The last post on this page helped a lot, simply replace the max drive save with a. VME files (the one ending in 0 being the one with the actual save data). The PS2 Classics saves are not stored in the PSV format, but rather in a folder with four files, including two. On the XMB, 'Saved Data Utility (PS2)' holds the actual data. psv files placed them into the 'internal memory card' that I was prompted to create when I launched a PS2 Classics game for the first time (which seems quite odd, it doesn't actually use this memory card) does not place them into PS2 classics. It turns out that the PS2 Classics and actual PS2 games use entirely separate save methods on the PS3.
So that was not quite the end of the journey.
