Canadian Dance Hall of Famer, MC Mario is renowned for his live DJ prowess,… Read Full Bio ↴Canadian Dance Hall of Famer, MC Mario is renowned for his live DJ prowess, for hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, for producing hit dance tracks and for collecting the world's biggest hits, and for his line of compilation albums distributed in Canada by Sony Music. MC Mario is now celebrating 3 million albums sold in Canada, and he’s still counting. Mario was also nominated for a Juno Award in the Best Dance Recording category in 2001 and 2003, and received the Hall of Fame prize at the Montreal DJ Awards in 2009.

MC Mario's nationally syndicated radio shows Mixdown and House Party can be heard in Montreal on Virgin Radio 96 and in 25 cities throughout Canada, the United States, Antigua, Portugal, Australia, Greece, Cyprus, Brazil and Cayman Islands.

MC Mario's Web site, www.mcmario.com, is the hottest DJ site in Canada! Serving up the 411 on the latest hits, trends, charts, dance scene, and with a link to MC Mario's nationally syndicated radio show, www.mcmario.com is a reference in the dance music industry.

MC Mario also continues to develop his own record label, Tycoon Records, an independent label in Canada distributed by Sony Music that serves as a unique tool to develop independent Canadian dance tracks and international dance pool material (www.tycoonrecords.com).

One may think that he has done it all! But no, MC Mario became co-owner of Club 1234 (www.1234montreal.com) in Montreal in 2004. Known for its lifestyle, nightlife and attractive people, Montreal has always been at the forefront of dance music and club culture. On September 8, 2004, Club 1234 was reborn with a gala opening night party and over 1500 people in attendance and there has been no looking back since, with a full house every weekend! MC Mario has shared the stage with world class DJs such as Bob Sinclar, Axwell, Carol Cox, Boy George and Alex Gaudino just to name a few...

MC Mario now enters the international stage with his new House release, My Generation, which is destined to be a favourite amoungst international tastemakers and radio DJ’s alike! Already licenced in Germany with outstanding remixes from Alex De Vito and Dockland Collection, My Generation is a record produced by MC Mario that features the vocals of Canadian Recording artist Dat Dude (Right Round, Parapapa, Let the Bass Kick in Miami).

On July 13, MC Mario presents Sun Factory 11 including the hottest chart topping hits of the summer of 2010!

Who better to bring on the music than DJ celebrity MC Mario!

Work Hard Play Hard
MC Mario Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I own this shit

This beat's for all my freaks
We're running on no sleep
So line the shots up
Because this party's jumpin'

This beat's for all my freaks

We're running on no sleep
So line the shots up
Because this party's jumpin'

Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'

This beat's for all my freaks
This beat's for all my freaks
All my freaks, all my freaks, all my
Turn the volume up

This beat's for all my freaks
We're running on no sleep
So line the shots up
Because this party's jumpin'

This beat's for all my freaks
We're running on no sleep
So line the shots up
Because this party's jumpin'

Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'

Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'
Because this party's jumpin'

Turn the volume up

This beat's for all my freaks
We're running on no sleep
So line the shots up
Because this party's jumpin'

This beat's for all my freaks
We're running on no sleep
Don't stop till we get enough

This beat's for all my freaks
We're running on no sleep
So line the shots up
Because this party's jumpin'

This beat's for all my freaks

We're running on no sleep
Don't stop till we own this shit

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to MC Mario's song "Work Hard Play Hard" highlight the party lifestyle of the artist and his audience. The words "I own this shit" displays the confidence and pride that the artist feels in his success, and may also be interpreted as a nod to his ownership of the party scene or the music industry. The repetition of the phrase "this beat's for all my freaks" emphasizes the inclusive atmosphere and camaraderie of the partygoers, who are all running on no sleep but are still ready to "line the shots up" and keep the party "jumpin'".

Line by Line Meaning

I own this shit
I am in control and own this event/party

This beat's for all my freaks
This music is for all the partygoers

We're running on no sleep
We've been partying all night and haven't slept

So line the shots up
Prepare and arrange the drinks

Because this party's jumpin'
This party is lively and exciting

This beat's for all my freaks
This music is for all the partygoers

All my freaks, all my freaks, all my
All the partygoers are unique and special

Turn the volume up
Increase the intensity of the music

This beat's for all my freaks
This music is for all the partygoers

We're running on no sleep
We've been partying all night and haven't slept

So line the shots up
Prepare and arrange the drinks

Because this party's jumpin'
This party is lively and exciting

Turn the volume up
Increase the intensity of the music

We're running on no sleep
We've been partying all night and haven't slept

Don't stop till we get enough
Continue partying until we're satisfied

This beat's for all my freaks
This music is for all the partygoers

We're running on no sleep
We've been partying all night and haven't slept

So line the shots up
Prepare and arrange the drinks

Because this party's jumpin'
This party is lively and exciting

This beat's for all my freaks
This music is for all the partygoers

We're running on no sleep
We've been partying all night and haven't slept

Don't stop till we own this shit
Continue partying until we take control of the event/party

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: KRISTIN KATHLEEN BOUTILIER, OLLE CORNEER, STEFAN ENGBLOM, TIJS VERWEST

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@crantusyt

4y↑7

FYI: If you EVER want to do anything in the Free MCBoot Configurator, then you MUST format you HDD again after you've setup your memory card with FMCB. Otherwise it will force FHDB instead of FMCB and you won't be able to access anything, aside from the normal options, from the main ps2 menu.
If this has happened to you all you need to do is this:

**DO NOT FORMAT YOUR HDD FIRST OTHERWISE YOU WILL HAVE TO START FROM THE BEGINNING**

1. Reboot your ps2 and hold R1 (or whatever button you changed it in the FMCB configurator) This will put you straight into the ULaunchELF.
2. Repeat all memory card related steps from the video from 10:27 - 12:01
3. On the reboot step you will still have to hold R1 to go into the ULaunchELF
4. Repeat all steps from the videos from 12:22 - 13:32

Now your ps2 should be using FMCB again.
NOW format your HDD to get rid of the FHDB that's still on it.
And now you can use the Free MCBoot Configurator with no issues.

This happened to me tonight and I had to figure out myself :p

@4ndroidG

4y↑5

Thank you for this guide!

I did this mod successfully in January 2020. Here are some lessons that I learned:

1. FAT32 on USB drive: The drive needs to be less than 32Gb to be able to format to FAT32. The FMCB files takes up less than 1Gb.

2. WinHIIP: Make sure that you delete the Hard Drive partition after formating it. Use windows "Disk Management" for that. Otherwise WinHIIP won't recognize the drive.

3. WinHIIP Disc Fragmentation: Think carefully when selecting what games you want to transfer to the HDD. If you remove an image it will still take up space on the HDD. So you basically have to format the drive and add all the games again if you want to add and remove a lot of games.
4. WinHIIP Boot file: The boot file name has to be the same as the Game ID. WinHIIP gave THPS4 the boot file name SLPS_999.99 when the game ID is SLUS.205.04. This led to the game crashing on launch in OPL. I then renamed the boot file in WinHIIP and the game worked fine.

5. Virtual Memory Card (VMC) in OPL: This caused a lot of problems for me so be sure to read up on it if you want to use it. I decided to use a real memory card (PMC) to make things easier. You can save on the memory card that has FMCB on it.

6. PS1 controllers: I used a PS1 controller during the softmod and it worked fine. However some PS2 games had trouble with it so I recommend using a PS2 controller.

7. OPL Manager: This is a great tool for sorting, naming and getting cover art for your games.

8. Cover Art in OPL: Use OPL Manager to download the cover art. Copy the OPL Manager ART folder to a USB drive. Then using uLaunchELF. Copy that folder and overwrite the ART folder in the OPL directory on the HDD.

9. OPL Games compatibility: https://ps2-home.com/forum/page/opl-game-compatibility-list-A

@StephanieHua

5y↑1

Notes:

@6:15 - the goal is to run FMCBootinstaller.elf so that you can install Free McBoot onto your memory card. This will avoid having to use the HDD to boot into FreeMcBoot. That being said, I already have a Magic 3 Swap Magic disk that can load Elf files from a USB drive. If you are like me, then you do not need to go through the process of making a Free McBoot hard drive just to get ULaunchElf going.

So my own process would have been:

1. load Swapmagic to open the FMCBinstaller.elf on my USB drive.
2. install Free McBoot to my Memory Card
3. run uLaunchElf to copy the Boot folder into the memory (to get more apps)

@westinmcleod

2y↑3

Thank you yet again, Another System successfully modded thanks to you !

PS2
PS3
OG Xbox
PSP
PSVita

All thanks to you my dude. You need some sort of donation bucket haha ! You should totally start Nintendo softmod guides. even though it is training wheel easy and all my nintendo stuff is already done from wii to wiiu and the handhelds, I prefer your tutorials over anyone else on Youtube and would love to see what methods you'd use for each console !

@tnaplastic2182

7y↑11

madmatt2024
Oops, I just saw the other reply. We probably wrote our replies at the same time.

Yes, HDL has an option to install it from disc... However OPL has an HDL-Server implemented and HDL-GameInstaller is also able to do that stuff (it is just a separate app, instead of included into OPL)...

Noone needs to use coverart if they don't want to and if they want to use it, they can simply auto-download it from a database if they want. Beside that, HDL doesn't have any optional support for these kind of things (Game-Art) at all!

HDL's skin can only be patched (i.e. on a PC), but OPL directly supports Themes and changing those during runtime.

-OPL supports internal HDD, just like HDLoader, but additionally it supports LAN/SMB/(even NFS on some builds) and USB. HDL only supports one device...

-OPL has an implemented Cheat-System...
-OPL has a vmode-force for games and the GUI
-OPL supports the DualShock3-Controller (in GUI and in-game) and technically can be expanded to support other input-devices as well...

OPL supports Virtual MemoryCards, which is quite a lot more worth even in bare money, than the missing install-function.

The GUI of OPL supports multiple stuff changed during runtime, which most of it can't be changed in HDL in any way, not even by patching it... like Widescreenmode... enabling/disabling windows and the start-window...
Font-color...
Font...
Theme with completely different view and handle, instead of a skin which merely replaces the background...
and so much more...

You also can't back out of a game back to your PS2-Menu, your game-list or poweroff your PS2 with HDL neither in the GUI, nor in the game... (InGameReset)

OPL also supports in-game-screenshots being made with a button-combo.

(All this in-game-support can be expanded by an in-game-menu of OPL, but that is not implemented yet...)

That all being said... OPL definitely is a much more complete and also compatible solution to play games from other devices then discs, than HDLs is (in almost every aspect)... Nowadays nearly noone wants to use the drive at all, not even for installing leaving alone all those lasers, which are already busted...

HDL also is a commercial app and long out of development (around 13-15years). All additional patches for example DualLayer-Support (also for the install-function) was implemented by Scene-members. OPL on the other hand is fully Open Source(d), which means that any missing feature at least can be implemented in a rather easy fashion, while it remains out of question for HDL for some features, even if you are a professional at MIPS(el)-Assembler...

OPL is compatible to ALL PS2-Versions, while HDL is only compatible with certain FAT PS2s which have an 'Expansion Bay'.

All this makes HDL obsolete compared to OPL, which is still in active development and just got DS3/BT- and DS3/USB-Support...

All that makes HDL (almost) obsolete compared to OPL and makes OPL definitely a far more complete all-in-one-solution in regards to gaming, than HDL.

How the heck does FMCB come into play here? You know an exploit, which is newer, more advanced, runs on almost any PS2 out there (except newer revisions of the SCPH-900XX or at best if it is better than FMCB, even on those), has all of its features + additional ones? So... There is something which replaced FMCB and is better? That's what makes up the definition of 'obsolete'...

Don't get me wrong, but calling 'FMCB' obsolete is utter bullcrap/bullshit...

The name btw. is 'Free MemoryCard Boot'... We had a discussion about it during development.
The shorter Name 'Free McBoot' can be referred to in two ways... Either (spoken) 'Free am ce boot' or 'Free Mac Boot'... PS2dragon, which made the FMCB-logo (AFAIR) liked the 'mac' just like JNABK.

However the abbreviation for a MemoryCard is 'MC' and thus FMCB's abbreviation ever includes the 'C' and is not 'FMB', but 'FMCB'!

Best regards,
TnA

All comments from YouTube:

@gotbletu

7y↑863

FYI: if you cannot format the Hard Drive with WinHiip; open up Start Menu > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management > [Your_PS2_Hard_Drive] > Right Click Delete Volume > Leave it Unallocated ;; restart WinHiip and now you can format the HDD

@gotbletu

7y↑19

hehe no probs, not many youtube videos cover that part

@smeegle

7y↑12

Hey, I just tried that and it is still saying "there are no ps2 formatted drives on your system", any ideas?

@smeegle

7y↑10

never mind, i have to run as admininistrator, that fixed it

@gotbletu

some hard drives might not work, you have to check the ps2 compatible hdd, just google it and they will have a list

@smeegle

7y↑3

my drive is compatable.... i beleve... it is a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB IDE drive

79 More Replies...

@KennethArntsen

7y↑187

Fantastic guide. I lost all my PS2 game discs while moving a few years back, and thought I would have to buy each and every one back from eBay. This is a life saver, and lets me re-live my childhood all over again as I still have all the save files on four separate memory cards. Thanks a million!

@tnaplastic2182

7y↑31

Kenneth Arntsen
The (homebrew-)scene deserves some thanks too... 😉

@KennethArntsen

7y↑19

Oh, without a doubt!

@roblox1gam3er33

6y↑5

Same here

@KiteAndKeyProductions

3y↑1

My fat model decided it doesn't like paying disks anymore, so I ripped mine to my pc and used this to revive it. Idk if this dude knows how many childhood memories he's helped restore with this tutorial

@bernielindell

5y↑32

Damn good tutorial. Been modding these systems for a few years, and I had to learn the hard way back then. This is sure to be a BIG help with gamers new to PS2 soft modding. Awesome job!!

@MrMario2011

5y↑7

Learning the hard way was certainly more annoying than it needed to be for the PS2, hence why this tutorial was made!

@AtariLunatic

7y↑4

Great guide. Just modded my old PS2 and got it all set up. Got the same SATA adapter off of ebay. The mod process seemed complicated but your instructions were very easy to follow and the included software links made it a breeze. No regrets with this new set up. Thanks, man!

@tnaplastic2182

7y↑1

Atari Adam
On eBay you will often find old versions of the adapter. I rather suggest Aliexpress...
If you run into troubles, don't expect the Homebrew-community to 'fix' it for ya, if problems occur with your version of the adapter...

@theoriginaljrest

4y↑8

MrMario - Thank you very much for this! I watched this and followed this walkthrough on November 4th, 2019 and this was absolutely fantastic! I had been skeptical on modding my launch PS2 but really wanted the ability to play off a hard drive since I had the original network adapter with the old IDE drive. The only thing I wish you would have shown was adding cover art to the games.

@vinniecorleone62

Thank you for a clean well stated comprehensive tutorial, very helpful for a layman like myself! Happy to find your channel here & subbed!

@rheart4423

4y↑3

Thanks so much for your great tutorial Mr. MARIO. Everything went pretty smoothly, and I've been enjoying my soft modded ps2 for the last 6 months. Its great to see there's still a huge community around this console. Just wanted to come back and thank you. Its been great to be able to get the most out of my PS2. 👍

@MrMario2011

4y↑3

Glad I could help! Stay safe!

@rheart4423

@MrMario2011 you too mate. Things are getting scary out there. No better time to dust off the ps2. Quick question... What's your top 3 PS2 games 🙏

@thegamingfamily1699

How did you get it to work? 😊

@mastersummersjr

6y↑11

Great video! I bought a PS2 at a garage sale for five dollars and got it set up with a HDD I had laying around. Worked perfectly with the steps from this video. MrMario does a great job not getting overly explanatory for the experienced and not overly technical for the newer people. Great happy median, great video. Thanks, man!

@eathamgamer

1y↑1

5 dollars?

@xm1808

51w

@Eat Ham Gamer Yeah they went up :'(

@verbalkint1770

1y↑4

I remember finally getting this installed on my memory card in 2005. Felt like a genius.

@MFTony727

4y↑6

I've used your tutorials for modding my OG XBOX, PS3, & GameCube. Next up is my PS2 that I've had since 2002. Thanks for your hard work. Every tutorial has worked for me flawlessly.

@crantusyt

4y↑7

@AshleyStrawberry

7y↑1

Thank you very much for this easy to follow and precise video. I tend to struggle doing these kind of things, so I really appreciated the guide!

@connoraisbitt9805

4y↑11

It’s crazy to watch stuff like this Technology has came so far but never give up on old consoles always something new to learn

@CCS55

4y↑16

Finally, I have went through and done this. The exact hard drive you linked to was exactly what I was missing. My 2TB would not work at all so I just got the HDD you linked as well as the SATA Adapter, and bought an HDD enclosure. I had the rest. It's done, I now have a PS2 with over 100 games on it that I love or have never got the chance to play. Wanna give you a shoutout MrMario2011 for the tutorial and all the help! Much appreciated!

@davesiltanen4014

3y↑78

Vid almost 4 years old. Followed it exactly and downloaded from links given. Everything worked perfectly!!!! Only hiccup I had was sata drive. It needed to be initialized and computer formatted before it would be recognized by computer. Loving ps2 PHAT all over again!!!!

@guywhoplaysbass

3y↑1

did you run into any issues finding your drive in winhiip? mine is showing up with negative space

@luqmanmdalinoordin6215

3y↑3

run as administator

@tnaplastic2182

The video is quite good!

I really like the recommendation of having both, FMCB and FHDB! :)

I would really like to see someone testing the HDD-OSD together with HDL-GameInstaller and a some games (~30+) on a SATA-Clone-Adapter, or a Sony-Adapter with a SATA-Board from Maxdiy, or similar and a SSD... ^^

@WalterKnox

27w↑1

For anyone who was wondering, I just tried this, and all of the programs needed to run on PC (as of 10/2023) work just fine on Windows XP. This is helpful if you are using an IDE HDD, because most older computers from the XP era have IDE ports, so you can just unplug your optical drive, and lug your hdd into that port, and it will work with no external adapters needed.

@issachijode4534

19w

Thanks for the PSA! I've had it in mind to softmod my system since discovering my Japanese imported games wouldn't read on my NA model.

@rigg619420

4y↑4

Thanks for sharing this brother! I had no idea that there was a free hddboot. That is a great idea though to have that installed onto your hard drive. Because like you said, If something goes wrong with your memory card, you can always reformat the memory card with the hddboot and just reinstall it back. That is cool! I get my sata ps2 adaptor tomorrow. So i'm way too excited to get it lol I already have the 500gb hdd. So i'm alset there. I'm like a kid in a toy store hahaha!

@alanmorford

5y↑5

Great tutorial. Easy to follow. The hd I'm using in an old 80gb sata and I didn't have the option for 48bit but 28bit seems to work fine.

@majestic2876

32w

Wish I saw this comment lmao, upgraded to a 250Gb to have the 48bit option

@abyssea225

5y↑4

Something to note with WinHIIP - if you are using an existing HDD and it has data. You need to go into Data Management (Control Panel > Computer Management) and right click, delete all partitions on the drive. Then you can format with WinHIIP. Otherwise, you get an error.

@todd1748

5y↑1

you are a champion! winhiip wouldn't format my drive - read your comment and realized I had to delete volume, create a new simple drive and leave it as unformatted- worked perfectly! cheers mate

@martienrurenga772

2y↑2

thanks alot!

@caifabe8050

14w

just got my hard drive in today and set all this up. i already had FMCB installed but i used this tutorial to load my games onto my hard drive. so far everything seems to work! playing Gran Turismo 3 off the hard drive with no problems whatsoever. thanks for the guide, man. MUCH appreciated.

@lilbz187

5y↑18

Once again, MrMario has come to the rescue with one of my weekend projects ...first the ps3 then the ps2 as a straight nostalgia throw back .

@theladyivy

30w

I've been digging all over to figure out how to do this and everyone else only gives you bits and pieces and expects you to know the rest! Thank you for the complete breakdown you're terrific!

Now I just need to find a hard drive and I'm ready to go!

@MrMario2011

30w

Glad to help!

@DaveLapsley

5y↑11

Last week, an old friend returned a ps2 I lent them over a decade ago. Thought it'd be fun to fire it up and see what I can do with it all these years later. Turns out, I'm lucky to have found this video before almost anything else and as 2018 closes out, this video is still covering all the bases. I walked through it once. Bam. Done.

@corkandswainphotography2780

3y↑6

Just finished the tutorial with a 500GB drive I pulled from an old external. Thanks so much! Used a SATA NIC bay. Eventually all my consoles will run through an mClassic. Next up going to do your Xbox Original Softmod. Quarantine has been allowing me to get through all my projects that have been on the back burner.

@MrMario2011

3y↑3

Stay safe!

@corkandswainphotography2780

3y↑1

@MrMario2011 You too man!

@dr-oopie

what did u do to softmod the xbox?

@JL-mv8rc

6y↑3

Thank you MrMario2011. After spending over six hours searching for information on using a HDD in my ps2 I came across your extremely helpful presentation . The programs are down loaded. Thank you for the links . I could not find the programs you mentioned after hours of searching the net. The adapter for the hard drive is ordered. I picked one made for the SATA drives . I have 3 old drives doing nothing in a box. This is going to be fun. Thank you again.

@matt635rain

3y↑1

Respect for the vid bro. Followed all the processes up until I had to install MCboot. It failed because I never had a OEM memory card, so I tossed some games onto the hd and booted up ps2 loader on the HDboot. It actually ran good and loadtimes were normal, only bad thing was data for one of the games was corrupted. I will get MCboot when I get some OEM cards.

@select_input

6y↑5

Incredibly helpful, thanks for being thorough!

@danielisom852

6y↑1

Very helpful video man. Thank you for uploading this. I have a ps2 and would love to have the option to boot my games from the hard drive to save on wear and tear to my fat PS2. This will keep the device around a lot longer considering I have two siblings that play it and are very irresponsible.

@Zorlin0

6y↑1

Thank you very much for this tutorial. I modded an early PS2 and it worked great.

@chrissmith2846

Thanks for this! Very informative and thorough tutorial! Definitely going to try this out soon!

@MrMario2011

Thanks!

@jcreative6480

7y↑17

FINALLY! The best and easy softmodding tutorial EVER. Thanks man :)

@tnaplastic2182

JCcreative
The image in itself is, what makes it really easy (and is scene-stuff NOT made by Mr. Mario). There have been numerous easy tutorials out there for this kind of stuff since YEARS!
But still thanks to Mr. Mario for the easy to follow video.

@johnmartincevic1072

Thank you Mr. Mario definitely the way to get FreeMcboot and HDD mod up and running,👍🏻

@nickelacqua9958

I followed your softmod tutorial and it really helped. Worked flawlessly. I have been having some issues with corrupted data on my memory card and for some reason my screen flashes before it launches any game, but I was thinking it might be the hard drive going bad or maybe an issue with my ps2 or the adapter. Anyone have any ideas? Screen will do like a pink, then green, then blue, flash then it WILL launch but I've been kinda wigged out by it.

@marbles8641

Hopefully you see this. This process worked like a charm and I was able to get everything up and running.
However, there is some game comparability issues due to the OPL version I used when I initially set up my system. How do I update my OPL to the newer versions?
(According to the website, 9.3 was the last official but the beta/daily versions are regularly updated and some of the games I backed up only work with said later revisions like 9.3 R8 etc etc. I'm mostly doing this to preserve two games of mine that I never want to see damaged.)

@MrMario2011

I've got a video coming up showing how to update OPL.

@4ndroidG

4y↑5

@graemefisher7014

Thank you for your in depth guide I followed every step of this and it worked a treat

@MrMario2011

4y↑1

Glad this helped!

@rs1n

5y↑7

Still useful in 2019... but a few comments:

1) You don't need to format the HDD with WinHIIP before copying the hard drive image file to your drive since that will just destroy any formatting anyway.
2) Always format the memory card because not doing so can sometimes lead to FMCB not installing properly.
3) After installing FMCB to a memory card (and before installing games/apps), you can then use uLanchELF to format the HDD, followed by installing FHDB (i.e. the HDD version of FMCB) using the same installer that you used for FMCB (starting from 1.95 and higher). The reason you should use uLaunchELF to format your drive is because it does not create unnecessary partitions that WinHIIP does when it formats the drive. These extra partitions are for a different game loader called HDLoader (whereas we are using Open PS2 Loader).
4) There are much smaller images you can use -- in fact there is an image that will boot straight into (and contains only) uLaunchELF so you can then run the FMCB launcher from the USB drive (since that is all you really need to get started).
5) You DO need to wipe your HDD because the image file you used in your video does no longer matches your HDD geometry after copying the image over.

@rs1n

5y↑1

@José López I find that OPL is a better experience for me because it is still being developed. It has way more options beyond just loading games, and I have not run into any issues with my games (have around 200+).

@rs1n

5y↑1

@José López Mine is 1.5 TB (1,500 GB) and it is SATA (I modified my adapter to use SATA instead of IDE).

@rs1n

@José López I have never had issues with it. I think I have about 200 or so games. What type of issues are you running into?

@rs1n

@José López Just make sure to format the drive using the disc manager in uLaunchELF.

@StephanieHua

5y↑1

@luiseduardonunes9028

Thank you very much, I was able to do the whole process, although I had some problems here and there that deviated a little bit from what the video showed. Nevertheless, it was an excelent video and I can never thank you enough.

@MrMario2011

Glad it helped!

@jananstunes

6y↑3

Man, ive watched this VERY VERY informative video about 5 times now. Thank you for doing an excellent Job bro

@mastodon0124

I did everything exactly the way you did and everything is working great! Thanks bro.

@michaelrobertson4298

Used this yesterday. Worked like a charm, though I picked up later versions of FMCB and FHDB.

@GeekyGrant

7y↑3

After a week of tinkering I have finally done it thanks to you :-D Now I can digitize my whole collection and not worry about disk swapping all the time ^_^

@MrMario2011

7y↑1

Glad to see this!

@stevensalinas1994

MrMario I just wanted to leave a comment saying you are the greatest youtuber and a total KING for making these tutorials!!! I have successfully modded my ps2 and ps3 slim thanks to you and can play all the games of my childhood again! I hope you have an amazing day!!!

@MrMario2011

2y↑1

Have fun!

@SDChargers93

3y↑1

Just got everything I need for this mod, I’m beyond excited to try this.

@flyingwings4740

works perfectly,clear and easy to follow with no hassle, cheers!!!!!

@shaiksaleem5984

34w

Not showing anything except browser and system configuration. Only

@ZeniusFox

Quick question. Instead of buying an IDE to USB cable which ranges from $13 - $26, wouldn't it be more cost effective to just buy a memory card with Free Mcboot pre-installed for $10 and work from there? I already have a hard drive and network adapter. Thank again for the great and thorough guide.

@RunsWithSpaghetti

Great tutorial, this helped me out so much. Thanks for this!

@westinmcleod

2y↑3

@MrMario2011

2y↑1

Thanks! I have a few donation methods set up, but I always recommend donating to devs as opposed to me. I don't plan to cover those consoles.

@westinmcleod

@MrMario2011 I appreciate you MrMario !

@uptbug

4y↑1

Just came here to say, while half the gaming world is going bonkers over PS5 pre-orders and news, thanks to your tutorials I'm falling in love with my PS2 all over again. 👴🏼

@MrMario2011

Love will make the world go round!

@MelleBooba08

2y↑2

5 years old but you answer all of my questions, very good tutorial man.

@noskatehate

Just followed this video in February of 2022 and everything has gone flawlessly! Thanks for the amazing video and awesome details/information!! My 30001 r is running a 1TB sata drive, original network adapter with an amazon sata adapter without issues.

@jesusortiz3732

Great video ! Very informative. I just have one question regarding winhiip. On the options tab there is a option for "Reduce Fragmentation" . What does that do ? And do i need to have it checked ? I saw on the video it is not checked. Thanks !

@syedzairabbasrizvi1634

Thanks a lot MrMario2011. This tutorial was a great help.quite easy and hassle free. Thanks a tonne mate :)

@MrMario2011

Happy it helped!

@shaiksaleem5984

34w

It not showing anything except browser and system configuration

@TheThorns

6y↑22

thank you so much for not missing any steps or software! Worked like a charm.

@teengohan9184

How big of an HDD did you use?

@matthewglein1555

Decided to attempt to softmod my original fat PS2 after the DVD drive started to fail and no longer read disks. @MrMario2011, Fantastic How-To video. The only real issues I had were the issue with WinHiip not being able to format that drive (easy fix) and I ran into an issue where I had to format and try a few different USB flash drives before I could get one to load...and it only worked on the bottom USB port on the PS2. Very strange issue...possibly USB hub in the PS2 going bad? Either way, everything worked great. Was able to rip copies of several games this evening, get them loaded on the HDD and play. Thanks for the great video!

@Daniel6254

30w

i have the same issue that the FMCB Installer freezes when loading up. Trying out several usb flash drives but none seems to work

@matthewglein1555

30w↑1

@@Daniel6254 I don’t remember what I did to get it working since it’s been so long, but I believe I had to use a smaller usb flash drive, like 8 or 16GB instead of a larger drive that was like 64 or 128GB.

@MultiWirth

Great so i finally have FreeHDBoot.
Just noticed, it shows the original Startup screen before it runs the payload.
That´s actually pretty nice since fmcb doesn´t have an option for that.
I used a small SSD which also enables fast booting times and hopefully faster game startups than what i had with my 3,5" HDD before.

@NBeev1

4y↑1

Just before christmas I bought a PS2, with 2 controllers and an 8MB memory card for £20. Spent £15 on a HDD adapter and followed this tutorial, and now have a PS2 with 35 games running off the HDD! It worked perfectly!

Many thanks!!!

@MrMario2011

4y↑1

🍻

@Deathlock61

What model do you have? And does the fan get louder with a hdd installed?

@robertporter2447

This works perfect! Used sata adapt from eBay used old 720 gig drive. Ran split screen on monitor ps2 on one side and puter on other helped in setting up mem card. My ps2 is first release model. I put 150 games and works perfect, with room for at least 200 more. My hat is off to MrMario best tutorial I've seen on most anything!
This guy is a god! OPL is the way to go as HDloader is slow and does not support many games. Fast boot with memory card is the way to go. Thanks,Zombie Kirk

@BushXCGL

Question:

I heard from somewhere that it's possible to boot the system from the HDD and have save data saved to the HDD too. What are the steps to achieve that?

Followup qn: If the above is true, then does it mean I do not require the memory card after I've done what this video has illustrated?

Thanks man!

@ragingraven7915

4y↑5

Bought a PS2 to play NCAA 06 but ended up doing this just now. Freaking awesome!

@paulg8314

great video, very helpful! made the whole thing easy

@NeoTrggrTheGammer

wanted to say, thank you for this tutorial...I followed the video and now I have a softmodded ps2, thankfully I had a hard drive sitting around not being used...just had to buy a ps2 back pannel and a usb hdd adaptor, wasn't that expensive but now I can share so many childhood favorite games with my nieces and nephews...

@xboxmods8688

Hey thanks for the clear tutorial and other great videos. I've followed this exactly twice, and what I'm getting is I can't select circle for File Explorer because it does a scan and keeps going to some other screen called PS2 HDD Manager where it shows pie graphs showing my HDD used/free space and partitions like _mbr, _net, _system, etc. Here I can only press R1 for menu with some uptions like format, expand, etc. If I back out of this screen back to where I can see circle and File Explorer again it does the same thing again - doesn't let me hit circle, does a little scan thing, and then jumps it back to this HDD Manager page where I can't do anything.

I've tried this twice, including doing a fresh extract of the archives, I've tried a new HD, and I've tried it without the memory card and USB in. Any idea what could the issue be? Could it be an issue with the version of my PS2 along with the version of FHDBoot?

@MrVictorRong

6y↑1

Great tutorial, got myself the SATA network adapter. Works a treat, thanks!

@greggv8

I have the very last revision of fat PS/2, and a HDD network adapter. The model when Sony finally figured out that it was a good idea to make the laser sled out of metal.
A web page or PDF of this process would be easier to follow step by step.

@urracojalpa4481

7y↑53

Get an adapter with network capabilities, otherwise it will be too much of a hassle to put games on it (if I'm not mistaken you have to take out the HDD every time you want to install a game).
With network you just need to launch hdl server from the PS2 and you can transfer your games directly from your PC trough LAN.

@madmatt2024

7y↑1

Or you could just install HDLoader on your PS2 and rip the games using the PS2 by itself. The only issue is this won't work with copies.

@urracojalpa4481

7y↑18

HDLoader is ancient, Open PS2 Loader (OPL) it's way better: it has much more options (cover art in the game list, customizable functions and menu appearance, it loads games from HDD, DVD, LAN, USB, it runs homebrews, emulators etc...).
You can still rip games with the PS2 itself by using HDLGameInstaller.

@madmatt2024

7y↑3

FMB is also ancient but nobody complains about that now. ;) Unlike OPL, HDLoader is an all in one solution. I have used both and I don't see any advantage to OPL. Box art... LOL. Maybe if you have nothing better to do then search, download, and crop images for every game you own.

@tnaplastic2182

7y↑1

madmatt2024
It does work with ESR-patched disc, if you start HDL through ESR mc or GUI - Version...
Start esr-gui, start Ule from it, start HDL, install...

@tnaplastic2182

7y↑11

1 More Replies...

@princegroove

Your tutorials are awesome. Thanks!

@hansvids3316

Even though you already have FreeHDBoot installed, use the USB installer to re-install FreeHDBoot and it will boot faster; otherwise, booting without a memory card will cause the HDD to power cycle before it boots. The install process will set the PS2 to properly boot off the HDD without power cycling it.

@tnaplastic2182

Hans Vids
True!
HDD-Support should be properly activated!
However... Re-installing FHDB with the installer will brick BB.Navi...

@NicoLaurez

Hi Mario! Great tutorial, it helped me allot! By any change, are you able to tell me how I can add cover art to my games list? I saw a video on youtube of one guy doing it via OPL Manager but that does not work for me since my PC is not able to recognize the PS2 hard drive as a storage device. Thanks in advance and keep up the good work!

@tnaplastic2182

@MrMario2011: Would you ever try an SSD with Akuhak's HDD-Image (which includes FHDB, HDD-OSD, BB.Navi, etc.) and make some time-tests (especially bootup-time and scrolling through games within the HDD-OSD)?

@MrVtdrifter889

Thank you so much I'm not too tech savvy but your guide helped me get my ps2 out and playing again

@TheRubiNaish

5y↑4

Still works as of May 2019, awesome tutorial and on point!

@igotsomespace

Good to know

@IanfromBristol

Thank you so much for this video. This worked perfectly for me. I've wanted to soft mod my old PS2 for the last 10 years!

@MrMario2011

Glad it worked out!

@tnaplastic2182

IanfromBristol
The only softmod available in 2007 was the 'Independence Exploit' which was not even close to the compatibility and functionality FMCB offered by the end of 2008. FHDB or similar stuff wasn't available up until 2010-2012...

@repaterion3611

6y↑2

Thanks, dude! You actually made me save 35-45EUR and it works like charm! You deserve a new follower. :)

@djcalle1975

Awesome guide mate. Thank you!

@craigsparton

Awesome tutorial, very well presented and easy to follow. I used it to semi-successfully mod a fat PS2. It boots to the Free MC boot menu no problem. Launching any non-system app (anything besides Browser and System Configuration) causes a hard black screen freeze and I have to reset the console. I tried every app installed on the image, even "Shutdown PS2" doesn't work. Any thoughts on this? It's a SCPH-39001 with an 80GB IDE drive. I used only the files in your description links. The fact that it boots into the modded menu should mean that the hardware is all good right?

@craigsparton

5y↑1

Actually, disregard this. Turns out the PS2 I was softmodding had a modchip I wasn't aware of. This is was interfering with the apps. Everything is working great now. Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

@kobethebest5745

@Craig Parton how do you know if your ps2 has a mod chip?

@craigsparton

@Kobe The best Best way I know is to download and burn a PS2 game to a DVD-R and try to play it. If it plays, it definitely has a modchip! Other than that there's not much indication. You'd have to physically take it apart and see if there's a chip with a bunch of wires attached to the motherboard.

@juliusanthonyragay3540

5y↑1

Totally works! Tutorial was very easy to follow. Thank you!

@MrMario2011

5y↑1

You're welcome!

@shaiksaleem5984

34w

Not working just showing browser system configuration that it were all other options I followed as it everything

@DaltonDiMartino

5y↑9

A couple of things I wish I knew before I started this project. 1 you need a magic gate memory card. 2 when using USB to SATA and a 3.5 drive you will need a power supply for the hdd.

@J-S_93

4y↑1

Are you not able to use a 2.5" drive, as, as far far as I know, they're powered by whichever device they're connected to and shouldn't require a separate power source. SATA connector heads should be the same size on both types of drive. Also, why does the Memory Card have to be a specific brand/version/type/kind?

@TyroKith

Is this true?

@HashimAziz1

I'm curious, is there a particular reason that you use FHDB to install FMCB? I've seen guides that solely use FHDB, and I'm curious as to what the advantages of using both are. What are the differences between the two?

@MrMario2011

Other methods require you to have a hardmodded PS2, do a disc swap, or already have a FMCB card on hand. This guide was made assuming you wanted to do it yourself but didn't want to do any of the options I listed out.

You can do the same stuff with FHDB, but I've noticed it has less support. Can also be slow to boot, so FMCB is the most flexible and versatile. Also any issue you look up in regards to FMCB usually has a resolution as that's the standard.

@MrJoeSmart

Thank you for your clear and easy to follow guide. I followed a very confusing guide when I soft modded my PS2 six months ago. I wish I had your guide to follow. I was able to follow your guide to fix my Free MC Boot launcher which was failing to load OPL. Greatly appreciate it. My PS2 boots up super fast now.

Have you had any success running emulators on the PS2? Specifically looking for a decent SNES emulator.

@MrMario2011

I haven't used any emulators on my PS2, sorry.

@MrJoeSmart

thanks anyway. i am running the sega emulator PGEN but its laggy and has lines flickering. gonna try the SNES emulator next.

BTW I am using the official Sony network adapter and an IDE drive. it is working well, I've had no issues so far.

also, do you have a guide for connecting the PS2 using a LAN cable over a home network?

@tnaplastic2182

Joe Smart
For SNES try SNES-Station 0.2.4/0.2.5 S-Version from SP193.

For Sega try PicoDrive-port from SP193!

What do you want to use the LAN for? Games? Look into the OPL-Guides! ;)

@lexofadown

Thank you! Amazing guide as always

@bigphatty5298

Did this actually work??

@pauldeleon4345

Good morning, Mr Mario. A couple of questions. First, has the limit of 255 games been rectified? The PS2 had a total of over 4,000 games for it. Second, is Popstarter compatible with this setup? If it is, are the PS1 games included in the 255 game limit? Thank you again for your continuing efforts.

@nelsoncordova9354

Yes ps1 games are included in the 250 count limit..& no it has not been rectified.. :-(

@cartuga_3357

thanks very much for this tutorial, it was very easy to follow. i've breathed new life into my poor, knackered ps2!

@MrMario2011

You're very welcome!

@Mugenkid18

6y↑7

Great video! I was able to get up and running from scratch on a PS2 fatty, old 80GB IDE HDD, and a dozen or so PS2 games that I ripped into .iso files. You rock, sir!

edit
I just launched Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (notoriously long initial loading screen) from the HDD, and wow! Much improved loading times!!

For anyone reading this that has the IDE version of the PS2 network/HDD adapter, be sure to set your IDE HDD to Master using the jumper pin. I ran into several issues getting the PS2 to detect the HDD until I did this.

@cloudstrifeification

7y↑1

Also thanks to everyone below for posting helpful comments with problems they have run into when doing this tutorial! Later and keep on gaming!

@ptaz8445

5y↑2

Fantastic tutorial man!

@build157

Thanks a lot it works perfect I followed exactly as you said, and it works perfectly.

@brandoncarter1612

My games are either studdering when starting or lagging pretty bad. Do you have any suggestions for fixing this issue? Also, are there updated Free McBoot and Free HDBoot packs? If so, where can I download them?

@hanakoisbestgirl4752

This will probably be the way I do this. USB is apparently slow and buggy while network connection isnt really an option for me because the distance between the router and where I play. I'm honestly more used to something like this style anyway as this is what I use for my Wii

@moorela8701

6y↑5

I know this is a year old video, but I thought I would share what just fixed my issue using an IDE drive with the original network adapter: Make sure you have the jumper on the HDD set correctly! In my case, I had no jumper at all, which let me connect my drive to my PC but the PS2 wouldn't touch it. However, after installing the jumper to the master pins (the location of these pins vary depending on the brand of the drive so I won't disclose where) it loaded in FHDB first try! Hope this helps everybody still wondering what they are doing wrong, or the people just starting out!

@fernandoalanis3324

That worked for me, Thanks

@fain2daniel

perfect end smooth tutorial....may you live and prosper for 100 years 🙂

@erikrodrigues9270

4y↑1

For anyone that is getting a black screen on loading apps, I bet you have a modchip.

iF YOU HAVE MATRIX INFINITY, hold start when booting the PS2 to disable the modchip, then hit reset and everything should boot fine!
The modchip is using DEV9 and stopping FHDB from accessing the HDD

@MrMario2011 please add this to the description as it will help many trying this with a modchip installed.

@FilipeMisael

THANK YOU!!!!!
I bought a used ps2, didn't even know it has a modchip. I've had so many problems trying to get this hdd thing to work XD (can't format to fat32, winhiip can't format either, feemcboot wont start, people complaining that winhiip sucks and I should use something else, etc etc etc...) I believe this was the very last issue, I was finally able to launch a random app without getting a black screen! Your comment should be pinned

@dphirschler1

Did this mod without the memory card option. Works great and fast. I don't understand why you think hdd loading is slow. Perhaps it is the green hdd you used. Those things take ten seconds to spin up.

@MrMario2011

I used a different image when I was primarily using the hard drive alone, this image I provided is better. It can definitely slow down as you add more games to it, but fastest way to get in and launch apps will be from the memory card.

@lehanderjau6269

Thanks for the video, Mr Mario. I have a PS2 slim running the games for OPL via network cable connected to a laptop and it works really well but that is in the living room... I decided to buy a Fat PS2 to get OPL running with a hard drive and install it in my bedroom. This tutorial helped me a lot but I did run into this issue: Winhiip stopped installing isos into the Hdd when it reached the 256th game. Apparently that’s the limit. Now, I can live with that amount, no problem. What I intend to do, now that I know that, is to format the hdd again to delete the games I had installed and install only the 256 games (out of the 370 I have on my laptop) I really want on the Fat PS2.
My question is: can I use winhiip to reformat the Hdd? Or is that something I shouldn’t do? I haven’t found this specific information anywhere but I would like to be sure that this will not cause any issues before I do it... do you know?

@ThunderHorsePyro

All done and works for me. Thank you. Would really rock if there was a way to go back to the game select menu without having to get up every time to choose another game.

@kobethebest5745

How big is your hard drive and how do you plan on putting games on it?

@ThunderHorsePyro

@Kobe The best that's not what I meant. But I already figured it out. To go back to the game select menu you have to hold down all the shoulder and trigger buttons and hit select and start at the same time.

@markrusterholz6465

7y↑6

This is a good tutorial, but if you don't already have a compatible hard drive and network adapter, it is currently cheaper to just buy a Memory card preinstalled with freeMCBoot.