This guide is mainly written for myself, I encountered countless different tutorials on how to accomplish this, which tools to use, etc. My main objective is to give a short summary for others who are seeking to do the same.
- You can use any HDD/SSD up to 2TB!
- Purchase the expansion module which is used to connect your HDD to the PS2's system
- Purchase a memory card with Free McBoot 1.966+
- A simple SATA to USB cable, so you can connect directly to your HDD - highly recommended, so you do not need to transfer new games via USB 1.1
You will need various tools to
- Rename your iso/bin (for PS1 games) files to something appropriate (has to be recognized by Open PS2 Loader)
- Import game art (if you wish)
- Merge PSX bin files
- Convert PSX cue files to VCD
- POPStarter emulator files (google them) to run PSX games
My favorite for anything PS2 related is HDL-Batch-Installer, it allows you to
- Directly install any PS2 iso to your harddrive (multiple at a time)
- Format your HDD to use the PS2's filesystem
- Directly mount any partition in your HDD
- Create new partitions
- Move over PSX games directly to the appropriate partition
- Remove any existing memory cards, only insert the Free McBoot memory card
- Attach your HDD to the expansion module, insert it into the PS2 (fat model), tighten the screws
The PS2's boot menu will be enriched with various new options thanks to the Free McBoot software:
- Browser: As before, views your memory cards
- System Config: As before, remember to set component mode if you are using component cables
- uLaunchELF: A file manager which can be used to launch games directly, e.g PSX games, PS2, GameBoy, etc.
- Open PS2 Loader: Management app for your PS2 games & apps
- etc...
- Ensure your HDD is formatted to the PS2's filesystem
- Ensure your HDD could be loaded in the HDL Batch Installer
- Install any game
- Launch your game from Open PS2 Loader
- Ensure your HDD is formatted to the PS2's filesystem
- Ensure your HDD could be loaded in the HDL Batch Installer
- Find and download POPS.ELF & IOPRP252.IMG
- Mount the __common partition to a local drive
- Create a directory named POPS, paste POPS.ELF and IOPRP252.IMG into this folder
- Create a partition for __.POPS
- Mount __.POPS to a local drive
- Merge your PSX bin files using psx-comBINe
- Convert to VCD using cue2pops
- Rename VCD's using OPL Manager (fetch title from database - then rename to the official 'ID:TITLE')
- Copy+Paste the VCD to your __.POPS directory
- Update uLaunchELF to a version which supports running .VCD's directly (overwrite BOOT.elf), copy the file from a USB stick
- Update Open PS2 Loader (overwrite OPNPS2LD.ELF with the latest version), copy the file from a USB stick
- Launch directly via file manager, navigate to the __.POPS dir, have fun!
- Easily loaded directly via USB
- Download ReGBA & TempGBA
- Load either through the file manager
- Add ROMS to ex: root/ROMS/GBA - navigate to your roms from the emulator
- Enjoy!