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Sony PlayStation 2

setup a hard disk

I've purchased a SATA hard disk adapter from AliExpress for the PlayStation 2 fat model, and using it with a 1TB drive successfully. The PlayStation 2 can boot from the hard drive and load programs like wLaunchElf and Open PS2 Loader (OPL), which allow me to play games from ISO files located on the hard disk. The following instructions show the order in which I've set up my system. If you don't have a memory card with FreeMcBoot, you can purchase them on AliExpress.

  1. boot FreeMcBoot (from memory card). In 2021 version 1.966 is current, which can be downloaded from Woon Yung's Website.
  2. start wLaunchElf:
    1. go to MISC folder
    2. run Hddmanager
    3. format disk
  3. install FreeHdBoot to disk
  4. copy ELF programs to disk:
  5. copy custom FreeHdBoot configuration file, see below for my file.
  6. run wLaunchElf Hddmanager again and resize the OPL partition to 1GB
  7. copy ART and VMC directories of OPL
  8. run WinHiip as Administrator
    1. set hard disk type to: 48bit Hdloader
    2. copy ISO images

custom FreeHdBoot configuration file

I've made some changes to the default FreeHdBoot configuration file. I prefer to have the Open PS2 Loader (OPL) towards the top of the list of programs, and I've installed some other applications. See the file below for my version: 

# ----------------------------------------
# Free HDBoot Config File
# must be in hdd0:__sysconf/FMCB/FREEHDB.CNF, mc?:/SYS-CONF/FREEHDB.CNF or mass:/FREEHDB.CNF
# ----------------------------------------
CNF_version = 1
# ----------------------------------------
Debug_Screen = 0
FastBoot = 1
ESR_Path_E1 = mass:/BOOT/ESR.ELF
ESR_Path_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/ESR.ELF
ESR_Path_E3 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/ESR.ELF
pad_delay = 0
LK_Auto_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Circle_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Cross_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Square_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Triangle_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_L1_E1 = mass:/BOOT/HDLOADER.ELF
LK_L1_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/HDLOADER.ELF
LK_L1_E3 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/OPNPS2LD.ELF
LK_R1_E1 = mass:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF
LK_R1_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF
LK_R1_E3 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/BOOT.ELF
LK_L2_E1 = mass:/BOOT/SMS.ELF
LK_L2_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/SMS.ELF
LK_L2_E3 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/SMS.ELF
LK_R2_E1 = mass:/BOOT/ESR.ELF
LK_R2_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/ESR.ELF
LK_R2_E3 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/ESR.ELF
LK_L3_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_R3_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Up_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Down_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Left_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Right_E1 = OSDSYS
LK_Start_E1 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/FMCB_CFG.ELF
LK_Start_E2 = OSDSYS
LK_Select_E1 = OSDSYS
hacked_OSDSYS = 1
OSDSYS_video_mode = AUTO
OSDSYS_Skip_Logo = 1
OSDSYS_Skip_Disc = 0
OSDSYS_Inner_Browser = 0
OSDSYS_selected_color = 0x10,0x80,0xE0,0x80
OSDSYS_unselected_color = 0x33,0x33,0x33,0x80
OSDSYS_scroll_menu = 1
OSDSYS_menu_x = 320
OSDSYS_menu_y = 110
OSDSYS_enter_x = 30
OSDSYS_enter_y = -1
OSDSYS_version_x = -1
OSDSYS_version_y = -1
OSDSYS_cursor_max_velocity = 1000
OSDSYS_cursor_acceleration = 100
OSDSYS_left_cursor = o006
OSDSYS_right_cursor = o005
OSDSYS_menu_top_delimiter = y-99Free HDBoot     doj      c1[r0.80Version %VER%r0.00]y-00
OSDSYS_menu_bottom_delimiter = c0r0.60y+99Use o009/o010 to browse listy-00r0.00
OSDSYS_num_displayed_items = 7
OSDSYS_Skip_MC = 1
OSDSYS_Skip_HDD = 1
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_1 = Open PS2 Loader 1.1.0
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_1 = mass:/BOOT/OPL110.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_1 = mc?:/BOOT/OPL110.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_1 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/OPL110.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_5 = NES emulator
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_5 = mass:/NES/FCEU.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_5 = mc?:/NES/FCEU.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_5 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/NES/FCEU.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_10 = wLaunchELF
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_10 = mass:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_10 = mc?:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_10 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/BOOT.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_15 = Open PS2 Loader 1.0.0
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_15 = mass:/BOOT/OPNPS2LD.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_15 = mc?:/BOOT/OPNPS2LD.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_15 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/OPNPS2LD.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_20 = ESR
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_20 = mass:/BOOT/ESR.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_20 = mc?:/BOOT/ESR.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_20 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/ESR.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_30 = HD Loader
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_30 = mass:/BOOT/HDLOADER.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_30 = mc?:/BOOT/HDLOADER.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_30 = mc?:/B?DATA-SYSTEM/HDLOADER.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_40 = Simple Media System
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_40 = mass:/BOOT/SMS.ELF
path2_OSDSYS_ITEM_40 = mc?:/BOOT/SMS.ELF
path3_OSDSYS_ITEM_40 = hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/SMS.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_50 = Launch disc
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_50 = FASTBOOT
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_98 = Free HDBoot Configurator
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_98 =  hdd0:__sysconf:pfs:/FMCB/FMCB_CFG.ELF
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_99 = Restart System
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_99 = OSDSYS
name_OSDSYS_ITEM_100 = Shutdown System
path1_OSDSYS_ITEM_100 = POWEROFF

SD card adapter for memory card slot

I have not tested any of the PlayStation 2 SD card adapters for the memory slot, which allow to use ISO files on a regular FAT32 file system. But these project do seem very promising. They allow you to use software on CD/DVD ISO images without a hard drive and the SATA/network adapter. They also work on various models of the slim PS2. See the following links for 2 projects: