How reliable are 3rd party 16MB PS2 memory cards?

[Vroomfunkel]

Does anyone have any experience of this? I am seeing quite a few auctions for these on Ebay UK, and they seem to be cheaper than the regular 8MB official cards ... but I would rather have a smaller one that is reliable than a larger one that might corrupt my saves. Of course, if the larger one is good, then it is a much better buy ... but I'd rather not find out the hard way!!

Vroomfunkel

[Achika]

Do you have any links to these auctions?

I know Interact (I think?) made a 16 mb card that came with a disc, in the early days of the PS2 Circuit City (amongst others, but they were notorious in this area) told customers that the 16mb cards were memory cards....this was not the case, as you could not save directly onto them. They were more "storage" units.

In the US Nyko makes an 8mb memory card that is licensed by Sony and so far those have been ok.

[ghsqb]

Do you have any links to these auctions?

I know Interact (I think?) made a 16 mb card that came with a disc, in the early days of the PS2 Circuit City (amongst others, but they were notorious in this area) told customers that the 16mb cards were memory cards....this was not the case, as you could not save directly onto them. They were more "storage" units.

In the US Nyko makes an 8mb memory card that is licensed by Sony and so far those have been ok.

You're right Achika, it is Interact. I have one of these, and exactly as Achika stated, they are not true memory cards.

First you have to boot your PS2 with their boot disk, then you swap in your game, and voila, you have a 16mb memory card.

Problem is most if not all newer titles won't work with the card.
When you boot up using their disk, the game will not see the memory card, so you cannot save or load.
All EA games starting with MOHAA and later releases have this problem as do most new games.

I had contacted Interact about this problem and they sent me a new boot disk which was supposed to fix the problem, except now it won't boot in the PS2 at all, instead all I get is a RSOD advising me this is not a PS2 media.

If this is the card that is being offered, don't do it.

[Kevin Listwan]

Yup, I have one as well, I have had no problems with saving or anything else. But the whole boot process is a pain in the ass.

Streer clear of Interact, spend alittle more.

[Oobgarm]

I echo Achika's sentiment. Those 16MB cards are total trash, and are a complete pain in the ass.

I've had a Mad Catz 3rd party card since the PS2 launch and it's still working good.

[Sylentwulf]

Just for the record....

Any third party memory card for the PS2 that I know of, will not allow multiple user-created playbooks with madden 2003.

OK, most people WON'T have a problem with that.... but who's to say they won't have other problems :)

[Vroomfunkel]

Thanks guys... the auctions I was seeing were for Interact cards, which I shall duly stay clear of! I might go for the Mad Catz one ...I'm not that interested in Madden :D

I'm just getting somewhat irritated with playing missions on GTA3 and not being able to save. And getting half way through Freak Out with the same problem. Thing is, I hate spending more that £10 on any non-rare console related item ... but I guess I'll dig deep into those pockets and cough up, cause it is rather essential!

Vroomfunkel

[Funk Buddy]

I believe Hori makes officially licensed PS2 memory card. I have never used one, as I have the Sony brand. I only have used one 3rd party memory card and that was for the DC. It has been very reliable and only lost my saves one time in three years.

[Oberfuhrer Hamm]

Hmm, there was this thread on 3rd party hardware in general....
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15007