Playing PS2 Games with a Hard Drive in 2022! - Tutorial 

Works perfectly. Not as complicated as some other tutorials on youtube

Didn't know this was possible and I love the fact it can be done... :D :D Thank you!

This seems a lot simpler than I imagined. I've had my PS2 slim for nearly 20 years and only started playing backups on it last year. Unfortunately the cutscenes are unbearably laggy with a USB drive and I got tired because I couldn't understand what they were saying or what was happening sometimes. I ended up ordering a PS2 fat last week for 35Eur with the sole intent of doing the HDD mod hoping it will run smoother. Looking forward to doing this, thanks a lot for the clear and straighforward tutorial

This video helped me in 2023!! Thank you so much!

I just bought a first model PlayStation 2 at a flea market, and I plan to do this method once I get the hard drives. For now, I only have 3 disc games.

Worked beautifully for me! Thank you sir! Great tutorial!

I am currently in the process of renovating and moving and have thus put all of my games and consoles into storage. Since I did the HDD mod for the PS2 not too long ago, I keps my ps2 and TV here, so I can still play a few games, while I don't have access to the physical copies. Also I'm getting back into PS2 quite a bit, since it is the only retro console I'll be able to play for the next 2-3 month ^^ The HDD mod is cheap, easy to do andy totally worth it. Good Video!

Good job brother great detail you rock bro.

Thanks for the guide mate!

Great tutorial, I'll need to give this a try! As soon as I can find my files again... Got to have that classic Knight Rider fix! (don't, you'll be sorry)

Best video out there on this topic

Thanks for this, i did it years ago, Just got the PS2 out to play front mission 4, and forgot the settings in WinHP. thought my drive was toast

Why didn't you show how much faster the game loads from the hard drive compared to the cd??

Last year I bought an SSD to replace the HDD on my PS3 slim. I have yet to do it. I am glad your PS2 upgrade went ok. Good video. And no, I do not have a PS2.

Hello, I've seen in other videos people "patch" the games before installing them into the hdd. Is this necessary? Or does the WINHIP take care of that?

Where do I get these game files exactly? When I tried a few websites the would appear in regular file explorer but if I try to add them through winhiip they are no where to be found.

do you need freemcboot installed separately or does the winhiip provide all you need to boot up in freemcboot as well?

Feeling nostalgic and want to do this, but where does everyone get their game files nowadays?

how do i format a ps2 fat har drive i gotthe 2tb one by seagate an the gamestar thing that came with it its not formatted an i tried another guide so opl can put these files on em to format but it wont work theres nothing in the hhd0 folder not sure what to do oh an it says connected but nothing pops up

Very clear explanation. Thanks.

I know this video was uploaded a year ago but I have a question I got me a ps2 a year ago or so with 3 hard drives all three have every ps2 library and the third one has the hole library of ps1 games I have been playing Parasite, Eve for ps1 on the hard drive witch the Physical disc of that is two disc I had been trying to switch on the Second disc of the hard drive but doesn’t let me or give me a option to do so is there something I’m doing wrong or I’m I missing something that I need to transfer data or something really need help cuz I been trying to figure this out for awhile already but have no clue what to do?

Good to know about deleting the partitions. So noted, make sure there's no pron...

I have 1tb external hard drive and I want to partition 500gb fat32 for ps2 games and another 500gb as NTFS for other files/movies. Is this possible by setting the fat32 as primary?

OMFG I still don't have PS2 with HDD, I remember when I was a kid I asked/make a wish to my parents to buy me (install me) the HDD on my PS2 but they didn't give me LMAO. I believe in that year, the price of it, it's like 20% of the Fat PS2 price

may I ask how to create a ISO ps2 file from the PS2 disk I have? just as the normal way or any special operation for PS2 disks? is there any method difference when making ISO file from CD comparing to DVD PS2 disks?

Just causes mine to crash immediately on attempt to load the drive :/

Link to WinHIIP does not work

i haven't gotten it to work yet. i placed all the ps2 ISO's on the hard drive via winhiip run as administrator, place the hard drive in the PS2, go through the Free McBoot options and can see the list of the games on the hard drive, but every time I try to start one, i get a black screen, or white screen, and nothing happens. what could be going wrong?

Instructions unclear, turned my PC into a PS2. Was fun to watch although I don't even have a PS2. ;) Is the small drive not flopping around in the PlayStation (I know that you normally don't shake your console)?

I can't wait until you show how to add themes too it

Guessing this also works for the POP Loader for PSX games?

I've found with my PAL UK PS2 its sadly not this simple, it would appear I have to implement hash checks and assign game_id's as I just get either a blank white screen or a blank black screen depending on if i use opl oe Hd loader. Should have known it looked too simple.

Anyone got a link to where he bought the hard drive adapter?

What hdd do you recommend. The brand?

When i select drive on WinHiip it says that i dont have a formated PS2 drive even though i followed each step, any suggestions on what to do?

In mine sometimes they get stuck! I don't know why!

Brother this stuff is so confusing :( i just cleaned my fat ps2, and I want to be able to play games without a disk..

Anyone know if I can just buy a kit already set up?

I used a different method with HDL Batch installer, OPL Manager and formatting my hard drive on my PS2 through homebrew but it works fine. The hard drive in my ps2 is an old ps4 pro hard drive I didn't use anymore and all loads fine on it. Getting games on it with HDL Batch is very easy and copying pictures from usb for boxart is not that hard to do.

Is the movie scene slow or fast?

Thank you for the video. Unfortunately it doesn't work for me. Winhiip doesn't see my drives. It's like I missed the part about how to make the drive suitable for Winhiip. In the video I see normal NTFS drives. It's the same for me, but the program doesn't see any of them. What could be the problem?

Nice

Can I play wrong region / burned PS1 games with Free McBoot? I already know I can't play them from the HDD since the PS1 CPU in the console controls the HDD.

I thought you can download games to the harddrive? That means that I have to buy games to save it on it or what?

Can you add games later on or do u have to do it once only?

Can you also play PS1 games like this, from HDD? Ps2 is backward compatible with ps1 right?

I'm going to erase everything and start again.. but when I did this the first time I got right to the OPL on the PS2 with a game on there.. I can see the game on OPL on the PS2... But when I run it I just get a white screen... When I try to run it on hd loader it's instead a black screen. Anyone know why I can't get any picture?

My opl loader goes black when I select it on the ps2 nothing on the screen

Is hdd better than playing games through usb? Are the games less laggy in fmv cutscenes?

I don't have hardrive connector any other possible way

What is name of that game on 0:50 ?? tnx!

Will I be able to play games from any region?

If i click ok after double checking my drive number and it still earases my windows drive..... It will still be your fault! lol

Do PS1 games work?

How do you pirate the games on to the pc?

Does this work all ps2 fat models?

Maybe ill have time to play the game. Its hard enough to find time for allowable full shits and showers. Let alone time for hobbies.

WinHIIP won't do it for me :/

Winhiip is obsolete

Ahhh windows plebs....

Hi erm… I have a PS2 Fat Pal and I do remember the Model of my PlayStation 2 I think it is Scph-50003 Some PS2 Slim Models have the Same Strategy as than the Fat aka Original PS2… and I’m not sure if it’s Compatible with the Free McBoot… Free HDBoot… Free HDDBoot… Free DVDBoot… I had a look on the Website for PS2 Home of Compatibility Models Chart both of them are v1.70/v1.90 for Europe Pal the Same Mode Yes… the SCPH-50004 Original and v1.70/v1.90 in Europe Region… Pal of the TV aka Television are All Compatible for Compatibility Fat Models… I was trying to use Codebreaker aka Cb and I can’t remember which Version of Codebreaker it is either V10 and Higher that I need to use of the Latest Version my Free McBoot Memory Card with… or Without… Magic Gate to Use the Apps and I’m on the Version 1.966 or 1.953 which it literally is Silver Paper Sticker… and Orange Paper Sticker… I tried Esr and Ulaunchelf aka ulaunch.elf… for Files and Back Ups… So I want to play and test out some… Pal and Ntsc-u/Ntsc-j Japanese and American Games in different Region Countries… when it’s not Region Locked or Region Locked for Cheats with Codes… if I could give myself a try to test out all the games… and I want to work it out for to play all region countries games… only the Normal American and Japanese Title Games for the Fat PS2 Pal…. I tried to use the Save Files for GameFaqs to Download… the Correct Save Game of PS2 Games and I put the USB Drive to Stick it on the PS2… from using my Laptop and I tried to test the game out on the Ulaunchelf… and it comes and pops up with SLUS Digits… for Speed Dial File Format Game Image with Letters of… all Xs it needs to put with SLES… and it won’t let me no more… and I don’t know how to use it for Pal and I’m at the UK Which I wanted to… test out the Compatible Games to use the Homebrew Programs… Such as Including Like ESR To Launch Discs, Ulaunchelf, Open Ps2 Loader,, SMB, PS2 HDLoader, PS2 HDAdvance, USB Advance, PS2infoGB, GSM 0.38, PS2FCEUltra 0.93 PGEN v1.5.1 SNES-System, SMS Aka Stream Media Files for the… Simple Media System, Cheat Device, the app for FMCB Similar to (ARMAX) Action Replay Max, Xploder, GameShark, CodeBreaker, External USB Sticks for Flash Drive, Pen Drive, Thumb Drive, Hard Disk Drive, FAT32, Free McBoot Configurator, FHDB, FMCB, CD-R aka Compact Disc Recordable, DVD+R aka Digital Versatile Disc Recordable, and Others for PS2 HomeBrew Programs… on the Main Menu of the Screen… Sorry for the Long Text Message… My English is no good to understand much… just to read… May you help me Please…🙏🏼❤️🥺😢😔😥