In the pantheon of PlayStation hardware, the Japan-only PSX surely stands apart as a unique slice of history.
While it was sold as a high-end digital video recorder when it launched in 2003, it contains an integrated PlayStation 2 console, making it a popular choice for hardcore Sony fans over the past two decades.
However, the system is facing an uncertain future due to the fact that the built-in HDD is already functioning well past its intended operational lifespan – and there's currently no option available when it comes to replacement.
Thankfully, the community is rallying to prevent this dark future from happening—and, somewhat ironically, key members of the Xbox modding scene are leading the charge.
Milenko is famous for his work in the realm of original Xbox hardware, but he has put aside any platform affiliations to give more exposure to a campaign – started by another Xbox modder, Derf, on the Console Mods Discord server – to save the PSX.
"As you may know, there is an ongoing concern with PSX hard drives failing, and there is currently no low-cost option to replace them," says Milenko in a social media post.
"Our favourite professional data recovery engineer, @SkyeHDD, has joined the efforts to understand the PSX drive firmware and break open the encryption. Skye has previously used her expertise to help the Xbox community with methods to safely and more easily unlock stock console hard drives for data preservation."
Skye is a professional Data Recovery Engineer who has spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how to unlock Xbox hard drives without access to the unique passwords, which are specific to each system. Via her efforts, long-lost DLC has been recovered and preserved.
If anyone would be generous enough to be able to send any **working** HDDs from PSXs it would help immensely. Firmware work is model specific so the more the better. Something common like the 7200.10 would be idea since those drives are common and go up to 750GB.
It warms our hearts to see the entire retro community coming together in the name of preservation. If you can help this noble venture, be sure to contact either Milenko or Syke.