forums.ps2dev.org

im wondering what kind of file system the ps2 uses and if can be wrote to an hdd from a pc. my take on the hd is that is a standerd (d540x-4d maxtor hd) with propriatery firmware so all i need it the firmware and a way to flash the eprom on the d540x-4d.


http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/ata/d ... _d540x-4d/

http://www.sscorpio.com/~bungiefan/HDD.jpg

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playsta ... ge.id=8108

You are messing up several features and " things" together.

-) First, the "file system" does absolutely not depends on the Hard Disk. A HD is meant to store sectors. An operating system tells the HD to read and writes theses sectors. The informations the OS stores in theses sectors are creating the filesystem. Thus, any HD can be used to create any filesystem, and there are a lot of them aroud: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, REISERFS, HFS, Minix, etc... Now, the filesystem SONY uses in his PS2 is "proprietary", meaning that no open source formatting utility around can format a HD to that filesystem (correct me if I'm wrong)

-) Second, the firmware of a HD is only here to make the HD communicating with the operating system, that is, it takes simple commands such as "Read Sector" or "Write Sector", and execute the commands to the motors of the plates and heads of the drive. In NO way the HD firmware is related to the filesystem which is stored in the drive. Of course: otherwise you wouldn't be able to have newly created filesystems algorithms on old drives. So flashing the "firmware" of a HD is of strictly useless. Furthermore: I would say it is really something susceptible to destroy the whole thing up.


So, to summary all that up:

-) The SONY HDD is a completely standard IDE drive.
-) The filesystem stored on it is created by the formatting of the drive, using a proprietary software from SONY.
-) You can take any PS2 HDD, plug it in your PC, and completely reformat it to create normal NTFS or FAT32 partitions. That would be insane though.
-) You can take any non-PS2 HDD (for example the maxtor you're talking about) and plug it into your PS2. However, the disc wouldn't be formatted for the PS2 filesystem, thus it wouldn't work.
-) There is NO free/legal software available that can format your HDD to the PS2 proprietary format. Furthermore, asking for such a tool (which actually does exist in some warez land) is then forbidden.
-) There is actually no software at all able to write in the PS2 fileformat directly on the PC side. Feel free to reverse engineer the fileformat, and write your own formatting utility for Win32.

the sony software formats the drive?
so if i was to say put a fat32 or what ever filesystem on the HDD.
the sony software could in a way un do that and slap the ps2 filesystem back on the drive?

thank for your help

pixel wrote: -) The filesystem stored on it is created by the formatting of the drive, using a proprietary software from SONY.
-) There is NO free/legal software available that can format your HDD to the PS2 proprietary format. Furthermore, asking for such a tool (which actually does exist in some warez land) is then forbidden.
-) There is actually no software at all able to write in the PS2 fileformat directly on the PC side. Feel free to reverse engineer the fileformat, and write your own formatting utility for Win32.

Uhhm, what? :P

libHdd has been released for some time now, and includes IRX modules which allow you to work with both Sony's APA partition system and PFS filesystem. The modules are open source, and the HDD data structures are documented in the source code. Using libHdd you could easily write a program to format any HDD with Sony's proprietary partition system and filesystem (there is already a free tool on the net which allows you to format your drive and create partitions - the DMS format tool). You could also use the source code to aid in writing a driver for your PC. There is actually modified linux fdisk code somewhere on the net which allows you to create APA partitions on a HDD, and a partial PFS linux kernel driver.

libHdd - http://ps2dev.org/kb.x?T=1003
DMS format tool - http://www.dms3.com/dms3/files/chips/DM ... at-1_0.zip

Ah, I said "correct me if I'm wrong" just after the statement :-)

Well, I wasn't aware that libHdd was supporting the SONY proprietary filesystem. Anyhoo: the DMS formatting does not format the HDD to the PS2 filesystem format, does it ?

pixel wrote:Anyhoo: the DMS formatting does not format the HDD to the PS2 filesystem format, does it ?

Yes, the the DMS formatting tool formats the HDD to use APA partitioning and PFS filesystem. In other words, it formats like a PS2 HDD is supposed to be formatted.

Ho, okay, my bad then. Sorry for the mistake ;-)

i dont know how to program :cry: so if some on builds a format util for win9x let me know.


i know a lot more about how the ps2 hdd works
thanks alot guys

well i got my hdd utility disk today and still nothing my hdd lite comes on so does the hdd acces lite on the left side of the ps2 but the soft ware say ther is no drive installed the drive i am useing is a maxtor 15GB dirve.
??????

my ps2 is not modded so the dms hdd format util wont work but it does boot up in my emulator

geekcorerob wrote:my ps2 is not modded so the dms hdd format util wont work but it does boot up in my emulator

You don't need a dms mod to use the dms hdd format util.


The HDD has to support SMART and a certain transfer mode (not sure which off the top of my head) to work with the homebrew drivers. Most (all?) modern HDDs should work, but a 15GB sounds just old enough that it might not.

try #2 i put a linux filesystem on the 15 GB still no go
try #3 i but my girlfrends 60 GB in and nothing. good thing she is not home :)

when i boot the ps2 with the hdd setup disk
before it say ther is no hdd installed it the hdd makes sounds like it is being read from. so my thery is that it is looking for APA and the PFS partitions.

my current statis im stuk hungy and confused. im going to go make some hoddogs

Drakonite (You don't need a dms mod to use the dms hdd format util.)

how do i boot my ps2 to use this util?[/list]

geekcorerob wrote:Drakonite (You don't need a dms mod to use the dms hdd format util.)

how do i boot my ps2 to use this util?[/list]

If you don't have a way to boot homebrew code, you don't have a reason to put a non-Sony HDD in your PS2. As mentioned all over the place, a non-Sony HDD will only work with homebrew; a HDD enabled official PS2 game will only work with the official Sony HDD.

my reason for doing this is just to do it and learn more about how it works
and i got my network adaptor before FFXI so i dont whant to buy a game that i will never play. from what i hear the game will not work with out the hdd so i cant sell it. i feel that i or any one else should not have to buy a a relabled maxtor drive to have this feature available.
what are my options for booting home brew apps?

The Sony HDD is more than just a "relabled maxtor drive." You cannot use the HDD Utility Disc on a unofficial HDD. You can use the DMS Format Utility on an unofficial or official HDD.

There are two options I recommend for booting homebrew. The first is the PS2 Independence exploit (see these forums and http://www.ocgnet.org/0xd6/, and there are a ton of tutorials all over the place), and the second is the PS2 Linux Kit.

thanks

ok well no my goal is to try to get this file on a ps1 mem card using a play saver. if you whant to build one here you go http://members.aol.com/playsaver/

i just got my real ps2 drive today and was wondering if ther is any word on copying files from a pc to the hdd.

stuff i found out about by playing with it win xp sees a scsi adaptor
formats like a reguler drive and the ps2 cant read ntfs :lol:
ps2 hdd software reformats it back to the proper format with no problems.
so that brings me back to thinking the is something difrent about the firmware on the ps2 drive. maby someone will write a ps2 hdd driver for windows :D