What's new

2x6's DVD or HDD clone to SSD/CF-IDE

Following up to say , SUCCESS!!



8GB SanDisk CF I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017QHZ86?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title



I was successful on the first boot using the StarTech 35BAYCF2IDE , the third one/far right in my picture a few posts ago, set to Master on the Master IDE end. Booted Ace Driver 3.

The ZuluIDE adapter arrived today as well, however I haven't tried testing with it yet. This one is interesting, it has Cable Select as a jumper setting. I may be able to emulate a DVD Rom with this device, we'll see.
Please test Taiko no Tatsujin HDD, Tekken 5 DVD, Tekken 4 DVD, Gundam DVD, Ridge Racer 5 CD
 
I've only tried so far:

Fate Unlimited Codes - played fine
Ace Driver 3: Final Lap - need to setup my IONA-MP07 JVS I/O to something that matches this game
MotoGP - same as Ace Driver

I have a 246B and a 256, both with JAMMA(B) I/O boards as well as an INOA-MP07 with some custom maps. I have it mapped with Wangan Midnight I/O but it doesn't function with Ace Driver 3 or MotoGP
 
Been trying Gundam vs Gundam NEXT on the same 8GB CF I have had success with, but with this one the game doesn't fully boot -- hangs at BOOT 02 message. Fate Unlimited Codes was doing similar when it was on too large of a CF card, which makes me think maybe the IMG file I wrote to the CF card is no good. I'll try with the CHD extracted version later today.

As for DVD/CD images, I'm not sure how much luck I'll have with those, the way the CF adapter is read is more like an HDD and not an optical disc ... but I'll try out a few methods to see where I get
 
@magicman
I've been trying to figure out how to CHD or Image Fates.

Have a Boot Dongle for Fates which seems to work, but can't figure out why the image won't take to the HDD.

Currently using:
New Original HDD WD800JB

CHD from archives. CHD command (as admin) extract to HDD

Everything copies and verifies on my PC but keep getting the blue screen error "Boot file not right" when trying to boot Fates on my Namco 246. It spins up and tries, goes from Boot 01, Boot 02, Boot 03, then black screen, then flashes Boot 03 again before going to error.

Also tried using Win Imager to write as an .IMG to the drive. Same results.

Am I missing a step?

Thanks in advance!
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20250508_173406044.jpg
    PXL_20250508_173406044.jpg
    284.9 KB · Views: 11
  • PXL_20250508_173410712.jpg
    PXL_20250508_173410712.jpg
    197.8 KB · Views: 11
has anyone determined a more reliable way to shrink the hdd image file size? I'm looking for a way to reliably shink these files for the new ATAPI ODE. as these 80GB image files eat up thumb drive space FAST.

I've found some tools like ntfsresize (for NTFS) or resize2fs (for ext3/4)
But I don't even know what the partition format is on these hdds.
 
@magicman
I've been trying to figure out how to CHD or Image Fates.

Have a Boot Dongle for Fates which seems to work, but can't figure out why the image won't take to the HDD.

Currently using:
New Original HDD WD800JB

CHD from archives. CHD command (as admin) extract to HDD

Everything copies and verifies on my PC but keep getting the blue screen error "Boot file not right" when trying to boot Fates on my Namco 246. It spins up and tries, goes from Boot 01, Boot 02, Boot 03, then black screen, then flashes Boot 03 again before going to error.

Also tried using Win Imager to write as an .IMG to the drive. Same results.

Am I missing a step?

Thanks in advance!
From my experience blue screen with "Boot file not right" is when dongle is dead or have bad connection caused by dirt or PCB inside the dongle is loose. Also check your HDDs setting on back of it. IIRC it should be on MASTER.
 
@twistedsymphony there is no file system on these drives just an index table and assets. Just use hxd and snip it at 4GiB or linux:

dd if=bigfile.img of=smallfile.img bs=1G count=4
Is there a reliable way to determine how much data is actually there? I suppose I could try throwing it in a hex editor lol.
 
From my experience blue screen with "Boot file not right" is when dongle is dead or have bad connection caused by dirt or PCB inside the dongle is loose. Also check your HDDs setting on back of it. IIRC it should be on MASTER.
Appreciate the info. Dongle was taken apart and cleaned. Tried in both my Namco 246 and Namco 256 (On 246+ mode) and get the same results. I've tried multiple images from the archives, including the .IMG file defor had posted from their personal collection, which was the full 80 gb.

The back of the HDD has been changed from Cable select to Master and makes no difference.

Idk if the dongle got corrupted somehow during the process, but the card was flashed from an original Time Crisis 3 dongle, to a Fate Unlimited Codes Dongle. All other cards that were flashed work fine, except this one. I can't tell if it's the dongle or the HDD at this point, as he couldn't test the dongle for Fates, as he didn't have a HDD to test.
 
Appreciate the info. Dongle was taken apart and cleaned. Tried in both my Namco 246 and Namco 256 (On 246+ mode) and get the same results. I've tried multiple images from the archives, including the .IMG file defor had posted from their personal collection, which was the full 80 gb.

The back of the HDD has been changed from Cable select to Master and makes no difference.

Idk if the dongle got corrupted somehow during the process, but the card was flashed from an original Time Crisis 3 dongle, to a Fate Unlimited Codes Dongle. All other cards that were flashed work fine, except this one. I can't tell if it's the dongle or the HDD at this point, as he couldn't test the dongle for Fates, as he didn't have a HDD to test.
I think you can test the dongle read first.Then you must see this screen.
1746798325668.gif

And I suggest you use this syntax to convert chd to img.
for /r %%i in (*.chd) do chdman extracthd -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.img"
and finally use HDDRawCopy1.20Portable.exe to write the img image to your 80GB IDE hard disk.
Of course, you can also download the img format file directly.
NM00048 FUD1-HDD0-A (HDD).img.gz
 
after scrolling through hex in HxD I decided to ask ChatGPT to give me a python script to find the last non 00 or non FF byte and give me the size of the file up to that point:
Code:
import os
import sys

def find_last_useful_byte(file_path, block_size=1024 * 1024):
    try:
        file_size = os.path.getsize(file_path)
    except OSError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        return 0

    with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
        offset = file_size
        while offset > 0:
            read_size = min(block_size, offset)
            offset -= read_size
            f.seek(offset)
            block = f.read(read_size)

            for i in reversed(range(len(block))):
                byte = block[i]
                if byte != 0x00 and byte != 0xFF:
                    last_useful_offset = offset + i + 1  # +1 makes it size-like
                    print(f"Last useful byte offset: {last_useful_offset}")
                    print(f"Size of useful data: {last_useful_offset / (1024*1024):.2f} MB")
                    return last_useful_offset

    print("No useful data found (file is all 0x00 or 0xFF)")
    return 0

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        print("Usage: python find_last_useful_byte.py <filename>")
        sys.exit(1)

    filename = sys.argv[1]
    find_last_useful_byte(filename)

it then intuited that I would want to truncate the file and gave me a script for that too :D
Code:
import sys
import os

def truncate_file(file_path, target_size):
    try:
        original_size = os.path.getsize(file_path)
    except OSError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        return

    if target_size > original_size:
        print(f"Error: Target size ({target_size} bytes) is larger than file size ({original_size} bytes).")
        return

    try:
        with open(file_path, "ab") as f:
            f.truncate(target_size)
        print(f"File truncated to {target_size} bytes ({target_size / (1024 * 1024):.2f} MB).")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error while truncating: {e}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
        print("Usage: python truncate_file.py <filename> <target_size_in_bytes>")
        sys.exit(1)

    filename = sys.argv[1]
    try:
        target_size = int(sys.argv[2])
    except ValueError:
        print("Error: target_size must be an integer.")
        sys.exit(1)

    truncate_file(filename, target_size)
 
Hi!:)


I think you'd need the PlayStation 2's file explorer tools to explore hard drives, so you'd definitely need to connect it to a PS2 and test with FreeHDBoot or some such software perhaps?
 
I think you'd need the PlayStation 2's file explorer tools to explore hard drives, so you'd definitely need to connect it to a PS2 and test with FreeHDBoot or some such software perhaps?
I don't think that's right. the PS2 HDD has an actual file system on it and I believe it's a completely different interface than the one the 2x6 is using.
 
after scrolling through hex in HxD I decided to ask ChatGPT to give me a python script to find the last non 00 or non FF byte and give me the size of the file up to that point:
Code:
import os
import sys

def find_last_useful_byte(file_path, block_size=1024 * 1024):
    try:
        file_size = os.path.getsize(file_path)
    except OSError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        return 0

    with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
        offset = file_size
        while offset > 0:
            read_size = min(block_size, offset)
            offset -= read_size
            f.seek(offset)
            block = f.read(read_size)

            for i in reversed(range(len(block))):
                byte = block[i]
                if byte != 0x00 and byte != 0xFF:
                    last_useful_offset = offset + i + 1  # +1 makes it size-like
                    print(f"Last useful byte offset: {last_useful_offset}")
                    print(f"Size of useful data: {last_useful_offset / (1024*1024):.2f} MB")
                    return last_useful_offset

    print("No useful data found (file is all 0x00 or 0xFF)")
    return 0

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        print("Usage: python find_last_useful_byte.py <filename>")
        sys.exit(1)

    filename = sys.argv[1]
    find_last_useful_byte(filename)

it then intuited that I would want to truncate the file and gave me a script for that too :D
Code:
import sys
import os

def truncate_file(file_path, target_size):
    try:
        original_size = os.path.getsize(file_path)
    except OSError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        return

    if target_size > original_size:
        print(f"Error: Target size ({target_size} bytes) is larger than file size ({original_size} bytes).")
        return

    try:
        with open(file_path, "ab") as f:
            f.truncate(target_size)
        print(f"File truncated to {target_size} bytes ({target_size / (1024 * 1024):.2f} MB).")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error while truncating: {e}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
        print("Usage: python truncate_file.py <filename> <target_size_in_bytes>")
        sys.exit(1)

    filename = sys.argv[1]
    try:
        target_size = int(sys.argv[2])
    except ValueError:
        print("Error: target_size must be an integer.")
        sys.exit(1)

    truncate_file(filename, target_size)
Now that we have the script, what should we do next to reduce the weight of the img image?
 
I think you can test the dongle read first.Then you must see this screen.
1746798325668.gif

And I suggest you use this syntax to convert chd to img.
for /r %%i in (*.chd) do chdman extracthd -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.img"
and finally use HDDRawCopy1.20Portable.exe to write the img image to your 80GB IDE hard disk.
Of course, you can also download the img format file directly.
NM00048 FUD1-HDD0-A (HDD).img.gz
Yea mine does some of that, but stops at Boot 3.

Mine doesn't do the "ReEngine" or sound initializing that you showed. It just does Boot 03, then goes black, then the blue screen.

Im using a WD800JB which I was told is better quality than the WD800BB that was original equipment. Idk if that makes a difference but it's still 80gb.

I think I used the HDDRawCopy tool to make the last image file I tried. But I'll check when I get home. And I'll test that script as well to be sure it's not what I was already doing.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20250509-102222.png
    Screenshot_20250509-102222.png
    7.8 KB · Views: 8
Appreciate the info. Dongle was taken apart and cleaned. Tried in both my Namco 246 and Namco 256 (On 246+ mode) and get the same results. I've tried multiple images from the archives, including the .IMG file defor had posted from their personal collection, which was the full 80 gb.

The back of the HDD has been changed from Cable select to Master and makes no difference.

Idk if the dongle got corrupted somehow during the process, but the card was flashed from an original Time Crisis 3 dongle, to a Fate Unlimited Codes Dongle. All other cards that were flashed work fine, except this one. I can't tell if it's the dongle or the HDD at this point, as he couldn't test the dongle for Fates, as he didn't have a HDD to test.
If you have PS3 memory card adaptor PM and I will try to fix your dongle
 
Back
Top