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How to Burn PS2 to USB Loaders

The Sony PlayStation 2 does not allow you to run games from a USB drive without modifying the system firmware or using software cleverly designed to bypass PS2 loading restrictions. Even with "modded" firmware, you still have to employ special "loaders" when starting the PS2 to run your games from a USB drives. Loading and running your PS2 games from a USB drive will help to lengthen the useful life of the unit's disc drive by reducing wear and tear on the lens and motor. Nevertheless, running games from a USB drive requires that you create and use a special "boot loader" CD before launching the game.

Things You'll Need

Blank DVD-R
PC with CD/DVD burner drive

Instructions

- 1
  Download the "USB Elf" boot loader application (see Resources). Save the .ZIP file in an empty folder on your computer. Alternatively, create a new folder and save the file there.
- 2
  Right-click the download "USB Elf" file, then click "Extract Here." Delete the compressed "USB Elf" file after Windows finishes extracting other files to the folder.
- 3
  Launch your CD/DVD burning application. Open the DVD drive of your computer, and then insert a blank DVD-R disc into the disc tray.
- 4
  Click the "Burn Data DVD," "Create Data DVD" or "Burn DVD" menu option in the CD/DVD burning application. When the "Add Files" or "Add Files and Folders" window appears, click the "Browse" button. Browse to the folder where you extract the "USB Elf" files.
- 5
  Select all of the files in the folder, and then click the "Add" or "OK" button. Click the "Write," "Burn" or "Burn" it button. Wait for the burning program to burn the files to the blank DVD-R disc. Once the burning program ejects the DVD, you can use the disc to boot your PS2 so that you can run game copies from a USB flash drive or external hard drive.

PlayStation 2