PS2 SSD vs. HDD comparison

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TnA

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Alright guys! I just bought a SanDisk 1TB SSD Plus for my PC.

Before I build it in, I would like to do some tests with the PS2... especially loading 'in-game' and a comparison of scrolling through the HDD-OSD with quite some games installed!

The test will be conducted/done via one of the GameStar SATA-Adapters (I can make some pictures of it and the interior, if someone is interested.), because I have none of those FATs with me who have got a Sony-NWA and even if I had it here, I don't have an IDE2SATA-Converter (only vice versa connection [those for mainboards without SATA] and I am not sure, if it would work)!


I will test it around the next weekend and can make a video of it (split-screen or so)!

What should I test?! Any specific game? Any app? Anything else?
Please leave your wanted Test-scenarios and favorite things to be tested, down in the comments below! :)
 
Oh...you're using GameStar adapter right? Probably the very latest version of OPL beta have some sort of fixes involving 3rd party HDD adapters.

Although I'm already finished one particular game, Shadow of The Colossus, because this game have fantastic open-world environments so I think that you might need to test this game first and it was ran on HDD.
 
It'll help a lot IMO, since it's got no seek time. One user did tell me that it made the PS2 immune to the design flaw of APA, which causes access to the partitions on a large disk to be incredibly slow.

Rightfully, software like OPL should already have problems listing all games on the HDD (i.e. iterate through all partitions, opening each one to read title information), once there is about 100GB of games there. But we get away with it by bypassing HDD.IRX, reading the title information directly via devctl().

@amirzaim: yes, I added a workaround for compatible adapters that were made for the old homebrew modules. But only because I know that it is hard for the user to know which adapters are bad or not.
The trade off is that we take up slightly more memory, but it is a small price to pay. Not all adaptors are supported by the workaround, as it depends on how non-compliant the adaptor is.
There might be a lot of companies trying to fly their flags under the "GameStar" banner because I got a few dumps of the register layouts of a few of these "GameStar" adaptors, but a number of them have significantly different register layouts from each other - so either they somehow changed their product so drastically or multiple companies just stamped "GameStar" on their products to sell them.
 
Yes, I am very interested in things like the HDD-OSD and how fast the scrolling would work!

I suppose it won't help much 'in-game', but I could try to find a GTA and use the cheat-menu to be able to move super-fast! That's quite a stress-test for texture-reloads haha... :D


Edit: The 'disks' I can test this with are:
  • 1TB Seagate Baracuda (some 7200.11 or 7200.12-Model [I will look it up later.])
  • 1TB SanDisk SSD PLUS (just bought it for 113€ @ the Amazon CyberMonday [or one of those days])
  • 240GB SanDisk SSD Extreme Edition
 
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THX to some people who claim that there is no difference between using an HDD or an SSD in the PS2, I got reminded of this thread!

There are a few things which I will certainly make a video of, which are:
  • Open PS2 Loader bootup-time with a lot of games
  • FHDB+HDD-OSD/"Browser 2.0" bootup-time
  • Scrolling through the content/partitions of the internal storage device in "Browser 2.0"
  • Speedtest-tool which uyjulian linked to and Maximus32 wrote

Please add your suggestions, which games I should try! Keep in mind, that most of the games I have are the German or European Versions and that I have quite a lot but not all games and hence can't test some.
 
Please add your suggestions
Click to expand...

"hdd0:/__common/Your Saves/" a lot of save icons parsing test.

Folder must have special dir attribute to show saves inside, the easiest way to create it, is just launching HDLGame Installer and saving network settings, because this app creating this specific dir in the same way as Sony tools (BTW: this is official place for PS2 and PSX save dir on HDD (in most cases of course as backup storage, not memory card replacement)).
 
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THX! I added it to my list!

It will probably take 2 weeks, until I can do the tests, because I don't have either drive with me.
 
If You want separate test for PSX and PS2 saves, You can rename "Your Saves" folder (i.e by uLE, attribs will stay intact) for something else and create new one. Just FYI.
 
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@sp193 Does the v1.0 build of opl support Bluetooth usb dongles to sync PS3 controllers? I have an opl anniversary build with Bluetooth usb support for the dual shock 3.
 
  1. I'm not sure if SP193 would like to be tagged about a bugged OPL fork he did not work on, but which is the fork of a respectles person (the creator of that fork)...
  2. Every feature available in OPL DB COMES from the original OPL initially and was available on these BEFORE OPL DB copied them... After all... OPL DB is a fork of OPL and not vice versa!
  3. Edit: ...and it is totally off topic...
 
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Well, since we got no results on tests, I did mine test with PlayStation 2 HDD-OSD Browser v2. Used 2x consoles, and my experience is following.
- 1 TB HDD, works fine, once you loaded more than 350gb content, slows down. Icons loading slowly, uploading more than 650gb becomes extremely slow! And once you want to go back, to the main PS2 menu, console stuck on the black screen and need reset.
- 1 TB SSHD, loading icons well but once you reach more than 500gb content, it's slows down. After uploading more than 650gb, you won't be able to return to the main PS2 menu. Same as HDD.
- 1 TB SSD loading icons awesome, even above 650gb of content, but once you go above 850gb of content it's slowing down and yeah you won't be able to return to the main PS2 menu, sad but true.
Uploading games I used HDLBInst[v3.6.0 - Revision 1-x64] there is option named "hide game" this will hide games from HDD-OSD. I used it, and it's NOT helped, unfortunately. Console still crash, and you won't be able to return to main PS2 menu.

Mine conclusion, if you want keep HDD-OSD go for SSHD 500gb or SSD 480gb, 500gb or 512gb. Not more! 1 TB will work if, not exceed more than 800gb of uploaded content.
Little life hack, upload games only via "HDLBInst" Do NOT use WinHiip completely outdated, copying games with it will result in showing wrong free space on your HDD-OSD. Forever 896mb of free space.

Hardware
PS2 Fat SCPH 30004 R EU import
PS2 Fat SCPH 50000 Midnight Blue Japan import
PS2 Network Adapter SCPH 10350 - moded with SATA adapter BitFunx v2
HDD 2.5 - Samsung 1TB ST1000LM024
SSHD 2.5 - Seagate FireCuda 1TB
SSD 2.5 - Crucial MX500 1TB

Software
Free HD Boot 1.966
Ps2 PlayStation 2 HDDOSD files for "_sysconf" and "_system"
HDLBInst[v3.6.0 - Revision 1-x64] Uploading games

For some reason my uploaded pictures are not visible. I hope my test will bring more light on HDD-OSD topic.
https://prnt.sc/7jkWohPqCTbS
https://prnt.sc/GswqZ1r3W78U
 
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Hello Guys! I got more accurate numbers when HDD-OSD freezes and crashes. The software self lock, happening somewhere in the middle between 718gb ~ 713gb of content. You can't come back to the main PS2 menu or create a new folder, it just freezes, and the keyboard doesn't show up to type the folder name. It seems HDD-OSD max support is 700gb HDD or 750gb HDD, and it was the biggest IDE interface HDD ever made by capacity, back in the days. I guess it is not a coincidence. Icons loading quite fast with 710gb of content, but going above, it will crash! It's good enough if you have 1tb SSD loaded with 710gb data, it is around ~ 200 PS2 games! It's a lot. You can have HDD-OSD on your 1tb SSD if you do things right, 700gb is that gold limit we should keep. Mine interest in Browser 2.0 was due to a game save storage, to avoid on buying non Sony memory cards.
 
It is the software itself, not capable to handle such an amount of data, unless a solution is found to bypass the IDE limit coded in, maybe ? In my opinion, I don't know. Icons doesn't cause crash, since I prevented adding game icons in HDD-OSD, only left folders for game saves, and it's still freezing once data limit reaches ~ 715gb. Games like God Of War 2, ATV Offroad fury 4, Champions of Norrath, ~8gb images DOESN'T cause browser to crash. Both options are tested, "icons on" & "icons off", or scrolling huge game images in browser, it leads to the same results, 710gb of data borderline, and software self lock. It is algorithm of reading data on HDD and how Browser 2.0 was coded. All HDD's, SSHD's, and SSD's till 500gb are working just fine, but max support it seems 710gb of data. We bypassed this limit by SATA adapters, 1tb SDD show to us, where the limit presents. :sfun oldguy:

Off-topic: I believe PS2 Hardware is good enough to handle such s Browser interface with bigger HDD's and content in, it would be nice to see an alternative of HDD-OSD, working with content and game saves. Or more, launching games from it, it would hook all CFG's from OPL folders, with all game mods, GSM and other stuff. By now it's what we have :encouragement:

If you're suffering with perfectionism. :bf:
I haven't tested yet but there is an amazing option like Intel 800gb SSD. The real capacity is 745gb. It would perfectly fit in with 200 game titles, and won't cause the browser to crash. Icons will load smoothly with all folders. 200gb of free space tail, won't hang there, like on 1tb SSD's.
:grin: Happy gaming all :pineapple:
 
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