2x mystery TOOL hdds...but i cant access them :(

i have the programmer tools disk, and the technical refrence disc to go with it, but theyre ps1 format, will there still be anything of usage on them for ps2 dev? theres some really nice stuff on them like the cdgen software and a nice explanation of howto create discs and stuff....but im assuming this was the source of the homebrew cdgen software that was released many years ago?
i think based on the current state of my tool, the best option for these external hdds atm would be to just pull them out the casings and test them using hdloader on a retail ps2. But from what im gathering theryre most likely going to be blank, or contain nothing to share with the community

 

SONY never used the PS2 homebrew stuff, and neither should the disc be a PlayStation disc (the development tools were for the PC).
What exactly do you have?

Why not just sell them? They are quite rare nowadays too.
IDE disks are a lot more common and cheaper, to be used with an expansion-bay set.

 

just to see whats on them, id return tmen back to the cases afterwards, and the disc i have are official sony discs DTL-s2003 for tecref disc, and the programmer disc is in the tool drive atm i forgot to remove it....i think theyre both pc discs, as the tec ref is full of powerpoint/pdf files/manuals

 

Do you think if I imaged the drive using macrium reflect in a windows environment it would work? Or should I use a linux utility?

If you can provide the drives I will make images for you OP

 

You will still break the seals, beware.

That disc is a PlayStation SDK disk, which isn't relevant to PlayStation 2 development. Not that it's for the PlayStation console itself.

Since probably no retail disk imaging solution supported APA, a full sector-by-sector copy is required to preserve the content of the disk.
But if there is DNAS-protected content, then the content might not work when removed from the original disk.