Hey everyone,

As you can see from my join date and number of posts, I'm kind of a lurker around here.

Anyway, I'm a huge collector of PS and PS2 games. I'm really anal about the discs getting scratched up, because I want them around as long as possible.

The problem is that I want to play them as well. This isn't a huge deal with my PSone games as I just burn them onto my computer and use an emulator, however, I don't have that option with the PS2.

So, I started looking in to getting a mod chip for my PS2. The problem is I can't solder it myself, and I have no idea where to find someone who can. Every thread I find talking about websites on google is about 2 years old, and most of the links are dead or the sellers don't seem reputable.

I also read that instead of using a mod chip there are steps you can take to play games off of an external hard drive instead of with a disc--that's the most appealing option for me because I then wouldn't have to worry about wearing down the lens.

At this point I'm willing to buy a pre-modded PS2, or send one to get modded, it doesn't matter. Oh, and ideally I'd like one of the older models because I don't like the design of the slim ones. (Plus I think you need an older model to use the external hard drive).

I hope it's not against forum policy to ask questions like this, I did a search and found similar threads about modding, so, I don't think it is.

Anyway, if anyone has any help whatsoever, please PM me or respond in the thread. Also, if this belongs in Modern gaming or something, my apologies and hopefully it'll get moved.

Thanks!