Make A Loaded Plug & Play Game Drive Yourself For Less Than $50! 

Quick tip for non techy users who are afraid of going into BIOS to change boot order: as soon as the pc/laptop is turned ON, press F12 to get into the "quick boot" menu. The quick boot menu is simpler as all it shows are the devices that can be choose to boot the pc/laptop. From here they just need to pick the name of their drive by brand. Worst case they choose their windows boot or something else and they can restart and try again. I work with computers and F12 has proven to be a "universal" key for quick boot menu for different models of DELL, Lenovo, HTP, etc. It may be not for ALL models but is "almost" guarantee and easier to execute 😊

Folks, there is nothing more satisfying in retrogaming that making your own build. My first build was a 32gb build for my Raspberry Pi. 6 years later, I can do 2TB Batocera builds and not even sweat the process.

Just got this ssd an it’s the first step to making my personal ultimate retro Game Center, you inspired me to do this an appreciate you for being so easy to follow man!

I got a Crucial BX500 2TB 2.5 SSD for 80 USD on amazon. Excellent quality. I use it as my extra storage drive on my mini pc.

Another awesome video. Thank you. I am totally for creating your own collection but i would prefer to use a windows based front end like retrobat or launchbox as you dont need to have dual boot systems needed for Batocera. Thanks man. Digitizer approves!!

Try the dual pane view (view options menu) in the file explorer, it helps with using an external dive and transferring things over to your batocera install.

Recommend Emulation Station (ES-DE) with a standalone HDD, and set it up with RetroArch along with other standalone emulators. I wanted to use SSD however for the large amount of retro ROMs it works better with a 3-5 TB HDD. Also the slower speed of a HDD is not a problem with older console systems. Save the SSD to use with newer PC games. No need to boot into a separate environment as ES-DE works well.

The real problem of doing an home made gaming hard drive is only one: collecting rom-set first and setting up controls on different platforms....collecting rom sets mean space on the storage, time and patience.

Thank you for this, one of the best how-to setup guides for retrogaing. Never have used Batocera and looks like something I will give a shot at thanks to you. 5-stars!! :)

I just got the Minisforum UM690S Venus, following your instructions (Installed my batocera SSD inside PC). Went through Win11 setup/update 1st. Then went into BIOS on restart and changed boot order. After saving/exit, on restart I got an error saying "Verification Failed", to fix it I had to go back into BIOS and turn "Secure Boot" off (Security tab). On restart it kept trying to reset PC, had to tap a button (QUICK only gives a couple seconds) and it gave a prompt, I chose "Always boot", and PC restarted and booted into Batocera. If you plan to dual boot with Win 11 (I have Win 11 on NVME and batocera on internal SSD), I read you'll have to go into BIOS everytime you want to use Win11 and turn secure boot back on and of course change boot order back to Win11 drive, and vice versa to use Batocera.

They have standalone hard drive cloning docks for $40 amazon

Thanks for the how to guidance on this stuff. I havent been keeping up with all the newest tech stuff as i don't have enough time to spare or too tired to cogitate well. Im just trying to study up on all this game emulation tech thats available now. Im just getting back into gaming and collecting again, so lot of catching up to do as i now dont have to buy every old game console system i want games for. Lol

Cheers for the instructions mate, loaded and worked fine for me, altho no playstation emulator was available on that upload however i need a usb controller before i move on.

Definitely gonna do this. I did one before and messed up trying to get it booted up.

Danggg, I’m thirteen years old and I only share a Xbox 360, I was looking forward to buying a x2 or y6 game stick but this amazing

very useful description thank you so much...

Nice Hunter S. Thopmson poster

Wanted to know how to do this too but most of videos werent great videos

why can't you transfer the rom data in windows, rather then from the flashdrive after in batocera?

Great video! Very informative. Thanks for sharing!❤️

Thank you great video as always

Thank You. ❤

Is it possible to do this with the Raspberry Pi 400? 💥💥💥💥

​i am going to do this, i currently am using a mini usb but its only 500gb and i really need more space for my batocera since i do have some windows games

What is the best plug and play for N64 games and performance?? And where is the best place to find good quality controllers and guns etc.

Thanks for video. The only reason I buy prebuilt retro game hard drive is the rom files. Low end system roms on Archive download fast but the high end system roms takes forever.

I use Retrobat so I can more easily run my emulation from Windows. Has anyone done performance testing between Retrobat and Batocera?

This was an awesome video! you did a great job making it easy to follow. I do have a couple questions before I start this process. Is this easy to plug into a TV and play? Also how would I connect 2 wireless controllers to this so that I can play it on my TV?

Why have you choosen Batocrea? Why not Retrobat? Does not need you to go into BIOS

Does it work on Mac?

Great work that’s amazing. 👏🏾

Can I do all of this on my Mac and transfer everything to a Mini PC?

Why use USB stick if you are putting it on a HDD?

Is it possible to link together several pc’s via Ethernet splitter, all with the same version of Batocera and the exact same games installed, to throw a lan party without Internet?

Can i plug one of these to a smart tv and it work?

Excellent Tutorial.

can this play on android tv instead of computers? and how much this cost?

I used 2 different SSDs for Batocera 38 and Balena made a small 7 GB partition basic partition, then a 512 MB primary and left the rest of the drive unallocated. What am I doing Wrong?

Thank you for this video!!

Can u use my retro light gun kit with the shooting games ?

can you provide the link to the files that you used? BIOS, ROM, Save, and System folder??

great tutorial but i think i will stick with my windows launchbox build as so much easier than having a dual boot system

Can this work on smarttv?

I am excited yooooo!!!

This would have been a good live

What I'm considering doing is create an external 2.5" Batocera + ES-DE retrogame drive. Batocera on its own bootable partition and portable Emulation Station Desktop Edition + the ROMs on a NTFS Partition. No reason. Just want to try it. Maybe check if any particular system benefit from this setup like PS3.

Missed the live premiere where I imagine people in chat could better help with rawmz

when it comes to ssd its better to stick with well known brands cheap ssds can work ok for a bit then bite the dust taking all your data with it. basically same idea as buying aliexpress sd cards. you really don' t want to go any budget than teamgroup and silicon power.

Im assuming you can use the sata drive with an enclosure as opposed to the sata-to-usb cable?

Great Video! Would this drive be fast enough for Switch/PS3/Xbox360 isos to run smoothly?

It did say verify failed after i changed after f10 in bios

why click show more options to copy something when the copy button is at the top of the pop up?

Don't know if anyone already asked this, but how did the games on higher tier consoles play? Any issues such as frame rate drop or music issues? Especially with the N64 or PS2?

sounds crazy but can you boot it up on a mac ?

Can I use my PS4 Controllers instead of buying some extra Bluetooth controller of questionable quality? I already have so much stuff taking up space that getting a new piece of hardware to store is a bummer.

Which mini PC would you recommend for this setup?

Question for you all. If I have a mini PC and create a SSDis it easier to build with launchbox or Batocera? Also can I boot from SSD if LB is on it so it starts playing upon turning on. I am looking to not have to go into the program to start it everytime but rather it just start when turned on. Thanks in advance.

Could we add pc games as well?

are there any ROM packs ?

Batocera says connected online but themes has nothing there Everytime I try ? 🤷🏾‍♂️

I'm having an issue where the D drive disappears once I flash the image to my SSD so am unable to add the BIOS folders. Does anyone know a solution to this?

@RetroGamingGuy you can make a video also using Lunch Box because i want to used to my leptop and for me is mor easy to acces Lunch box ??

after the batocera partition on the hard drive, it is erroring out, what do i need to format the rest of the drive to, to add in the bios and roms?

I have the original game disks for the old laser disk games (Dragons Lair, Dragons Lair II and Space Ace), does Daphne work on Batocera?

What file system did you format the non-batocera flash drive? Can you do NTFS?

Thanks for the vid! Quick question for anyone willing to answer really! Old computer with only USB 2 connections, obviously I would rather have USB 3 but... In real world application of this "game drive" how much will this impact the performance? At the same time, since that is the setup on this old machine would a Micro SD be any faster transfer than the old USB 2? Thanks for reading and/or replies!!

ANY GOOD LINK TO DOWNLOAD GAME ROMS THANKS IN ADVANCE

How great of a pc do I need to run Xbox, ps2, ps3…etc??

I have a question which I hope you answer. Is a gaming pc required for this setup. I have a regular one,but because of my legs I can't stand and am using a walker. Thank you sir.

Is there anything similar to the Retrp Raget you did a video on, available? I am new to this whole retro gaming emulation. I have a super gaming computer. But I would much prefer a straight forward plug and play ready to go gaming console? or something with games all setup ready to play... Any help would be great. This looks like it had pretty much all the main console games etc. that I am after. Budget is not an issue. Also advice and links for good controllers and guns etc.... Would love a list my friend and some link. High Quality. But this retro rager looked great. Not sure if there is something I can plug in and run off my current PC?? Hope to hear from you soon! Otherwise what are the best and mor reliable websites for emulators and rom so I can try learn to create my own plug and play?? Thanks..

it breaks down my drive and leaves a good portion unallocated. Do you know a fix to this

Ordered the same equipment as reviewed here, followed the instructional video that RGG has created (top notch btw). Ran into an issue and have been stuck for a couple days trying to find a work around. I'm at the part where my laptop boots up with the Fikwot Solid State Drive, it looks just like the video with the latest Batocera version 38 launching, after the Batocera Linux splash screen (the 17:25 mark of this instructional video) my screen goes black. This of course is where the next step, Pressing F1 to gain access to Linux file system is suppose to occur. So I'm unable to transfer the Bios and Rom files from the usb flash drive. I did some digging around, Reddit, Batocera Forums etc, but haven't been able to find a workaround. I even took a USB Keyboard and attached it to my laptop, my laptop recognized the new keyboard but still no help. I also tried various different bios settings with the laptop changing keyboard settings. Function key combinations didn't work for me as well. Anyone have this happen during installation? I've thought of rolling back the version of Batocera as my next attempt.

VeryGood video. I have a question. i bought a retro gaming batocera hd. I want to back it up to another ssd drive. Can I just clone the drive? with acronis? Or do I need to prep the dsrive prior? if so what do I need to do? Another question. The files on the batoceraa drive can they be used in a windows retro plug -n-play. I hope I'm clear.

some games wont show up i added some ps3 games and some img not getting download some games

Would this work for new PC games as well? Or would we need something else? I don't want to store everything on my laptop and would like to set up external hard drives as my game drives. If I get a large external SSD could I do retro and new PC and console games on it? Kind of one drive to rule them all.

Do you think an external HDD that's USB 3.0 is good for this, external SSD's are still pretty expensive in Germany? There's 4TB external HDD 3.0 for ~$100 and 8TB for ~$160 (Some off name brands as low as $120). I'm sure the transfer speed would be one of the most important things to look at. I already have a PC that boots into Windows and use Launch Box/Big Box on it, but I'd like to get a small mini PC to use on the t.v. for everyone to be able to play. I already have a WD Elements 5TB, USB 3.0 external HDD, so could I just follow your steps here for the drive and get a mini PC for it that would be dedicated just for retro gaming and boot into that drive every time? Thanks for any help/advice, love the videos but gives so much more to think about instead of just plug and play.

If I do this with an SSD drive, to hold me over, can the drive be dropped into a micro PC like the HP elitedesk in your other video and be good to go

Do you have trouble using nkits? I get a warning popup which then freezes the system. So I just use ISOs for my dreamcast games.

My batocera booted into a root menu and not the way yours did. I’m trying to copy the bios in to batocera. Can I do that from the root menu?

So I got a preloaded HDD so I could edit it to what I want without having to set everything up. My issue is I cannot get my mini PC to boot directly into the HDD to run RetroBat. I keep having to open the RetroBat folder and running the exe. I have looked in the boot setup in the bios but the HDD does not show up as an option. Is there any way to fix this??

Where you download Roms and bios for ps2 sorry old person here :(

i need this game list.. can somone provide??

Is Batocera strictly for original roms. Or are you also able to run texture mods and ROM hacks like WWF No mercy mods. Sorry for the noob question

It didn't notify me

Can i play gta5 broo? ❤

Sir your videos are really impressive and I want to get Free give away from your kind side please make it possible please. Best Regards

👍

Love everything but the garbage SSD suggestion! That's $50 down the drain!

Stop pushing emulation garbage

Is this going to be a raspberry pi tutorial? I totally need help if possible! I want to mod my arcade1up

non-tech person here, so forgive me if I sound stooopid but... why wouldn't you simply do all this stuff on your laptop? I'm just interested in playing some arcade/nes/sega classice, a handful, and I'm pretty sure these games are being sold nowhere.

I'm looking for an all-in-one device that I can either play handheld or on the tv but it's gotta be able to work on the tv. I have ps5 I have a ps4 and nintendo switch. I'm looking for something that will allow me to play. Just about all video games on one system. There are games like Ms.pac man maze madness (ps1) the old school frogger (ps1) Pokémon battle revolution (wii) Pokémon series for (Gameboy advance & nintendo DS and the new Ds 2ds 3ds) games I'd like to play along with even current nintendo switch games&ps4+5 I'd like to be able to play all on one system. Is there a way I can dump my own collection of games and make roms that will work for other systems? Like set a Gameboy game up to run on My ps5 or switch? I'm more than willing to buy the physical collection of games it would just be nice to have them all run on one system. Not even sure it's possible but figured you'd be the one to ask! Thanks 🥰

Awesome video!!! I think batocera is best of them all 💪💪💪

My biggest issue with flash drives are they’re usually less than a tb

👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

Wow 50 bucks I did it for free why the 50 i mean if your buying a ssd you have one one your laptop right or find one off a broken one i have every retro game in history challenge me