Questions about Original Datel 16MB

[Hakugin]

Hello,
I have a few questions about the original grey (non-max) datel 16mb memory cards that came with the Memory Card Manager disc (these were released shortly after the ps2 itself). For a general description of the memory card, its again, Grey, has a black raised up label that simply states 16MB Memory Card with the old Datel logo, which is the I with the 2 crescent lines forming a circle around it. (I will most likely post a few pics of it when I can find my camera's memory stick lol)

I have searched the forums to attempt finding answers to this to no avail (even tried google, but google just gives me shopping results for the newer datel max memory series). To get to the point after my seemingly pointless (albiet sleep deprived, for other reasons) rant, the disc that came with the memory card no longer works (I am not requesting a link or anything to an iso for one) and I would like to find another way of getting this old memory card working again. I have tried codebreaker, it sadly does not recognize it, as well as trying to use action replay max (both original 3.0 version and evo), the issue I run into is when booting from the action replay disc(s) I cannot seem to get ulaunchElf to run afterwards. I have tried installing the action replay max images onto my internal harddrive so I can load them via hdloader or open ps2 loader (both offical/stable .7 release and the beta revisions up to 427), but I then run into an issue of not being able to load any games after that lol.
See the issues I am running into?
There I went ranting again, sorry...
Basically here are my actual questions:
Would there be a way of creating an ARMax elf file (havent found one in my searches yet) that I can load before opening up OPS2L or HDLoader so I can use the memory card within the games?
or possibly..
Hacking the memory card itself to allow it to be viewable to the ps2 without software?

Those are my primary concerns.. a secondary concern is..
I have taken the casing off this memory card and found that while it is labelled 16MB on the outside there is a chip inside labelled "Datel, Asic Magic 32MB, 0210H3C" and another labelled "SanDisk, S2082241, SDTNFAH-128, 231744, Taiwan" (the Taiwan part of the labelling has its obvious reasons for being there). The reason for the internal description is, I have not worked with IC Chips for a long time and do not know if it would be possible or not to hack the memory card to take full advantage of the 32MB chip, if it is indeed meaning it can store up to 32MB that is. If it is then I wouldn't taking a crack at it lmao.

My apologies for the long post, tried to fit as many details as possible to ensure that I tried to make some sense. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
-Hakugin (or simply Gin will do)

--info being added, just finished reading another thread regarding the ARMax Evo..
I am currently testing a theory of taking an elf file from the ARMax disc itself to be able to at least transfer files back and forth from the memory card, but still would not be able to natively view it elsewhere.. will edit this post again with the results unless someone replies first.

[dlanor]

@Hakugin:
To be honest, I think you should give up on that obsolete junk.
It was garbage to begin with, though motivated by the lack of good large MCs back then.
But in this day and age there is no motivation at all for having an MC without 'MagicGate'.

Because that is at the root of the problem here, its total lack of a real MagicGate implementation, and without this it can never function as a normal PS2 MC.

What you really ought to do, if you have anything of value stored on that card, is to attempt finding (even borrowing) another of those access discs, so you can retrieve the gamesaves to backup (like using uLE to psuPaste them to a USB drive), and then just scrap the card, replacing it with a modern MaxMemory unit.


As for your size speculations, your guess that the internal capacity is 32MB is probably correct. One of my own Datel cards (later generation, with MagicGate) was also marked and formatted as 16MB, but after homebrew reformatting it regained its true 32MB size.

Apparently Datel never made any 16MB hardware for that series, but used the same chips and PCBs for both the 16MB and 32MB models, with the only difference being that the former were formatted to use only half the available capacity...


However, in your case the point is moot, as you can never equip that MC with MagicGate functionality, without which it remains useless junk, regardless of the storage size.

Best regards: dlanor

[Hakugin]

Thanks for the information, I feared it was pretty much a small paperweight, and based on what you have told me I am guessing the magicgate on the newer cards happens to be part of the chip itself. Which honestly gives me ideas on how it might be possible to get magicgate onto the chip (though its a really slim chance lmao). I will however keep trying to get the original Memory Card Manager disc working or work on finding a new one so I can try saving the game saves from it to usb or the partition I have set on the internal harddrive for backing up game saves, pics and elf files.

[JNABK]

I have one of those Datel "Dongle" MCs too and i can tell you the PS2 will never be able to read it without the Datel software running from disc. These "MC dongles" were made before Datel understood how to mimic the MagicGate. Mines now collecting dust in a drawer....err, actually i dont know where it is anymore.