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It's stupid enough, but can't find reliable info about manufacturer of PS2 HDD. And then there is rumor that Sony re-labels Maxtor's model. Can someone prove/disprove it? It seems doubtful to me that Sony is "personnaly" making HDD's.
Does anyone know some facts about file system of PS2? Except, that it's different from PC's FAT and NTFS. =)

Couple things.

First, two companies have made the HDDs for Sony.

The first was Western Digital, which was a WD Model 400 (7200RPM 40GB)
This model was loud and heavy, and was released in Japan, and with the Linux kits.

For the US release of the HDD, it was a thinner Maxtor hard drive, which was much quieter. I believe it might also be lower RPM, but I"m not sure.

As for the file system, there are two parts to this. You have APA, and PFS which work together. There is a great PDF on this somwhere, but I can't seem to find it any more. Perhaps someone else here remembers where it is.

Neovanglist wrote:As for the file system, there are two parts to this. You have APA, and PFS which work together. There is a great PDF on this somwhere, but I can't seem to find it any more. Perhaps someone else here remembers where it is.

A PDF describing APA and PFS can be found in libHdd:

http://ps2dev.org/kb.x?T=967

Hello. Allow me to express my sincere gratitude to Neovanglist and boomint. Thanks for your posts.

Missle Seeker wrote:It's stupid enough, but can't find reliable info about manufacturer of PS2 HDD. And then there is rumor that Sony re-labels Maxtor's model. Can someone prove/disprove it? It seems doubtful to me that Sony is "personnaly" making HDD's.
Does anyone know some facts about file system of PS2? Except, that it's different from PC's FAT and NTFS. =)

Don't know what you consider proof.

I have three Sony labeled HDD, and all are maxtor's. Yes, they are relabeled with Sony's logo. This is a common practice in the industry. They also have a special firmware on them specific to the PS2.

But the reason I know they are maxtor is because the hardware identifies itself to the device driver as Maxtor to the Linux operating system. But no, I have no web pages or news articles that attest to Sony using Maxtor as a fact, whether solely or in combination with some other manufacturer.

Oh, even my original Linux kit HDD (shipped at Linux kit release) is a Maxtor, so I don't know when they stopped using Western Digital, and didn't know that they ever did. It was a 5400rpm drive and can't imagine it ever being faster, meant as an internal drive. It was also the thicker one. Sony would have switched to the thinner ones when those became the ones most commonly manufactured over time.

Interesting info. Thank You.

I thought Western Digital cannot fit into the Internal PS2 NA, the power and IDE connectors are too far apart for WD HDDs.

I also have 3 Sony labeled HDDs, the one that came with the Linux Kit is Maxtor, the other 2 that came with FFXI are Seagate ST340015A.

Hrmm seems you're right Gorim! I could have swore for some reason it was a WD, but upon closer inspection it's quite clearly a Maxtor drive.

As for my slim drive, it appears to be a Maxtor too, but that's based on my notion that I have seen this exact slim-model maxtor drive before, but without the Sony label. :P

The thin drive was bundled with FFXI for US by the way.

My linux kit came with a standard size maxtor, and the FFXI beta came with a slim-style maxtor. Fun fun.

On a side note, has anyone found a tool to remove the bracket things these official drives come with? I'd like to stick them in a PC rather than collecting dust but they won't fit. Rar!

ooPo, you need a "Torx" bit screwdriver. However, I'm not sure exactly what size. Might want to just get a set of them and have at it :P

Just for another datapoint, the PSX (the PVR, not the PS1) came with a Seagate. It wasn't even labeled as a Sony. But then, I don't think Sony expects people to dismantle pieces of high-end A/V equipment to see whats inside.

Whereas the PS2 HDD unit people will see the HDD before they insert it into the PS2, and Sony probably wants them to only ever see the Sony label.

Amen to that

I originally put a WD Caviar 80G drive in my PS2. It fits... like that muffler ad on TV. "We'll make it fit!" I had to bend the RF shield a bit to allow the connector to move enough for the drive to be attached. Not liking the stress being placed on it, I eventually switched to a Maxtor 80G drive which fits perfectly.

Simple question about the Sony-labelled drive for PS2:
Does it say "Magic gate" anywhere on the drive like it does on the sony memory cards and on the PS2 above the mc slots?

Toker wrote:Simple question about the Sony-labelled drive for PS2:
Does it say "Magic gate" anywhere on the drive like it does on the sony memory cards and on the PS2 above the mc slots?

No. The Sony HDD doesn't have any MagicGate hardware. However, the BIOS does use the MagicGate process to attempt to boot from the HDD (on PS2s where the BIOS supports this).