[Aeolus]

Basically has ne one got info on the na hdd and whether it has internet connections or i would have to buy the network adaptor as well.

[vissione]

A Hard Disc Drive does not come with any kind of internet connection. You need to get a network adapter, which has an IDE controller for you to plug in a HDD.

A HDD and a network adapter work hand and hand... one needs the other to play FFXI. Third party network adapters won't work because they don't have the IDE connectors.

Here's everything I know about the HDD:

Please close this thread full of crap.

No one here knows what the hell they are talking about.

- First of all HDDs do not come formatted(as in ready for your filesystem.)

- There is no language barrier between HDDs. Japanese HDD, American HDD.. same damn thing. (except the external...)

- The Linux HDD works for games, just can't have Linux installed.

- The network adapter that comes with the Linux kit works for online gaming, so does the HDD.

- The HDD is not special hardware, stop thinking like there's a freakin' firmware magical harddrive in the making. There is no difference between the Linux HDD and the "retail" HDD.

- I'm thinking Sony won't sell HDDs branded as "For Playstation 2" due to: (Yet there's still a large chance they will)

a) When you get a Linux kit, everything comes in the traditional yellow boxed case. However, the HDD comes in a special red box. This means the HDD is not going to be sold the same as the rest of Sony peripherals.

b) Sony is not a mainstream HDD constructor. Even their PCs and laptops use HDDs from other brand name companies like Maxtor or Seagate. It's no secret as to why the Linux kit HDD is not manufactored by Sony.

c) The HDD that comes with the Linux kit is an unchanged Maxtor 40GB HDD. The HDD says "Sony" on it, but it's got the same model number and characteristics as the Maxtor drive.

d) You CAN take a Linux kit HDD and put it in your PC, likewise, you can take a PC HDD and put it in your PS2. There are no main differences.

e) The minute differene is a rail, screwed to the side of the official drive. This rail is used to screw into the network adapter. Nothing stops you from getting one of these for personal use.

f) The HDD doesn't come formatted. Like I once said (Thanks for the correction Angler) the PS2 uses the EXT3 filesystem. It will either need to be formatted by setup discs, or within the game there's the option to format a drive. This option is very possible, thanks to Sony's move of letting SOCOM(a flagship Network Adapter title) have it's own internal network setting manager. Other games have it too, excluding the need for an official drive.

g) Due to the large space, games that actually use the HDD will probably just allocate the resources they need into folders. No operating system will be needed, that's handled by the PS2. That means, there'll be a a folder named "Final Fantasy XI" for that game. Then a folder for "X game here" and so on. This is an assumption, but do to the lack of an operating system this is the only logical way it'll work without being a sea of unorganized files.

h) Each game designed to execute from the HDD will be able to freely run if what I just assumed is true. This is like games that even though you move the folder from "C:\Program Files\[X-game=here]" it can still run within any directory. It's not tied to any kind of external registries. I'm sure console developers have little to be scared of by "hackers" but in the event that any files are tinkered with... nothing substatial would be hurt. To actually mess with these files you'd need a dev kit. I don't think developers would actually put anything they don't want on the HDD, so there's no danger there.

i) With that said, I feel setup discs are not really that important. If Sony really is canning the "homestation" idea for the PS2, then there's no need for "BB Navigator" discs for the US. Just give us the option to format a drive and we're set.

j) No one is really jumping up and down waiting for the chance to surf the net on their TV. It could push more PS2 sales if you can do much more with it, but it's not like we really want that as deeply as games. So... I think Sony will not "officially" run the whole surf the net-watch movies-listen to music thing-a-ma-jig. It'll probably be run by third party entities just like in Japan, so you might see SharkSurf or ActionNet sometime down the road. The liberty of the Playstation 2 means companies can do what they see fit, aslong as it's within the grasp of the console, and doesn't hurt the PS2 image.

k) Sony sells the whole BB Navigator deal in Japan in a sorta strange way that maybe many of us don't get. First off, Japan is a different economy. They're not broadband junkies like us, and don't sit on the computer as long as we do either. Many reports indicate that Japanese companies are trying to "take away" US dominance of the internet by using appliances that will connect to the internet. Once such thing is the Playstation 2. MS is trying to retaliate this action by emposing a fierce battle for gain of this new terrain. We all know that while the competition is tough, it'll be most probable that Sony will be able to do what they want.

This calls for a way to sell the equipment needed for "Playstation 2 online" in japan to be different. Most people over there connect to the internet via non-PC electronics like cellphones. So, to get the Japanese attention, Sony uses deals with major broadband companies to sell the BBU so players can get online. Not many BBU owners are really broadband users, any probably don't even use their PC online.

This kind of action isn't needed in the US because broadband is much more mainstream. Therefore, don't expect us to go to Comcast to get HDDs. We've got half the set, all we need is the other half... there's plenty HDDs at CompUSA.

This is just the beginning, the PC was the starting point of the internet. Thanks to globalization, companies are coming together to gain more power to face up against other countries. The Japanese won't allow the US to control the internet, so they're getting to us. They want us to flagship the new way to use the internet. Remember Square-Enix? It's not cause they want us to have an orgasm thinking on RPG perfection. It's cause globalization forced them to become a greater entity for larger international corporations.

l) Even if Sony does sell a retail HDD branded as "official" it's still just an ordinary HDD. If sold, it'll most probably come with the stuff I just mentioned that SHOULD be included in every HDD compatible game, the same way you can set your network settings in every network adapter compatible game(or better yet, any ethernet adapter.)

- When you put a HDD in your PS2 that's running Windows XP, expect sudden errors to appear on your drive that will force you to reinstall the OS. I'm not completely sure what goes on, but the drive is read and the PS2 reacts to it by overwritting some .sys files, mainly (or only) the pci.sys. I'm not sure why it has to deal with PCI system files, I see no PCI connections in the PS2. I'm guessing the console port on the back of the network adapter is a firmware PCI connector and that's why it tried to deal with it, but due to the incorrect filesystem, it corrupted the file. I would try formatting a drive from NTFS to EXT3 and see if it'd get better results, but that's not going to prove anything I say. The thing is, the north american PS2 reads, interprets, and even writes to files on a HDD. Maybe the japanse one doesn't and therefore requires the extra setup discs. Yet again, more speculation, but not utter crap out of my ass. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprized if the US PS2 already has the goods to format a drive.

- The network adapter manual states on page 16:

"The network adapter (ethernet/modem) (for PlatStation2) is marked with the letters "HDD" to indicate that it can be used with the internal hard disk drive (for Playstation 2) (sold separately)."

We all know this is true, yet if you rethink the "for Playstation 2" you can ultimately see that it's not completely true. The only real "for Playstation 2" hardware is the network adapter. It only works for the Playstation 2, yet other HDDs will boot within the PS2. People once thought Sony would use MagicGate technology to encrypte HDD information. I guess this wasn't a real necessity cause any computer can read off the drive.

- The only way the prove this is to wait till Everquest Online Adventures is released. Once released, we'll see firsthand how the US PS2 handles HDDs. It'll have the option to use a HDD optionally, and maybe by that time the so called "retail" red box will be out. I'm not saying Sony won't release a safe firstparty branded (key word, branded... Seagate got the license for the retail HDD, Maxtor seems to do the Linux kit ones) HDD to ensure that customers get the best service they can, but that doesn't mean you have to keep thinking it's special and unique. If you want, you can get a faster drive so that it can install FFXI faster, and get your own rails. You can even get a bigger drive, especially if you're the kind that think size matters...

Enough rant I, I wonder if I'm over the word limit.

Anyway CLOSE THIS THREAD NOW... it bothers me.

It's from a now deleted thread but it's what I know. There's more about it at: http://forum.ffxionline.com/showthre...0&pagenumber=1

:sweat: