Interact DexDrive

Before the day and age of USB drives, SD cards, flash memory in general and high speed internet, there was the DexDrive. The DexDrive was a magical piece of hardware that granted PS1 and Nintendo 64 owners the ability to share save files with other gamers and the general public. Nowadays this hardware is obsolete, but does it still stand up to the test of time? Let's have a look. The Good: -The ability to copy memory card data to a PC, and vice versa. In this day and age of colossal hard drives, you can have as much as terabytes worth of save data, even though PS1 saves are in the kilobytes range. -The ability to use your saves on emulators. Yes, the save files on your memory card can also be played on your computer, in addition to storing them, and this device facilitates in making this possible. -The ability to share your data on the internet. Got a record lap and want to challenge people to beat it? Share it on the web. Made lots of raceways or levels in level editors? Share that on the internet, too. Have a clear save and want to pass it on to other players? You guessed it, share it with others. The Bad: -The DexDrive may or may not have a USB port, so if it has a serial port (and nine times out of ten it will), hopefully you have an adapter lying around. If not, fret not, as they are cheap to come by, and can even power the DexDrive without the need for the additional power adapter. -DexPlorer software encased in floppy drives, again requiring an adapter. Even then, DexPlorer software is mediocre, and there's better alternatives to this software on the web anyways. -Can be cumbersome to set up, since the computer expects you to have a usable serial port and you provided the DexDrive with an adapter. Once you've figured it out (hint: install drivers and don't have too many USB ports being used), you're good to go. Overall, this hardware gets a perfect five stars, what with the ability and ease of copying saves from your memory card to your computer and vice versa, simplicity of using the hardware, and how it is a great tool in any gamer's toolbox. Buy it, set it up, and get ready to have infinite saves.

That's what I called it as I held it in my hands. Solid, stoic and reverberating with silent, realised potential; ready to unleash its mind-blowing ancient capability upon our puny, insignificant, over-estimated selves. Built as sturdy as a rock, its simple and unassuming design does all of one thing; a thing which in this day and world many might deem impossible; converts all your PSX game saves from your ancient memory cards into .GME formats on your computer, which are then able to be converted into any other conventional PlayStation-related format(even emulators) and carried around. Including .MCR formats readable by your PSP, which is what I purchased this item for. You can even duplicate and organize the saved data on your computer to be copied onto other PSX/2/3 memory cards to be playable on their respective consoles. It is a thing of marvel. Important items to note during utilization are; That it requires a 9-pin serial port that is no longer available on modern computers. You require a serial-USB converter cable that is not included, but these do not always work. Digging up an old PC with an on-board serial port is the most reliable and fail-safe method to ensure that the drive works. Another thing to note is that the LED on the drive does not light up the instant the drive is powered on/plugged in. It only lights up when the original DexPlorer(available on the internet) program is launched and running. This might be misleading in a sense that it appears as though it is not connected or not functional. While some resellers might include the program in a CD, any original, unopened drives include the program in two three-and-half-inch floppies, which are, surprisingly, not readable by any modern computer either. Hence resorting to the internet. And the best part is? I needed it for all of two minutes. Two wholly magical minutes. Then came the gruelling 6 hours of troubleshooting attempting to get your save file to work on your PSP. When you finally get it to work, however... Trust me when I say it's ecstatic.

This thing is truly amazing! Mine came new in the box, even has the 3.5 floppy disks. Of course I couldn’t get the disks to work, either because of a faulty drive or the age of the disks, not sure why. However, I easily found the old software and a newer version of the software by doing a quick online search for “DexDrive Software.” I installed the old version on an XP machine and away I went. Then after buying a USB adapter I put the newer software on my windows 10 machine and that worked just as well. I wish I would have bought this years ago when it originally hit the market.

The Dex Drive is a relic from 20 years past. If you're like me and are using it because you have ancient relics (game system stuff from 15-20 years ago), be prepared to obtain additional stuff. First off, this thing requires a 9-pin serial connector. Even my Alienware desktop computer from 2005 did not come with this connection built in (it does have it as an option though). I just luckily happened to have a 9-pin serial to USB adapter that would work. Second, the drivers are all on 3.5" floppy disks. Again, not too many folks have these lying around. I did manage to find appropriate drivers online which worked fine. So if you can get past the above and then manage to still have PS1 memory cards that have data on them, you should be okay. I've already managed to transfer old save files from my memory cards to my PC and will soon be in the project of converting them to a format my PS3/4 understands so I can continue to play these old files (hundreds of hours of old save data in my case).