Swapping HDD between two different PS2s

**modicullus** · 12-14-2004,04:19 PM

Is it possible to take a HDD that has been formatted and HDLoader installed on one PS2, and put it into a different PS2 to install games?

The reason I'm wondering, is basically so I could load my backups using my modded PS2 onto a HDD from an unmodified PS2. Hope this makes sense...

Or are the HDDs formatted or whatever specifically to work only with one PS2? I think I had seen something within the System Configuration save on the MC (or someplace) that had a file something like 'Machine ID'. Or does patching the HDLoader remove any sort of check that prevents this?

**omegatron** · 12-14-2004,04:23 PM

no you will be fine with no mod to the hdd or loader you can swap them...

**modicullus** · 12-14-2004,04:27 PM

Cool... thanks for the info omegatron.

**omegatron** · 12-14-2004,05:02 PM

any time

**bungiefan** · 12-16-2004,10:17 AM

The only data on a hard drive in the PS2 that gets keyed to a specific PS2 is any program that is bootable from the HDD from the Browser without a disc. HDLoader and programs it installs do not fit that description. I move my drive between my US and Japanese systems for various installations, and also use friends drives to install imports for them. The only odd behaviour is that the license agreement appears when you boot HDLoader with a hard drive that was last booted on a different system, but you don't need to reformat at all and you game list will be intact and fully functional.

**modicullus** · 12-16-2004,10:35 AM

Thanks for the extra info bungiefan. Good to know - as I might have to load a backup of Star Wars Battlefront for a fella using my modded machine because the image has to be rebuilt.

Cheers

**modicullus** · 12-16-2004,09:30 PM

Hey fellas,...I was just loading some of those backups onto the harddrive and the third game kept giving me the 'not enough space' error (which there is plenty of space - there was only two other games installed on a 120GB HDD). I eventually reset the PS2 and when HDLoader rebooted, the two games that I had installed before are gone!

I've tried rebooting a bunch of times, tried using the disc version and MC version of HDLoader, fired up DW$ Format tool and it doesn't show any partitions (actually, it doesn't show anything). When I FTP into it, it also doesn't show anything. This was a brand-spanking new drive as well.

Do you guys know what the hell may have happened? I certainly don't want to give this HDD to a customer if it's doing this.

Also, is there a way to re-format the HDD without connecting it to a PC (I don't have easy access to my IDE connections on my PC).

*edit* - just found a post where a fella mentioned to hold R1, R2, L1 & L2 while HDloader is booting and it'll rebuilt the list of game. Just tried this, but it didn't work.

**bigbongbasher** · 12-16-2004,11:55 PM

put the hard drive in a pc and let winhiip rebuild the list

**omegatron** · 12-17-2004,12:06 AM

i get that error sometimes but i just reboot and it goes away... as for the r1 r2 l1 l2 thing never heard of that before but try win hiip

**modicullus** · 12-17-2004,02:12 AM

Can winhiip do this via network? As it would be an absolute pain in the a$$ to connect the HDD to my PC.

I've tried rebooting it about 6 different times - trying different things each time, but it didn't make a difference.

User Tag List

Thread: Swapping HDD between two different PS2s

Tweet

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display


	Would you like to get all the new info from PSX-Scene in your email each day? Subscribe to our Daily Digest! Want to learn more about the team keeping you up to date with the latest scene news? Read about them now! Check out our Developer bios, too!