PSTwo HD Connect (or similar) - are they still around?

[Fluffy]

As per my title, I'm looking for a HD Connect or otherwise to add an IDE connector to my V12 PSTwo. I'd prefer going the easy route rather than soldering everything myself.

Also, in case it piques anyone's interest, this is potentially for a PS2P.....

*edit*

Forgot to mention, I emailed XCM yesterday about their HD Connect, and only got the response of "they are out of stock".

[samjc3]

if you are making a portable out of it, wire it yourself. it doesnt make sense to have the adaptor in there taking up space, plus you would want a 2.5" harddrive, not a 3.5"

[Lord_Turkey]

Everywhere I've seen HD connect or HD Combo are also out of stock or offer the ability to pay now and they'll order in the product.

I emailed the makers of HD Combo despite their site not being updated in quite some time and three weeks later have yet to recieve a reply.

[Fluffy]

I emailed the makers of HD Combo despite their site not being updated in quite some time and three weeks later have yet to recieve a reply.

Good to know. Despite only being interested in the little cable to simplify my soldering, I would've probably bought a HD Combo anyway. I think I'll start on wiring it myself soon. Hmm, now I need a smaller tip for my iron. That, and I probably shouldn't use my butane iron...

samjc3: I've got something in mind, so a regular IDE connector would work fine for me.

[Lord_Turkey]

I made further enquirys.

Still no reply from HD Combo.com but I asked an online store that claimed to stock it only for them to tell me they were also out of stock; I then managed to find their chinese supplier, although they're minimum order ammount is 50 units (can we gang together 50 people who wanna pay for one?) I've asked if they do make them individually (no harm in asking)

I know its possible to wire up your own IDE connectors but I like the enclosure of theirs (the reason why I dont like HD Connect) rather then leaving the hard drive ontop of the PS2 or whatever and still requiring its own power input.

[Fluffy]

I only wanted the HD Connect or whatever to reduce possibility of errors. Like I said, this is for a portable, so the case would be pointless for me (though if I could still buy a HD Combo, I would just for the connector).

I've gone ahead and soldered a 80-pin IDE in mine, with no luck so far. Anyone know an easy way of testing this? I've checked continuity on all my solder joints and they seem to be ok (already fixed some human errors). HD loader and uLaunchELF don't detect the drive, and I'm booting from the memory card (no mod chip). The drive is already PS2 format, with games on it, and worked in my old V7 PS2, so that's kinda ruled out.

Lord_Turkey: For curiosity's sake, how much did the supplier want for 50? I'm sure I could find a home for a few of them... Also, do you have a link for them?

Tried to attach a pic of my progress, but it didn't work (no worky on mac?) so I'll try again in the morning. Also will try another drive, just in case...

[Lord_Turkey]

Fluffy I`ll Check My Bookmarks When Im At My University Computer (only internet access at the moment is the PSP) I Want A HD Combo So Badly To "Upgrade" My Fat PS2 Into A More Portable System; Slim PS2, Joytech Screen, HD Combo Etc If Your Using A Hard drive larger then 300GBs HDLoader Needs To Be Patched To Detect It As The PS2 - Network Thing Limits The Max Size, Im Having Issues With My 500GB Being Reconized At All... Again Its Formatted With Games

[Lord_Turkey]

http://www.made-in-china.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; search for "HD Combo for PS2"

[Fluffy]

Awesome! Thanks for the link, Lord_Turkey!

[Lord_Turkey]

No Problemo, I Just Hope One Of Us Can Have Some Sucess - Gotta Be A Few Hidden In Some Stock Room Somewhere

[Fluffy]

Lord_Turkey: I checked out that link to psxboy.com you sent me. $33 US is ok, but the $23 US Shipping is not. I believe it was $28 shipping to the North/West Europe, so it's probably not worth it for you either...

Also, I've made a second attempt using 30ga magnet wire, and it still doesn't work. This time I decided to remove the resistors that were there, as I saw on this post that he removed them from his.

HDloader 0.8C hangs on me, even if I don't have a drive connected. ULaunchELF hangs on anything that loads the HDD Modules. ExecFTPs doesn't hang, but shows a blank folder for the HD. I'm running FMCB 1.8 on my V12/V13, in case anyone wants to know. Naturally, I don't think it's a software problem, since when I tried the same memory card on the same PS2 before this mod, HDL told me there was no drive, but didn't hang.

Anyone have any suggestions? Know of anything I could've shorted that would hang anything looking for a hard drive? Does removing the pull down resistors break things? I'll continue checking my connections, of course...

[Fluffy]

Hey, I just picked up another V12, and noticed the other one I have uses a different model of chip for the network/IDE. The new one is the CXD9731GP, and the PS2 has the combined EE+GS, where my other one has the CXD9731AGP and the separate EE and GS. Does anyone know if the CXD9731AGP chip still supports IDE?

[Fluffy]

Well, I managed to make my first V12 connect to a laptop hard drive. I was originally trying to get the PS2 to talk to a compact flash card, but that didn't work at all, even with the 4 cards I had which worked on a PC's ATA connection. I was hoping.....

For what it's worth, I did remove all those SMD resistors and had a much easier time soldering, though I did need to use a fair bit of flux. Also, 30ga magnet wire works beautifully!

[MegatronUK]

For anyone else out there looking to use a hard drive on a slim PS2, modchipman.com appears to have the HD Connect in stock: http://www.modchipman.com/hd-connect-p-410.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm thinking about going down this route and just using the cable/adaptor from that kit with a 44-40 pin connector to use a 2.5" drive instead.

Does anyone know if the PS2 will complain or act funny if the dvd drive is removed? (this would be with a modchip, such as a DMS4 installed). I plan to install all the games to a hard drive and could therefore remove the optical drive to save a bit of space and locate the hdd in the same place.

[Lord_Turkey]

I've actually got a HD Combo rather then the connect version - why have the hard drive outside of the case? It just seems alien to me AND it needs an additional plug socket powering it.

Two things my fat PS2 does not need.

I dont see any reason why a laptop hard drive shouldnt work;

for comparison the way HD Combo does it is a thin ribbon cable soldered to the IDE points on the PS2 motherboard the end of which then slots into an array for the 3.5 hard drive with all its approproate cables, so it'd be much more of a pain to do it to a HD Combo - probebly easier to use an 3.5 - Laptop Hardrive adaptor onto the stock connections rather then desolder it all.

As for the DVD drive. If DMS4 essentially circumvents the PS2 natural bios then I dont see once again why it shouldnt work, but you'd be losing a fair bit of functionality for little gain - the guys on the PS2 Slim Laptop thread in this section have illustrated how small the DVD drive is - you'd barely be gaining a few centimeters as its the same height as the heatsink. But you'd lose the ability to play DVD's (unless you store all your movies on the hard drive before hand or use a pen drive) and any games that dont run off HD Loader, check a compatability list a fair few good ones refuse to work off hard drive or require disk swapping will be unplayable (Koei's Dynasty/Samurai Warriors series, PS1 era Final Fantasy's Etc).

In my opinion theres more to gain by keeping the DVD drive in, it barely weighs anything and you lose a lot of functionality by taking it out - just my two cents.