Hacking What do I need to know about buying a PS3 for backups?

[Punkonjunk]

I would intend to use it probably entirely offline. I don't like FPS games on consoles, anyhow, dunno what else I'd do online.

Looked over the guides, but they look a little dated, compared to a cursory overview of the forum. I've dealt with CFW for PSP fat, slim, and GO, wii, etc, I get the jhist and the instructions but I don't see a buying guide anywhere.
Is it something I can do with either a USB HDD or a USB stick readily, on my own, or is it all hard-mod?
Following CFW/cracking stuff, can I use an internal HDD inside the PS3 to load backups, or must be external?
Do certain backups cause problems with CFW or not work with "older" branded CFW?

Will a PS3 play PS2 isos, or burns?

Finally, can PS3 isos be stripped, or compressed at all, akin to CSOs, or are they always 40gbs?

Just you know, general information for set up of one. It seems like an older fat model would be the best bet, but is that still readily hacked if it's say, updated to the newest firmware?

 

[Rydian]

You're only seeing old info because only the old models can be hacked. You're not seeing a buying guide because none of the new models can be hacked, nor have they been hackable in a while. Sony was rather quick to put out a hardware revision that blocked most of the techniques, and software upgrades closed the rest.

You'll need to aim for an older used model that hasn't been updated past a certain point.

 

[B-Blue]

You need a PS3 with firmware 3.55 or lower to be able to play backups. But it's almost impossible to find one now because most PS3's on the market are on 4.00+ firmware. You can use tools to downgrade but it's not easy and requires a lot of soldering/etc..
And no, you can't play PS2 ISOs/burns as far as I know. Finally, no, PS3 backups cannot be compressed.

EDIT: IMPORTANT! READ RYD'S COMMENT BELOW!

 

[Rydian]

Also, from what I know, you can only downgrade a PS3 to a firmware it's previously been on, which is why you can't buy a new one and then downgrade it to a hackable system.

 

[B-Blue]

Also, from what I know, you can only downgrade a PS3 to a firmware it's previously been on, which is why you can't buy a new one and then downgrade it to a hackable system.

Oh yeah you're right!

 

[Punkonjunk]

All good info, thank you!
So it sounds like my best bet is go to a gamestop and ask if I can check the firmwares on each one, or another 2nd hand. Or maybe ebay.

So, are there other options? Do any of the dongles soft-crack the system while in use, and allow backups to load from HDDs internally or externally?

 

[B-Blue]

That I don't know, sorry. But why bother with dongles when you can install a CFW anyway.

 

[Punkonjunk]

I mean for systems past 3.55, or if that's a straight cut off for all methods.

 

[Arras]

I mean for systems past 3.55, or if that's a straight cut off for all methods.

For 3.55+ you'll need a hardware flasher that you solder on your PS3 I think, use that to downgrade it to 3.55 and then install CFW. This can only be done if the system had 3.55- installed on it before though, anything that shipped with a firmware above 3.55 can't be hacked period.

 

[Punkonjunk]

Thats what I was looking for. I'd prefer not to get into the soldering and stuff, because I muck it up. So.... finding a 3.55 or lower will be the name of the game.

 

[Qtis]

Thats what I was looking for. I'd prefer not to get into the soldering and stuff, because I muck it up. So.... finding a 3.55 or lower will be the name of the game.

Actually finding a CFW'd console is easier than buying a console with "possibly 3.55 or lower FW". Not that it's hard to mod a console, but looking for a non-modded PS3 for sale with 3.55 or lower is a lot harder

 

[Hiyama]

So it sounds like my best bet is go to a gamestop and ask if I can check the firmwares on each one, or another 2nd hand.

Speaking as someone who works in retail, if you try that the most likely response is going to be something along the lines of "hahahaha, no." Someone who works in a used game store would probably have a pretty good idea why you wanted to know and not be interested in helping you do it. What you could do is check to make sure that you can return items without getting bitten too hard, buy one, take it home and check what's on it, and if it's got too high a FW, take it back with a suitably benign excuse like "My parent/child/significant other already got one somewhere else", and then try again at a different store. Eventually you'd probably get lucky.

Or you could look for unopened bundle packs that were made before the relevant firmware updates. That could take some searching, but I know the place I work at still had original Move bundles (which I think is early enough) until a couple months ago, so it's possible.

 

[Prior22]

You're only seeing old info because only the old models can be hacked. You're not seeing a buying guide because none of the new models can be hacked, nor have they been hackable in a while. Sony was rather quick to put out a hardware revision that blocked most of the techniques, and software upgrades closed the rest.

You'll need to aim for an older used model that hasn't been updated past a certain point.

Sorry to bump this old thread but my PS3 suffered the dreaded YLOD over a year ago and I hadn't bothered to follow the PS3 hacking scene since. Anyways is much effort being put into hacking the slim model, or is it expected that the old phat models will be the only way to play backups during the rest of the consoles lifespan.

 

[Rydian]

Stuff may or may not be coming out for the new models. Betrayal and early leaks are the name of the game in the Sony scene lately, and it seems to make ragequitting common as well.

 

[Punkonjunk]

No, bump away! We're closing in on christmas and tax returns so I have a few more questions as I start looking.

The hardware downgraders that have to be soldered on: is this like, soldering onto tiny IC pins, or is it reasonably simple? I have a relatively old soldering iron, and... well, my hands shake. I'm bad at soldering, but if it's not a nightmare, I might have a friend who can help. So I'm asking if any one's done it, how bad is it, or if there is a pic tut, I can't seem to google one up, but that'd be nice to look at, whatever is considered the easiest.

2nd, I know the PS3's use a big ol' 3.5HDD, right?
Is it possible to load off a HDD you slap into the machine, or only external HDD or... burnt BR discs?

 

[marksteele]

from what I heard its a difficult solder.

What I've been doing it going onto sites like Kijiji, ebay and what not. Seems to be a fair amount of the older model, and you can get them cheaper then you can new. Just make sure to ask what firmware its running before you buy.

 

[totalnoob617]

I would intend to use it probably entirely offline. I don't like FPS games on consoles, anyhow, dunno what else I'd do online.

Looked over the guides, but they look a little dated, compared to a cursory overview of the forum. I've dealt with CFW for PSP fat, slim, and GO, wii, etc, I get the jhist and the instructions but I don't see a buying guide anywhere.
Is it something I can do with either a USB HDD or a USB stick readily, on my own, or is it all hard-mod?
Following CFW/cracking stuff, can I use an internal HDD inside the PS3 to load backups, or must be external?
Do certain backups cause problems with CFW or not work with "older" branded CFW?

Will a PS3 play PS2 isos, or burns?

Finally, can PS3 isos be stripped, or compressed at all, akin to CSOs, or are they always 40gbs?

Just you know, general information for set up of one. It seems like an older fat model would be the best bet, but is that still readily hacked if it's say, updated to the newest firmware?

Is it something I can do with either a USB HDD or a USB stick readily, on my own, or is it all hard-mod?

yes if your ps3 has ofw 3.55 or below ,if not you will need to buy a flasher to downgrade the fw ,i would recomend the e3 flasher ,which has a solderless clip for NOR models only ,not for NAND

you have to open your console to install e3 flasher but no soldering for nor models ,all slims are nor models ,and some fats are too
you also need a console made before the 3000 model came out too use a flasher to downgrade it

i never downgraded myself but i think you will also need a dongle to downgrade, and you need a usb flash drive for downgrade

just go to the ozmodchips site/ e3 flasher for console model chart and e3 flasher install tutorial videos or to wololo site for the model chart

http://wololo.net/2012/10/31/downgradable-ps3-models/







,theere are also downgrade service sellers on ebay and other places ,costs only a bit less than a flasher
or just buy a 3.55 ofw console off ebay

you can backup games to both internal and external hdd ,but ps3 will only read games from a fat partitioned ext hdd,no ntfs ,some files have to be split with some games ,


now that lv0 keys have been released all games can be backed up ,if you choose a lower 3.55 cfw over a newer 4.30 cfw you just need to replace eboot files for lower fw




Will a PS3 play PS2 isos, or burns?

you can ,but you need a ps3 that is back compatible and a cobra dongle ,there is a way to play some ps2 backups with software emulation ,but w/o back compatible ps3 and proper hw it wont play many games

no not all games are 40 gigs ,they vary from as low as 4 gig to 40
all dumps are different sizes ,you can delete unused files like ones for other languages ,3d ,and move on some games to save space