USB

The simplest way to get media onto SMS: copy your files to a USB flash drive or hard disk, plug it into the PlayStation 2's USB port, and browse them straight from the pad. SMS reads the drive's raw filesystem and plays your files wherever they sit — there is no special folder tree to build. USB drives mount into the BDM mass-storage namespace as mass0:, mass1:, and so on.

ℹ USB is the friendliest place to start

Every fat PS2 has a USB port on the front (slim consoles too), so USB needs no extra adapter, no hard drive and no network. If you are brand new to SMS, a USB stick is the easiest device to try first — format it, drop a video on it, and go. See Getting Started for the full first-file walkthrough.

Overview

A USB mass-storage device — a flash drive/stick, or a self-powered USB hard disk — connects to the PS2's USB port. SMS loads its USB driver on the IOP and mounts the drive through BDM (the Block Device Manager), the same mounting layer used by MX4SIO, the exFAT internal HDD and i.LINK. Because they all share that layer, USB drives take device names in the common massN: namespace: the first mounted BDM volume is mass0:, the next mass1:, and so on.

Once mounted, the drive appears as a device icon in the device menu (the top row of the SMS screen). Select it and press Down to drop into the file list and browse. SMS plays media directly off the drive — video, audio and pictures alike.

⚠ Which massN: is my USB stick?

The number is assigned in mount order, not per port, so it depends on which BDM devices are running and the order they came up. If you also run MX4SIO, i.LINK or an exFAT HDD, your USB drive may not always be mass0:. The active device's name is shown on the status line at the bottom of the screen — just glance there to confirm which volume you are browsing.

Compatibility

SMS reads USB drives formatted with a standard PC filesystem and a normal partition table.

Requirement	Details
Filesystem	FAT32 or exFAT
Partition table	MBR (master boot record) — the usual default for USB media
Device type	USB flash drive / stick, or a self- or externally-powered USB hard disk
Media location	Anywhere on the drive — SMS browses the raw filesystem, so any folder layout works

Format the drive as a single MBR partition. FAT32 is the most universally compatible choice; use exFAT if you need to store individual files larger than 4 GB (see Tips). There is no coverart, ISO or special-folder requirement — SMS is a media player that reads your files where they are, not a game loader.

ℹ A note on USB speed

The PlayStation 2's USB hardware is USB 1.1, so raw throughput off any USB drive is modest by modern standards. For standard-definition video and audio that is plenty, and SMS's decoders are built to work within it. Very high bitrate files may be the exception — if a demanding clip stutters, a lower-bitrate encode or a faster device such as MX4SIO or the internal HDD will help. Keeping files unfragmented (below) matters more than the drive's own speed rating.

Preparing the drive

Format as FAT32 or exFAT

On your PC, format the USB drive as a single FAT32 or exFAT partition on an MBR partition table. A quick full format (not just a fresh copy over old data) also gives you a clean, low-fragmentation filesystem to start from.

Copy your media anywhere

Drag your videos, music and pictures onto the drive. You can drop them at the root, or organise them into folders however you like — SMS shows whatever directory tree is on the drive. There is no mandatory folder structure: no DVD/, CD/ or ART/ tree, no ISOs. Just files.

Use supported formats

Copy files SMS can play: video such as AVI (DivX/Xvid/MPEG-4 Part 2), MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 2 mp4v) and MPEG program streams; audio such as MP2/MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, WMA and AC3; and JPEG pictures. H.264/H.265 video is not supported even when stored in an MP4 file. External SRT/SUB subtitles and M3U playlists work too. The Video and Audio pages list every format in detail.

Eject cleanly, then plug into the PS2

Safely eject the drive from your PC so all writes are flushed, then plug it into the PlayStation 2's USB port. Fat consoles have their ports on the front; slims have them at the top-front. Then boot SMS.

Enabling USB in SMS

On a clean install SMS starts nothing automatically — you turn on the devices you want. There are two ways to get USB running.

Autostart USB (recommended)

In the settings menu, turn on Autostart USB. From then on, SMS loads the USB driver at boot, so a plugged-in drive is detected and mounted automatically every time you start the player. This is the set-and-forget option if you use USB regularly.

Start USB now (on demand)

If USB is not currently running — for example you left Autostart off, or you plugged the drive in after booting — SMS offers a Start USB now item so you can bring the device up on the spot, without rebooting. Trigger it, give the driver a moment to load and enumerate the drive, and the USB device appears in the device menu.

ℹ Pick USB in the device menu

Once USB is running, use Left/Right in the device menu to move the highlight onto the USB (massN:) device, then press Down to enter its file list. The status line at the bottom shows the current device and path so you always know where you are.

Browsing & playing

Inside the file list, navigation is the same as anywhere in SMS:

Input	Action
Up / Down	Move the selection through the file list
L1 / L2	Page-scroll through a long list
Cross (✕)	Open the highlighted folder, or start playing the highlighted file
Triangle (△)	Go up one level — folder → parent → back out to the device menu
Left / Right	Return to the device menu to switch devices

Select a video, music track or picture with Cross and it plays. During video or audio playback, Select pauses, Start resumes, and Triangle stops and returns you to the browser. Subtitles and M3U playlists that live alongside your media on the USB drive are picked up automatically — see Subtitles and Audio & Playlists.

Tips & troubleshooting

Use exFAT for files over 4 GB. FAT32 cannot hold a single file larger than 4 GB. If you have a long or high-bitrate video that exceeds that, format the drive as exFAT instead — SMS reads both.
Keep files unfragmented. On a heavily-fragmented drive, playback can stutter as the PS2 chases scattered pieces of a file. The simplest fix is to copy everything off, reformat the drive, and copy it back so each file lands contiguously. On slow or old media this matters more than anything else.
Avoid too many small fragments. A near-full drive that has had files added and deleted many times fragments faster; leaving some free space and doing occasional clean reformats keeps large videos playing smoothly.
Confirm the device name on the status line. If you are unsure which massN: is your USB drive (because MX4SIO, i.LINK or an exFAT HDD are also running), read the bottom status line — it shows the current path, which starts with the active device.
Nothing appears? Make sure USB is actually started (Autostart USB, or Start USB now), that the drive is FAT32/exFAT on an MBR table, and that it is fully seated in the port. Powered USB hard disks should have their own power connected. See Troubleshooting if a drive still won't show up.

ℹ USB and the other BDM devices

USB, MX4SIO, the exFAT (BDM) internal HDD and i.LINK all share the massN: namespace and can generally run side by side. The one pairing to know about elsewhere is that MX4SIO and MMCE both use the memory-card (SIO2) bus, so only one of those two can be active at a time — USB itself is unaffected. See the Devices Overview for the full picture.

Why does my USB drive show up as massN: and not "usb0:"?

This build mounts USB through BDM (the Block Device Manager), a shared block-device layer that also handles MX4SIO, the exFAT internal HDD and i.LINK. BDM presents every attached block volume under one unified massN: namespace, numbered in the order the volumes are discovered. So the name reflects mount order across all BDM devices, not the USB port or the drive brand. Whichever volume comes up first is mass0:; the next is mass1:, and so on. When in doubt, the status line at the bottom of the screen always tells you which device and path you are currently browsing.