USB Launchelf alternatives

[saintric]

Hi i have been trying for ages to solve this I have a problem where my Launchelf under mass will not read my usb sticks I have tried about 5 or 6 and each time it freezes all i want to do it add an option file to my ps2 memory card I have tried the CDFs where i added the save game onto a cd-r and then on launchelf tried to read the cd to copy and paste it off but it wont read the cd!! it just makes a big noise and spins

im running out of ideas How can i get some data to my ps2 mem card? is there a program i can download to dvd-r and then within that program it might read my USB better than Launchelf does? I downloaded a copy of AR max evo to try use the memeory manager option but im led to believe that you cant load the max memory manager on a backup of ar any ideas anyone please?

[psi88]

have you formatted your usb sticks as FAT32 not NTFS??

[dlanor]

Hi i have been trying for ages to solve this I have a problem where my Launchelf under mass will not read my usb sticks I have tried about 5 or 6 and each time it freezes all i want to do it add an option file to my ps2 memory card I have tried the CDFs where i added the save game onto a cd-r and then on launchelf tried to read the cd to copy and paste it off but it wont read the cd!! it just makes a big noise and spins

An unmodded PS2 is not able to read burned discs.

You don't mention any details about your PS2/PStwo, nor how you boot uLE (==LaunchELF) or other homebrews, which makes it very hard to give relevant advice.

im running out of ideas How can i get some data to my ps2 mem card?

There are lots of different methods, since you can run uLE.

One of them would be to copy files directly from your PC to the PS2 MC through LAN, either by running MISC/PS2Net on the PS2 and then accessing the FTP server of uLE from an FTP client on the PC, or by running a suitable client program (RadHostClient or PS2ClientLoader+ps2client) on the PC and use the uLE FileBrowser to copy stuff from "host:" to "mc0:".

There are other methods too, but in the total absence of information about your PS2 setup (modded or not, homebrew boot method, etc), there is little more I can say right now.

is there a program i can download to dvd-r and then within that program it might read my USB better than Launchelf does?

Are you saying that the PS2 can read burned DVD discs even though it failed with CD discs ? (Possible if you use ESR for DVD disc access.)

In any case, the only way to change how your PS2 software (including uLE) will access USB is by storing alternate USB drivers on the memory card, so you're back where you started again, since getting stuff stored on the PS2 MC was the problem you stated above.

I downloaded a copy of AR max evo to try use the memeory manager option but im led to believe that you cant load the max memory manager on a backup of ar any ideas anyone please?

ARMax is also famous for corrupting the MC content when using that memory manager, so I'd recommend staying away from it.

The question psi88 raised is also relevant, since only FAT32 is supported by the PS2 homebrew drivers. The filesystems NTFS and FAT (==FAT16) will not work at all.

Another thing that will not work at all is a secondary USB partition. So USB sticks with a small bootable CD/FDD emulating partition as primary and a normal storage partition as secondary partition will not work at all. For some such cases (eg: u3 launchpad) it is possible to remove the small extra partition to make the stick work with PS2 homebrews. I had to do this myself with two SanDisk Cruzer units (one 2GB and one 16GB), using the special "launchpadremoval.exe" provided at the SanDisk site.

NB: Do NOT use "launchpadremoval" tools downloaded from other sites than the USB stick manufacturers, since they may be obsolete versions unable to deal with your USB sticks. (One such tool reduced my 16 GB unit to less than 2GB !!! Fortunately I was able to recover using newer tools, but be careful anyway...)

Best regards: dlanor