only because some of the harder to emulate stuff is just easier on launchbox. Retrobat has a hard time with batch files and you don't have the same level of control as you would with launchbox. But retrobat is great for things that are automatically set up per emulator

[@nathankean7968]

So basically you can play anything your computer can handle? Are there any good resources for what computer specs are needed for some of the higher end systems?

[@TechDweeb]

That's right! I have a 3-part video series that goes over what type of emulation you can do on various levels of hardware: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g53YY4d5ZqeEZrM (check the description for the other parts). Hope that helps!

[@nathankean7968]

I got everything up and running on my ryzen based pc and i have sound in the front end but not the games. Any idea? @@TechDweeb

[@nathankean7968]

FAQ got it straight for me

[@ShadowMax2K]

Thank you for the great video, there's times of ROMS comes with none friendly custom title names that Boxart/video/Title will not detect/recognise, it somehow need to be cleaned to make it ready, let alone duplicates to be removed/moved to a separate folder to make emulation experience better. 🤔

[@TechDweeb]

I would recommend grabbing rom sets that only have good naming conventions, no reason to mess around with poorly named rom files.

[@Harie0]

Good video. Seeing one of your other videos got me thinking about the a dedicated mobile HDD. It's neat, but it doesn't really do well for me. All but one of my PCs are in one room. The one is an arcade cabinet geared toward... well arcade games. My ideal ROM set would have more RPGs. I could still do it though. I have a low power, passively cooled (fanless thus quiet), PC that is on all the time serving as a Jukebox with Plex. I have it hooked to my main Monitor, so I can use it easy enough. I haven't tried it too hard, but I don't think it would over heat on long play sessions. Anything PS2 or more is pretty much off the table though. The thing is also the same size as a portable HDD. I could than swap to my gaming PC for anything more demanding. While Mechanical HDDs are the cheapest and fast enough, I, personally, won't be using it. I had one to easily transfer large file transfers, but kept dropping it. Being butterfingered and wire management is a pain. I have a smaller, but still relatively large, USB stick now. I'd rather use an external 2.5 or nvme drive, but it can serve as startup. Still, there's lots of ways to do this stuff, and I really like it. I only played with a keyboard when I was a kid. My family didn't have the internet for awhile, so my friend supplied me with some ROMS. A few had to be zipped across a few floppies. That was our version of smuggling illegal stuff.🤣

[@TechDweeb]

I played with the keyboard A TON when I was younger too. And some games are actually GREAT on keyboard. SHMUPS for instance, I can do amazing with the keypad on a keyboard. RPGs are totally fine too.

[@markracer3281]

You are absolutely brilliant!!! Thank you...🙂

[@TechDweeb]

Aw shucks 😊

[@mobypixel]

Great video! This seems like it might be tricky to setup for Mac, but I haven’t checked.

[@TechDweeb]

Yeah it probably wouldn't work on a mac. I don't think there are many frontend options for the mac tbh. The best one I know about is OpenEmu. No reason you couldn't set that up on an external drive.

[@mobypixel]

Thanks! I use OpenEmu currently. I’ll give it a go!

[@adammackenzie]

Love your sweater.. I want one ! Game on everyone..

[@Nathanialjg]

Could I plug this right into a TV? Or does it have to be a computer?

[@TechDweeb]

Nah, you'll need a computer. But it can be any computer really. Any laptop or cheap mini PC (like the ones I've shown on my channel) will do the job.

[@layol692k7]

@TechDweeb I love this video and it is spot on you sir have earned me as a subscriber keep up the great work

[@TechDweeb]

Thanks and welcome!

[@jackdoobie]

Nice bedroom reveal TD.

[@TechDweeb]

Also my tighty whities 🩲

[@mikemells1642]

Create A batocera walkthrough on setting up all the console from Atari up to ps2 and xbox 360

[@justarandomguy8822]

Lmao. The Nintendo lawyer ninjas will put you in so much debt you’ll wish they just cut off your fingers.

[@74bobby]

For those who Dont Know SD Cards have a Tendency to fail in time... Plug in Hard Drives are a safer Option in My Opinion...

[@CaptButtonMash]

Thank you, TechDweeb!

[@JaRew]

Good job KZbin algorithm! This was a fun first watch. New subscriber here! Hope to follow along and do this myself soon.

[@TechDweeb]

Glad we found each other 🤓

[@mvanalst2003]

Top shelf stuff here. Thank you, sir! I’m enjoying your content daily now, just like I do with ETA Prime and Retro Game Corps. You’re awesome. Can you tell us what keyboard you’re using and if it’s a winner? It looks interesting. And I’m curious.

[@TechDweeb]

Thanks for saying so buddy! This is the Keychron K10. And I am DEFINITELY happy with it. My fav keyboard I've used! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3zWmHp_p5V4j7s

[@mvanalst2003]

@@TechDweeb thank you so much! I saw that video, but brain farted. Plus it looks like you’ve customized yours and I didn’t place it. I’ll definitely consider it, and if I buy, I’ll use your link.

[@Bendilin]

I don't want an emulation drive but I want to watch you make an emulation drive So it all works out in the end

[@TechDweeb]

That's the next best thing to making your own!

[@MergedElement]

Love this stuff.

[@MiBrCo4177]

just found an old WD 1tb external I was going to use for my hacked ps3, but this seems much more appropriate lol. would free up my 1tb m.2 with all my roms and stuff on it from ps1/ps2. 680gb worth of games from ps1/ps2 alone, plus a few from SNES, GBA and SEGA thrown in for good measure.

[@Agumon5]

When we going to get the Tech Dweeb "TD" branded retro consoles? You got to capitalize on your fame and start a partnership with Miyoo or Anbernic for a custom Tech Dweeb handheld. Pull a Soulja Boy!

[@TechDweeb]

I don't think any of those companies would want to work with me, I'd be pretty picky that it'd have to be PERFECT!

[@Agumon5]

​​@@TechDweebI thought you loved the RG35XX... ??? Slap a Dweeb logo on that sucker, get a transparent orange shell and call it a day. ;)

[@martyfenwick5339]

Truth! Created a 500GB usb drive with over 2400 games like Wii, Gamecube, Xbox & 360, etc. Works Great.

[@0Akeldama0]

so you'd plug in the drive, navigate to it, and open retrobat? Then close retrobat? Would you have to eject the drive? Thanks, good video

[@TechDweeb]

Yup that's right. You can make a shortcut to retrobat.exe and put that in the root level of the drive. You should always eject drives properly before unplugging them (I never do though! :P)

[@garystinten9339]

Buildng my emulation desk.. so this will be very helpful.

[@pellcorp]

Many computers can boot from a USB device so batocera is still a good choice I think, certainly no need to install anything on each pc you want to use your ssd

[@TechDweeb]

I just hate having to close all my applications and reboot the computer to play some games (and then I don't have access to windows features like being able to pull up a browser). Batocera is good for dedicated emulation machines, but not great for a drive like this. IMO.

[@pellcorp]

It means you have to install that software on every machine you want to use the drive, and would this rely on windows assigning the same Drive letter every time the disk is attached to the host?

[@ivancho5854]

​@@TechDweebDo you know of anything similar that would work in Linux Mint (apart from RetroArch) by any chance? Batocera is great, but like yourself I value being able to open a browser. Thanks Dweeb. 👍

[@pellcorp]

hmm so batocera just uses emulation station, so theoretically should be able to setup emulation station on your mint installation, I wonder if it would be possible to use a portable version of emulation station that gets installed to the usb hdd, and so you could then switch between linux PCs and run emulation station from the HDD rather than needing to install it and point emulation station at your HDD. i also use linux exclusively, so I would be a bit interested in this as well.

[@drgonzo1402]

Out of all the controllers I have tested the PS4 is the best one. compatibility with Bluetooth is easy and most importantly you get motion control which the Xbox lacks and switch pro controllers have Bluetooth issues.

[@zipeee1]

Yup. Motion controls are great. But some windows games still only work with xinput/xbox controllers unless I use steam input or ds4windows.

[@TechDweeb]

I grabbed a used PS4 controller off FB, never tried one before but I'm glad I did - I love it!

[@lesterparedes8358]

So, I started doing this for my wife and my son walks over while I'm trying setting things up and now they want their own. So, this weekend, I gotta set up 3 hdds with retrobat! So far, it's been pretty easy. My only issue is with .m3u files, as retrobat still sees the multi disc games, even though I've placed the. In their own folder. Am I missing a step here? I make a .txt file, place the name of the bin/cue or iso or chd files in order exactly as their file counterparts, each on their own line. Then, I move the multidisc games to their own folder, copy the file path and paste that in front of each line in the txt doc, save, change the .txt to .m3u. But the multi disc's still show up when looking at my library. Help me Tech Dweeb! What (most likely simple) thing am I missing? At least I got the .m3u creation down, as they work just and boot fine.

[@lesterparedes8358]

Figured it out. Had to "Hide" the disc's and leave the .m3u file. Also, pcsx2 doesn't support .m3u files in retrobat. Now my problem is PCSX2 running slow, despite PCSX2 standalone running flawlessly. Time to research that!

[@lesterparedes8358]

I had to update PCSX2. The one Retrobat installed was old. Lol. Everything runs great!

[@TechDweeb]

Glad you got it sorted! Hope the fam loves it 🤓

[@lesterparedes8358]

@TechDweeb They do! Thanks for assisting me by introducing me to Retrobat. I always thought it was a Linux only thing

[@kayealexv.g.]

Dumb question and maybe I am overthinking it. But If I were to say buy a drive [not saying I am] And it were to have Retrobat and roms on it, theoretically would saving the titles be as easy as say dragging and dropping them into a secondary storage system? TLDR do I need to clone a prebuilt drive or can I just drag and drop?

[@TechDweeb]

YUP! It's that easy :)

[@JoseRueda-x3z]

What theme do you use in the minutr 11:31?

[@curcapsicum]

What would be the downside of doing this with a larger flash/thumb drive? Sidenote great video :D I'm totally going to do this.

[@TechDweeb]

The only downside is the physical size of the device and the fact that bigger devices are more expensive. No performance downside though.

[@curcapsicum]

@@TechDweeb Sweet, I might do that instead if I can find a cheaper but larger storage flash/thumb drive. I'd definitely do a specific set of games for each system so I don't need a TON of space.

[@pleasuretokill]

​@@TechDweeb0⁰

[@PanelsPagesPixels]

Great video TechDweeb! I’ve been slowly going through the same process personally for the last few weeks after getting burned out a bit on all the imperfect builds/images and ways to play the same games and disconnect on the connectivity of those experiences - gotta DIY for it to be perfect for you as an individual as you said. I started with a 2 TB external Samsung SSD and have both Retrobat and Launchbox. Any advantages from your perspective to use an SSD over an HDD from a tech standpoint or not really? Prices are ok I guess - but not at higher TBs so I may switch the whole thing over to a 4/5 TB Xbox external Seagate HDD same one you have (just gonna delete my currently usesless XBOX One library). Looking forward to seeing your finalized setup down the line 👍🏽🙌🏾

[@TechDweeb]

Thanks buddy! I'm with ya. So frustrating when a device comes along that does a lot of things right but then ends up needing so much tinkering that it just ends up being quicker to do yourself :P Not really much of an advantage to going with SSD to be honest, it only really affects load times and it only affects the really high end stuff like PS3, and even then it doesn't make that much of a difference. Oh copying your rom files over, that'd be quicker. But not with the premium price IMO. 4tb is a great size. You can get all the old stuff including PS1, dreamcast, saturn, and gamecube, and tons of ps2 and the higher end stuff. Final tour video will definitely happen, I have a fun idea to spruce up the shell too :)

[@Harie0]

Games load quick regardless and either work fine. If an HDD idles from not being used, you'll have to wait for it to spin up again, which isn't long. That won't even happen if you plug it in and start playing. In most cases, SSDs are faster, but I wouldn't say either are a draw back. I think the only cases where an HDD can be faster is when they are filled up, but even then, it depends on the HDD and SDD. I have a PS2 with an HDD in it and it is faster than the disc by far.

[@lenniskovgaard8278]

I really wan’t to make such a 4 or 5 tb HDD as this. I don’t have a pc at the moment, and thought of getting a Mini PC to use this with. BUT when I look at Mini PC’s is says that they only suppet 2TB HDD?? Can that really be true 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@lenniskovgaard8278]

I really wan’t to make such a 4 or 5 tb HDD as this. I don’t have a pc at the moment, and thought of getting a Mini PC to use this with. BUT when I look at Mini PC’s is says that they only support Max 2TB HDD?? Can that really be true 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@TechDweeb]

That probably refers to internal NVME SSD's.

[@josephbradshaw6985]

Bought a thumb drive shaped like a kitty cat's head (meow), making a drive for playing with my nieces. Yes, I have pink USB controllers.

[@TechDweeb]

I approve

[@jeroquai3170]

What a great video 😊 Many thanks. I was kinda lost with my Super Console x2pro, not knowing on what system i should upgrade. Now i‘m clear for a Beelink SER5 and my own 4TB Retrobat Drive. Not sure how to use my old Gamecube and Wii-Controller. Are there any USB-Adapters??

[@TechDweeb]

Yup you can get an adapter kit to use OG gamecube controllers on PC

[@gmrgrl09]

What's that little TV Gadet you got with gameplay screensavers?

[@TechDweeb]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZDdZqaea9R8grs

[@OCDRex11]

Good vid my man! Now, if there was a way to make this work with a tv?! You said this is an operating system in it's own. Could a modern smart TV read this USB drive as an OS? I doubt it but I want to try. There has to be a way to bridge this to a TV. But, I know that the PC is doing all the heavy lifting and is completely necessary. Guess I could just run a long HDMI to my TV but that isn't fun. Or I could move the PC next to the TV and that isn't fun. I just want to get away from Raspberry Pi builds. I know I can build a small emulation system too. My lazy side just wants a HD plug and play for a TV.

[@TechDweeb]

Best bet for running this on a TV is to use a cheap MiniPC (I've reviewed a few, but there are cheaper options). That's what I use for emulation on my TV.

[@omarguerrero6417]

I want to do something like this but with my steam games and other launcher games

[@TechDweeb]

You can do that! I'll make a video about it asap!

[@kurtisschwartz9870]

Not your fingers! Damn those Nintendo lawyer ninjas!!

[@Kiyoshi_9606]

@TechDweeb, any Front Ends that can run on Android TV? I liked having Android-based front end for my phone+controller, tablet+projector, TV, computer, etc., and shift around... but I think only Sony supports Android TV apks via Google Play (and LG and Samsung don't?)...

[@PopCultureGamers]

Loved the video - I want to do this with a Sinden Lightgun

[@TechDweeb]

I have one! I'm going to be making a video very soon :)

[@PopCultureGamers]

@@TechDweeb I will look forward to that one!

[@PopCultureGamers]

@@TechDweebBy the way, have you checked out the Evercade EXP handheld and VS consoles?

[@hb221984]

just strange telling me with psx games that my bios file is missing .... put it in the bios folder did i do somthing wrong there ? can't find any faq where some one has the same problem

[@TechDweeb]

Probably has something to do with the file name. If it's just the warning you can ignore it (there's actually a way to turn off the warning). YOu don't need the bios file for most of the PS1 cores (I use PCSX Rearmed, no bios needed).

[@AndySomething]

What's the pro's of Batocera then if you can just get Retrobat and not require the portable drive to be booted? Is it more performative because the hardware is only running what's on the drive, and not also what might be running on your PC?

[@TechDweeb]

The performance is a bit better on Batocera in some systems but not others. Overall it's barely any different. The main benefit to Batocera is that you boot to it. So if you have a PC that is a dedicated emulation console, it makes more sense because then you don't have windows running in the background, giving you updates and popups or whatever. If you want an emulation operating system, to use a PC as an emulation console, go with Batocera. If you just want to RUN emulation from your current pc but want to also use it for PC stuff, then go with Retrobat.

[@AndySomething]

@@TechDweeb Thank you for the response! Yeah, I have been looking into a mini pc as a dedicated emulation console; so I'd go Batocera for that. But I also picked up a 4tb portable SSD recently; so sounds like since I'd want to plug that into different PC's it makes more sense to use Retrobat as I won't have to deal with with booting into it each time I plug it in? 😅

[@marccaselle8108]

When i ttied scraping boxart with batocera, i got a copyrigut flag by my isp. Now if i could transfer my boxart from retropie on my pi3b+ to retrobat, that would be cool.

[@TechDweeb]

That's nuts! I've never heard of an ISP giving copyright flags for scraping box art. That's a load of crap, actually. Nothing illegal about box art images! What a world...

[@leelee7334]

I know a few years ago, you would get a warning if you were using phone internet.

[@marccaselle8108]

@@TechDweeb this time I'm using a free vpn before I scraped anything so I will see how this goes. So far so good. Update! I'm using retrobat and a free vpn. I was able to scrape all the boxart I want and no problems from my ISP.

[@RunescapeMeister-san]

I'm ashamed that I recognized everything in both of the "anime" screencaps.

[@afistfulofpimples1745]

I didn't

[@zemaduvant8676]

I wanna get the 96tb for an archive.

[@TechDweeb]

I'm with ya

[@jfvira9844]

Here for the learning!!!

[@TechDweeb]

🎓

[@cocktailzombie]

Quick question can those kinhank hdds be used as a source of roms rather than downloading them yourself? Can you copy individual roms and or folders from them onto another hdd?

[@TechDweeb]

Definitely!

[@TheFrenchy82]

Nice video! I just discovered your channel . A quick question : no word about the speed of your HDD : 5400 ? 7200 ? SSD ? I know that doesn't matter for old systems (NES? SNES, Megadrive,...), but .. what about systems with CD or DVD games ???

[@TechDweeb]

Not sure about the speed (I assume it's 7200), but it will likely not be a problem. The speed is fine, even for loading CD or DVD games. If you want as quick as possible you'll want an external SSD, but the price difference does not make it worth it IMO, I don't mind using a mechanical external drive.

[@TheFrenchy82]

@@TechDweeb Thanks for your expertise !! 🙂