PSA: Those old PS2 memory cards are failing faster than people think

I pulled my save files last month and 4 out of 11 cards just wouldn't read on my original console, even after cleaning the pins. If you have a collection you care about, back everything up to a PC adapter before it's too late, has anyone else hit this with the 8MB cards specifically?

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henry_webb681mo ago

“4 out of 11 cards just wouldn’t read” is brutal but honestly not shocking. The thing nobody talks about is how the 8MB cards specifically use a cheaper flash chip that degrades faster if you save a lot of little files instead of one big one. I tested this with my own pile, the cards I used for Tony Hawk replays and random demos died way sooner than the ones with just one or two full game saves. It’s the write cycles that kill them, not age. Also the internal battery on some of those cards powers a tiny capacitor that helps the chip keep its charge, and when that battery dies, the card wipes itself even if the pins are clean. So if your card reads now, copy it tomorrow, not next month, because that battery loss hits without warning.

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