Transferring files from PS2 to Vista PC

[stebo]

Morning,

I have a load of Music and Photos stored on my PS2 that I would like to transfer to my Vista PC. Transferring stuff via USB to an external HDD and then to the PC has proved very slow and tedious. As both are connected via my router, is there a way I can transfer the files via my network?

Many thanks in advance,

Stebo

[dlanor]

I have a load of Music and Photos stored on my PS2 that I would like to transfer to my Vista PC. Transferring stuff via USB to an external HDD and then to the PC has proved very slow and tedious. As both are connected via my router, is there a way I can transfer the files via my network?

I know from your previous posts that you are aware of uLE and its built-in FTP server, which should be one way of copying files between the PC and PS2, though not the most efficient method. The best way would be to run PS2ClientLoader at the PC end and access it through the "host:" device in uLE. This gives much better speed (appx 1450 kbytes/sec) than FTP, and allows you to treat the PC much as any other storage device connected to the PS2.

Two potential problems:

1: You'll need to edit LAUNCHELF.CNF manually to change a config variable from "NET_HOSTwrite = 0" to "NET_HOSTwrite = 1", so as to enable write access to "host:" in uLE. (By default disabled as a safety measure.)

2: I'm not sure if (or how well) PS2Client and PS2ClientLoader will work under Vista, though there should be some XP compatibility mode that lets old network clients work.

Best regards: dlanor

[stebo]

As always dlanor, you da man! Cheers for the speedy response. Will let you know how I get on

[deba5er]

I use Vista to transfer (read and write) using the ULE host: and latest ps2client. I did not have much luck with ps2clientloader. It would spawn multiple instances of ps2client on the PC side and I never could tweak it to stop taking up all cpu resources for these orphaned ps2clients. It never had this problem on XP. However, the solution for me was to simply switch to using radhostclient, which only spawns one instance. The ULE host: connection is in my opinion the most convenient and reliable of the ways you can transfer data. The host: needs to have time to connect to the PC, so when you go into host: the first time in a session you have to wait a few seconds, go back, then re-enter host: in ULE to see the directories on the PC. This has always been normal behavior for host: for me. Is this about right dlanor?

As a side note (not Vista related, but router brand related):
I've also noted with my crappy D-LINK router that sometimes I have to ping the PS2 from the PC to get it to connect. I've had to go into the D-LINK web interface and ping the PS2 on my girlfriend's configuration from the ping tool on the router. There are known arp table maintenance issues with these routers.

Hope this helps!

[dlanor]

I use Vista to transfer (read and write) using the ULE host: and latest ps2client. I did not have much luck with ps2clientloader. It would spawn multiple instances of ps2client on the PC side and I never could tweak it to stop taking up all cpu resources for these orphaned ps2clients. It never had this problem on XP. However, the solution for me was to simply switch to using radhostclient, which only spawns one instance.

That's odd, as I've found RadHostClient less reliable than PS2ClientLoader, especially when it comes to detecting server loss when launching one host-supporting elf from another, like when launching SMS from uLE. But it is true that PS2CL can 'get stuck' sometimes, consuming lots of CPU time to no avail. Usually this has turned out to be due to some failure to terminate an instance of PS2Client, as seen in the XP task manager.

NB:
----- starting rant mode -----
I don't use Vista myself, nor do I have any plans ever to do so.
Vista is a rip-off release, in the sense that it was created only in order to trick old customers into paying new money. It does have some new features, of course, but nothing adding sufficient new functionality to motivate an upgrade. Many of the 'new' features don't add any new functionality at all, but merely do old things in a new way. And often that in itself is a source of incompatibility.
----- ending rant mode -----

The ULE host: connection is in my opinion the most convenient and reliable of the ways you can transfer data. The host: needs to have time to connect to the PC, so when you go into host: the first time in a session you have to wait a few seconds, go back, then re-enter host: in ULE to see the directories on the PC. This has always been normal behavior for host: for me. Is this about right dlanor?

Yes, this is correct behaviour. It's not just a matter of time delay, but rather that the PS2 must open the server (done on the first attempt to browse into "host:") before the PC-side client can connect to it. And it is only after those two events that a new attempt to browse into "host:" can result in seeing the files on the PC. We could automate it like in SMS, but that would just confuse everyone who's used to the traditional method in uLE.

As a side note (not Vista related, but router brand related):
I've also noted with my crappy D-LINK router that sometimes I have to ping the PS2 from the PC to get it to connect. I've had to go into the D-LINK web interface and ping the PS2 on my girlfriend's configuration from the ping tool on the router. There are known arp table maintenance issues with these routers.

Too true. I have two routers on my LAN, with one of them being a D-Link, and on some occasions I even have to power-cycle it, forcing a complete restart to make it realize that old routes should be replaced by new ones. But here it is probably getting extra confused by the fact that I alternately use two different consoles with the same static IP. So the router is having trouble sometimes reassociating that IP with a different MAC address...

Best regards: dlanor

[stebo]

OK, so I installed RafHostClient on my PC and was able to browse all the files on my PC from uLE. I then changed the LAUNCHELF.CNF to "NET_HOSTwrite = 1" and reloaded uLE. However it would still only allow me to copy files from the PC to the PS2 and not the other way around. Am I missing something? (knowing me and my network skills I'm probably missing something glaringly obvious)

[dlanor]

OK, so I installed RafHostClient on my PC and was able to browse all the files on my PC from uLE. I then changed the LAUNCHELF.CNF to "NET_HOSTwrite = 1" and reloaded uLE. However it would still only allow me to copy files from the PC to the PS2 and not the other way around. Am I missing something? (knowing me and my network skills I'm probably missing something glaringly obvious)

I'm not sure what version of RadHostClient you found. Older versions had no support for write access to the PC, and I'm not sure in what version that was added. But you should try to find the latest version you can, to take advantage of any other improvements too. The latest one I have is v1.8a, which works fine here.

Best regards: dlanor

[stebo]

Yeah the first one I found was v1.8a so have just tried that so far. Will have another go with PS2Client this week and see if that makes a difference