Random game freezes. TOSHIBA MK1032GSX enclosed in NexStar TX

[Xiphias3]

Hi all~

Im using a TOSHIBA MK1032GSX (2.5" SATA Drive) enclosed in a NexStar TX 2.5-Inch SATA tο USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (y cable) with OPL 0.7 and PS2 ESDL and currently playing Resident Evil 4 and DOA2 Hardcore. The game runs flawlessly, but it freezes randomly from time to time. I did some research and did the follwing:

1) Format as NTFS
2) Format as FAT32 with 32KB cluster size (its a 100 GB Drive)
3) Enable write caching
4) Install Resident Evil 4 with USB Util 2.0
5) Install Resident Evil 4 with PS2 ESDL Game installer
6) Defrag drive with Asuslogics Disk Defrag

PS2 Info:
SCPH-300001
Serial: U
Lens: Completely dead

Im guessing its a USB incompatability and i should probably give up, but im just curious if anyone has anything to add. Also, when i run OPL 0.8 latest, it corrupts the HDD.
Thanks for your time, it is appreciated.

[LopoTRI]

1) Format as NTFS

If you play over USB, then your HDD must be formatted to FAT32....

4) Install Resident Evil 4 with USB Util 2.0
5) Install Resident Evil 4 with PS2 ESDL Game installer

You can try it with USBUtil 2.0 ~ 2.1 for more compatibility.....
With PS2DCDUMP (PS2ESDL-Installer) you don´t need to install. Just run the game with PS2ESDL.....

6) Format drive with Asuslogics Disk Defrag

I think you would say to defrag the games with that, cause with OPL and USB the games must be defragmented.....

And if OPL0.8 corrupts the HDD, try to delet first your config-file from 0.7

[SP193]

Hi all~

Im using a TOSHIBA MK1032GSX (2.5" SATA Drive) enclosed in a NexStar TX 2.5-Inch SATA tο USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (y cable) with OPL 0.7 and PS2 ESDL and currently playing Resident Evil 4 and DOA2 Hardcore. The game runs flawlessly, but it freezes randomly from time to time. I did some research and did the follwing:

1) Format as NTFS
2) Format as FAT32 with 32KB cluster size (its a 100 GB Drive)
3) Enable write caching
4) Install Resident Evil 4 with USB Util 2.0
5) Install Resident Evil 4 with PS2 ESDL Game installer
6) Format drive with Asuslogics Disk Defrag

PS2 Info:
SCPH-300001
Serial: U
Lens: Completely dead

Im guessing its a USB incompatability and i should probably give up, but im just curious if anyone has anything to add. Also, when i run OPL 0.8 latest, it corrupts the HDD.
Thanks for your time, it is appreciated.

DOA2: Hardcore should work with no problems on all loaders (Even USBExtreme lol...). Try to redump your game from the disc.

Point #3 you mentioned only affects the disk under Windows.

The game must be absolutely not fragmented, and the filesystem of the disk must not have filesystem errors (Run a disk check).

NTFS is not a supported filesystem by any USB-device game loader.

Does your console have a modchip? Try to disable it if it has one.

[Xiphias3]

Thanks for the replies!

For the first 2 steps I used the guide over at openps2loader's site.
"The recommened method is to first format the drive with Windows to the NTFS file system , to ensure you have full use of the drive space"
That's why I first formatted the drive as NTFS, then FAT32.

You can try it with USBUtil 2.0 ~ 2.1 for more compatibility.....

Ill try USBUtil 2.1. I figure the UI should be the same as 2.0 so i should be able to figure it out. (Or is there an english version?)

With PS2DCDUMP (PS2ESDL-Installer) you don´t need to install. Just run the game with PS2ESDL.....

Hmmm.. i read the ISO performance is a little worse, because of format overhead. Plus, the size of RE4 ISO is more than 4GB so it wont work with the FAT32 FS.
I've had best luck with the ESDL format. Resident Evil 4 froze multiple times after the knife fight with Krauser when Saddler was babbling.
However, I installed the game with ESDL Game installer (*.pdi) and was able to pass that part. Great work SP193!
Ill look into USBUtils "Ripping" option and mess with that.

And if OPL0.8 corrupts the HDD, try to delet first your config-file from 0.7

Ill try that, thanks.

The game must be absolutely not fragmented, and the filesystem of the disk must not have filesystem errors (Run a disk check).

I made a typo on the last step. I meant "Defrag drive with Asuslogics Disk Defrag," not Format. I read a post you made in the ESDL thread and recommended Asuslogics Disk Defrag so I used it.
ScanDisk reports no errors. Or should i use another app?

Does your console have a modchip? Try to disable it if it has one.

Nope. Wanted to hard mod, but had to buy FCMB since the guy stopped soldering.

In other news, I tried Ar Tonelico II. I couldn't test much since it froze during the FMV, however, the FMV ran ok with minor skips.