Dark Nemesis...?

[jaxspades]

Hey, I have an old PS2.
It's nice, I love it, but it is my greatest enemy in gaming. Thus the name...

So, I thought, I would switch the front LED's to white, the back 60mm fan to a red LED 60mm one, and get a Hard drive for it off of eBay or something.

Oh, and dremel in 'Dark Nemesis' on the top.

I figure, nice, easy and relatively cheap mod, depending on the price of the HD.

Just looking for thoughts or even more ideas on it.
Also, does anyone know if the PS2 Hard Drive is actually worth it, or is it not...?

[Zephik]

I don't think getting a new hard drive for it will benefit you. Those things can hold quite a bit as is. Also, I'm not even sure what kind of hard drive the PS2 uses so there might be some compatibility issues there. I say save your money from the hard drive and put it towards something else? Maybe give it a sweet coat of paint?

I wish I had an old PS2 with me so I could open it up and see what you've got to work with but unfortunately I don't so my ideas are going to be pretty limited. But I think a two tone paint job would look sweet. Have a base color then have a accent color that will blend with it well. If you like black, like I do, and you don't want to change it, then maybe give it a glossy black paint job instead of that textured look they have. For an accent color, to match your red fan, you could paint red inbetween those groove things.

Maybe look into cutting out "Dark Nemesis" somewhere and putting a think piece of frosted plastic under it with some LEDs to light it up?

[Cool1Net6]

The PS2 hard drive is capable, but only when mated with appropriate software. The actual hard drive from Sony is a ripoff. Its $100+ for a 40GB drive. Better off buying a 120GB MAXTOR (these work best, and 120 is the maximum). Remember that you also need a network adapter to use the drive.

With the hard drive, there is the possibility to backup your games to the console itself and load them from the hard drive. This sharply decreases load times, and makes your PS2 more "mobile" as you don't have to lug around game discs. However, this is on the border of legality, and in the interest of TBCS I wont reveal anymore.

I am also going to second the painting of the case. Not too many people have painted PS2's, and I like SnowFire's idea of mixing Black with Red to compliment the red 60mm fan. You could also put LED's behind the front grill or make a window of some kind over the CD tray, and light the CD with LED's.

-Cool-

[jaxspades]

I'll check out some painting tutorials, and have black fade to red maybe....

I was going to dremel "Dark Nemesis" into the top, drop in Plexiglas and put a white CCFL in there.

I'll check that Maxtor thing out--how do you get a normal HDD to work with it? Is it SATA or IDE?

I don't care about the whole ripping of games on there, I wanted to use it for game saves, I have so many, it's not funny.......

Thanks for the help so far!

[Cool1Net6]

The PS2 takes a normal IDE hard drive using the network adapter. Physically, it is extremely easy to install. Just drop the hard drive in the PS2 and turn 2 screws with a coin and your done.

http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/images/ps2_hdd_install1.jpg http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/images/ps2_hdd_install2.jpg

Maxtor drives line up perfectly with the adapter, which is why I recommended a 120GB Maxtor, but if you dislike Maxtor and choose to go with another brand, there are numerous hard drives that have been tested to work on the PS2. Here is an updated list (http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/?p=list) of all the working and non-working hard drives with the PS2. If the drive you choose doesn't fit nicely into the network adapter, with a little modification (http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/?p=guide_westerndigital) (hehe) you can fit just about any drive.

The next step to getting your hard drive to work is to format it to the PlayStation File System. The Sony-branded drive comes formatted already, but there are numerous tools and guides out there that can help you do the same. For example, this guide should help (http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/?p=ps2_installation) you find those tools, as well as other homebrew applications that are now possible with the hard drive in place. And as a disclaimer, some possibilities of the hard drive may be illegal, so don't use my knowledge for nefarious purposes.

-Cool-

[SgtM]

+rep to SnowFire and Cool1Net6. good info.

[jaxspades]

Thanks again Cool1Net6.

I think I might go with an 80gb Hard Drive--I'm not sure if I would need the 120...who knows.
I'm a little anxious about Maxtor though--I've usually heard bad reviews of it, but maybe I can find a Western Digital that does the trick.

Thanks again with the info--crazy, you know so much!
+1 rep Cool!

[Commando]

Dude,

Paint is great. If you have access to a auto parts store you can get some great spray paint that will give you the effect your looking for.

I recommend:

1 can of sandable primer
1 can of Duplicolor red metal speck
1 can of Duplicolor black effects
1 can of Duplicolor clear

2 packs of Wet sandpaper:
1000 and 1500 grit

1 bottle of 3M rubbing compound

A grand total of around 25$ can buy you a rockstar paint job.

Let me know if you need any suggestions.

[jaxspades]

Thanks Commando--+1 rep, that's great advice.

[linoge]

i manage to get an original ps2 hard drive at the local
eb games for $9.00 each the guy said he didn't now who to sale it to
he had them for three months i used them with hd advance witch aloes you
to install and play games from the harddrive each game is between 2 to 6 gigs
the thing with western digital hard drives is that not all of them fit
and hear is a way to install a led inside the ps2 and hock it up to
the ps2 mobo: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ben999000/ps2/index.html
did it mi self and it work pretty well

hope this helps and good luck :up: