Originally Posted by
wildsprite
the PS2 hard drive partition size was never hard coded in the original model PS2, I dont know where you got this information but, it would have been a difficult and costly mistake, even if it was firmware it could easily be corrected by a software update set to write the firmware, you should also be aware that it was Square that urged/convinced Sony to bring the drive to the USA, as it was Sony had no intention to release it due to lack of software, SE were probably given everything they needed to fix any oversights from Sony, the PS2 hard drives were all 40GB in the USA, I'm not sure about the Japanese models, I suspect they were also
the idea with the Japanese PS2 having the drive outside of the PS2 connected with a card close to the size of a credit card was a smarter design, but SCEA thought if they released that design people would just import the Japanese drives and they would just lose money