4 Unrelated Questions (WinHiip, HDD's, backup compatibility, etc.)

Hi!

I hope it's okay - I didn't want to spam the forum, so I just am putting all my questions in one thread instead of starting four different ones.

I searched around but couldn't find the answers I was looking for. I know they must be out there somewhere, so I'm sorry I to ask, but I gave it a try both through Google and through this forum's search engine and kept getting tons of unrelated posts...


1) Have any of you guys ever had an HDD in your PS2 fail or experience corrupted data? If so, about how long did it take from when you first installed it to when that happened? I just want to know what kind of schedule I should keep for backing up my PS2 HDD.

2) If I decide that I want to clear off some space on my PS2 HDD for new games, will it work out all right if I just copy off the game (from my PS2 HDD to my PC HDD) then delete it from the PS2 HDD, then scan/repair the drive with WinHiip, and then add new games like usual? Or will this cause fragmenting that will impair compatibility? I have "Reduce Fragmentation" on for EVERY game that I put on, but it seems to me that I would HAVE to cause fragmentation because deleting a game would blank out a certain number of sectors on the hard-drive that another game wouldn't fit exactly into. Therefore, it would have to skip ahead to find a place to put the rest of the data that wouldn't fit, in front of the other games "ahead" of it in the series of partitions, thus splitting a game between two greatly seperated sectors. Does that make sense? So I just want to make sure that this is safe to do before I do it.

3) If I have a game that requires a disc to be swapped in and out at some point, can I use HDL .8c for it, or does it absolutely require ESR?

4) Do ESR-patched images work in HDL .8c? If not, then do I have to go to all the trouble of backing up my retail disc all over again, or is there some means by which to "unpatch" the game, setting it back to a PS2 mode image instead of a DVD-Video mode image? (I think that's how ESR patching works, but if not then you still know what I mean...)

Okay that's it, thanks a million, you guys are awesome! :)

4) Yes, one down side though is that cd to dvd conversions will take up more space than the original cd as it carries over the dummy data file.

1.Never had this problem till now(hope I never will)but I'm using hdd for only 3 months till now and why should you backup your PS2 hdd if you can install your games again by just using your disks?

2.You can delete games using HDloader,WinHIIP or any other program that support that feature but those are recommended and ones you delete some game the space that was required for the game that you delete will turn to fragments and those fragments will be used when you install a new game...there wont be any problem(except when you installing DVD9 game).I have 47 games on my HDD and delete/installed for 3 mounts till now more than 15 games and I don't have any problem with the hdd or the game even that some of the games uses sectors from all over the hdd.

3.Playing games from hdd wont allow you to do this...most of the games allows you to make save when you have to load the next disk,so just make a save,reset your PS2,run hdloader,load the second disk and load your save.

4.I don't know about that because I've never even tried ESR but why it's trouble backing up all of your retail discs all over again,you still need to backup(make a ISO)the game or use your disk to install the game so I don't see what's the problem here,just use your retail discs

Hi, thanks for the replies.

Well, I'll admit it upfront, one of my considerations throughout all of this is that, being hard up for cash, I've backed up all of my games and then sold as many as I can. So in most cases, while I do have images taken from retail discs that I bought, those discs have since gone to Craigslist or Gamestop, preventing me from getting another "virgin" image of them. I can still borrow a few back from some friends that I sold/gave discs too, but there are others that I'll never see again.

I thought that it was a sound strategy, a win-win for me and the buyer alike - but that was before I knew enough to foresee some inevitable problems.


As for the games that require a swap, one example that comes to mind immediately is Monster Rancher. In that game, you're expected to swap out discs, and the game itself scans the disc which you entered. So I've got it on my HDD now and wanted to know if I should delete it from my HDD and put it on ESR instead; I haven't tested it yet to see if it works with swaps when booted through HDL, as I have not yet tracked down the kind of screwdriver needed to re-align my Network Adapter's connectors so that they fit my HDD.


I do have several DVD9 games that are already on my HDD, and perhaps one or two more that will go on it later. Will they be okay so long as I add them at the end of the series rather than in the middle?


Okay, thanks again, take care, bye.