[Toshiro]

the official sony one does this. some modchips (dunno if i shud name them all but i will say that two of the most popular ones starts with an M and ends with an H and the other one starts with a D and ends with a Z and has only 3 letters, followed by an integer that equals the number of alpha letters in its name >.< ) allow this with ANY harddrive thru ATAP patching. this also enables games that use the HD (official) to cache, download maps, etc onto the HD (ie socom). These modchips also offer the capability of HDloader/Advance built in.

You know that is a pretty big hint and the idea of being subtle just went out the door hehe. But yes, it is great having one and using it for more than just playing PS2 games. Another benefit these advance chips offer is the ability to make the PS2 act as an FTP server, and so I am able to have a secondary backup of my mem card saves to the PC as well as the official Sony HDD (you never know what could happen).

 

[Toshiro]

what about the USB to USB Connection? is 'normal' cable enough (with proper software of course )?

The only one I can recall that can do that was using the Sharkport, which is now discontinued. The only method as I mentioned before is by FTP through the NIC adapter. HDLoader also can support larger HDD, you just need to patch it, they even fixed the date stamping problems. Heck I even compressed it even more and changed the way the logos are in boot up, now it looks like it is an "official" Sony product :evil:.

 

[Toshiro]

You could use that, I have not tried it personally since I have a simple setup using another launcher. Maybe when it past its Alpha stages I will consider using it later on when it reaches Beta or Final stages.

 

[Toshiro]

if u want to transfer stuff to the HD with a non official product and a modchip without ATAP (or smthn) patching on it, u can still do it thru PS2OS (iirc) or some other app.

If u wanna transfer to pc, u need a crossover cable if ur connecting ur ps2's Netadptr to ur comp or just normal cables if u go thru a router. then u use Inlink to load a an executable called nport to ur ps2 (which at this point is running ps2link). then u can go to ur ps2, and transfer/delete/backup saves to ur pc. this is wut i do rite now and it sounds much harder than it really is (or mebe my english just sux).

My method is using ExecFTPS and just access the mem card through an FTP program on my PC and so if I want to save the folders of the save files I transfer them over. The IDs are based on the games SLU ID so you can easily recognize them. The easier method of backup save, and one I primarily use is using the official Sony HDD and just to straight backup through the browser.

 

[Toshiro]

lol, that is why I mentioned the other method, which is the dummy proof method since you just copy the saved games through the PS2 browser. Although yes, if you have a poor memory I guess, the FTP method will be a little bit mind blowing.