First off apologies if this question is a repeat, I scanned through most of the posts and couldn't find the answer but it is getting late so I could well have missed the info I'm after.

I bought a PS2 about a week ago and have installed a Matrix Infinity chip (V1.2) in it. The package I got didn't come with a memory card and 8MB really doesn't seem all that big (especially with CMR4 wanting 2.5MB!), so as an alternative I'm thinking of buying the network card and installing a hard drive.

My question is: I have a load of old hard drives kicking about, however all are under 40GB (which seems to be a requirement). If I install an old 4GB Maxtor drive (happens to be the drive nearest to me) are programs like winhiip going to let me format it and will the PS2 recognise it to save games to (by this I mean save game progress, I'm not looking to put iso's on it)? 40GB seems a bit excessive just to save games on, not to mention the additional cost (£17 for the network card + £30 for a HDD)...

Also even if I install a HDD will I need to buy a memory card as well?

Any input very much appreciated...

Thanks in advance,

Steve

I think that HDD less than 40GB might work, but i don't think that HD Loader software allows saving of games to HDD

(in reply to elstcb)

Well I took the plunge and went out and bought the network adapter, figured it might come in useful anyway.

Formatted the nearest drive (the 4.3GB Maxtor as mentioned above) and dropped it in, HDLoader recognises it fine but like you say it doesn't allow you to save games to it. Any ideas how I can get the PS2 to recognise it, or if not is there any way of copying memory card slots between the card and the HDD? This way I could at least have a temporary store for save games...

Thanks in advance,

Steve

(in reply to emperor)

As i said, the HD Loader doesn't support save of games to HDD...

(in reply to elstcb)

Yeah I just find it a bit hard to believe that there's no other software to do this, however after much searching it appears there isn't. I'm currently looking into writing some myself but I have no idea how successful I'll be as I've never even looked at PS2 software before, with a bit of luck there'll be C libraries to hand as I can't see myself managing drivers for any of it!

(in reply to emperor)

Good luck if you decide to enter to such task, looking over www.ps2dev.org might help a bit

(in reply to elstcb)

Thanks for your help, much appreciated

(in reply to emperor)

u can FTP ur memory card saves to ur computer hard drive, but u still would need one memory card. Or u can buy the memorycards that gives you a hook up to ur computer. It won't solve not getting a memory card, but it will help not getting multiple memory cards.

(in reply to elstcb)

Yeah have now got a memory card and had thought about using nPort, etc. Not ideal but better than nothing, may even save them back to the HDD in the PS2 for the time being as I don't have a lot of time at the moment to start programming the PS2 itself. Thanks for the input, much appreciated

(in reply to kpgboy)