Lets get one thing straight.
MAX Drive has never corrupted a memory card for me. I've been using them since GT3 days, have transferred tons of GT3 saves and replays and hundreds of GT4 data and replays without issue.
With GT4 it's well known that removing mem cards while transferring files or saving data is pretty much sure to corrupt files.
Trying to save GT4 data onto another memory card from
inside the game will corrupt you data leaving you with all but 1 or 2 cars.
Another thing many folks don't realise is that the MAX drive
crushes data as it extracts it from a mem card and it does this automatically. It
doesn't, however, uncrush the data when you transfer it back to the memory card
unless you specifically ask it to, which is annoying. If you try to open a replay or gamesave file that has been copied to the mem card still in a crushed state, the PS2 and/or game will
not recognise the file and sometimes comes up with misleading corrupt file messages.
Many people misinterpret this as meaning that their memory card has somehow become corrupted by the MAX Drive itself, which isn't true.
You should keep a close eye on file sizes for the mem card and the file size when transferred to MAX Drive, and you'll notice the MAX drive files are always smaller. If you've copied (always copy,
never just move) files from MAX back to mem card, they'll have the same file size because they remain crushed, and as such unreadable by PS2 games.
Always use the UNCRUSH option when transferring files from MAX to Mem card to avoid this confusion, unless you're specifically storing crushed files on your mem card to save space, although unless your PC hard-drive is under 8MB in size, why you'd want to do this is beyond me!!
ReplayMAX is a MAX Drive which comes with a cheat code disk. Forget it. I hate cheats.
Sharkport / x-port are the same thing for different regions PAL/NTSC, they are now no-longer produced and hard to come by, except for 2nd hand units on e-bay. Compared to MAX drive they are cumbersome, since they require a direct attachment from PS2 to PC, which can be a problem unless you PS2 and PC are close together or you own a laptop. MAX drive plugs into PS2 USB port and transfers files. Power off PS2 and remove MAX drive, (which is standard USB stick size and not made from neutron star matter,
thus being light enough to transport easily and safely in a suitable pocket or hand!
) then plug it into your PC and transfer files to a suitably named folder. QED.
My only gripe at the MAX drive is the filenaming convention which is complex and undecipherable, but you get used to it, what you should look out for and ways around it, all of which have been mentioned before in this thread, so have a read through it.
