HDLoader came in the mail the other day, and so far I'm enjoying it. Games are copied to it in 10 minutes or so, and after that, I should never need the original discs again (unless I want to play online). Loading time is definitely reduced. In Tiger Woods 2004, for example, the load time between holes went from maybe 8-10 seconds to 1-2 seconds. The game just feels a little quicker all around. One of the other nice benefits is never having to switch discs, once the games are loaded. The HDLoader disc just stays in the PS2 all the time and I boot the games from the menu it provides.
All in all, not a bad deal. The hard drive was pretty cheap (though at 120GB, it's bigger than what I needed), and I already had the required network adapter. I also won't need to buy a hard drive later for GT4. :-)
Posted by Ben at July 27, 2004 1:07 PM