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How to Play PS2 Games on a USB Hard Drive

Using a USB hard drive to store and play Playstation 2 games can be quite convenient. It saves on space and bulk, especially when transporting the PS2 or other system around because the games are all on one small device. In addition, it can preserve the life of the gaming console by not over-working the game disc drive, game reader, and not over-working the game discs themselves. In many cases, this can be done without modifying the PS2 console, but there may be compatibility issues with some games or systems.

Things You'll Need

Swap Magic (official disk)
USB hard drive
CD-R (blank)
USB advance files

Instructions

- 1
  Choose the Swap Magic program for the appropriate country or region and purchase the disk. Download the USB Advance zip file and save it to a folder on your desktop so it is easy to find. Open the USB Advance folder and, if necessary, "unzip" the contents. Access the file labeled "USBAdvance-PC-Software" and transfer to the files within that file to the computer's C drive.
- 2
  Burn the ISO files from the main USB Advance folder to the blank CD-R. These are labeled as "usb-advance" and are 1 KB and about 34.5MB in size. Be sure to label the disk and keep it in a place where it can easily be found when the Swap Magic disk arrives.
- 3
  Connect the USB hard drive to your computer. Click on "My Computer" and find the hard drive in the devices list. Right-click on the hard drive and select "Properties." Then select "quick format." This should format the hard drive to FAT32 if it is not already in the desired format.
- 4
  Place a PS2 game disk in the DVD-ROM drive on the computer; make sure the USB hard drive is connected. Go to the "Start" menu and choose "Run." Then type "cmd" for "command." Find the C drive (C:\>) and type the following command: ul_install [Source Drive] [Target Drive] [Game] CD/DVD. The source drive is the DVD-ROM drive's designation (i.e., D) and the target drive is the designation for the USB hard drive (i.e., J). The game is the name that the game disk displays (i.e., MGS, MetalGearSolid) while CD/DVD will depend on the type of game disk. To find out if the game disk is a CD or DVD, go to "My Computer" and right-click on the disk in the DVD-ROM drive. Then select "Properties." If the disk contains 700 MB or less of stored information, it is a CD. If the contents are greater than 700 MB, it is a DVD. A completed example, using the examples above, would look like this: ul_install D J MetalGearSolid DVD.
- 5
  Put the Swap Magic disk into the PS2 console and turn the system on. Make sure it is connected to a TV. Load the Swap Magic program and then switch the disk and load the CD-R burned earlier with the USBAdvance files on it. Load these files as well. Turn off the PS2, connect the USB hard drive and turn the system back on. The games stored on the hard drive will appear in a list. Select the desired game, press the X button and the game will load for play.

PS2 Games