Hacking HDD + APP2USB, Installing/moving fpkgs

[DickFitzwell101]

Hey guys Got a few questions if I may. The last thing I want to do is format the 4TB drive to be only used with the ps4 as extended storage.

1. So my 500gb internal is full, and I'd like to move them onto my 4TB drive. Will app2usb allow me to do this, even with the fpkg files still being on there? I'm assuming you can delete the fpkg after you've installed it.
2. Can you keep fpkgs on the HDD and install them onto that same HDD? Or do you need two separate USB devices for that?
3. For legit discs, I dump the game and legit update onto the 4tb drive, then do as I normally would and convert them into fpkgs, and throw them onto the HDD and install them onto that same HDD?
4. Would it just be best to erase the internal memory, and start from scratch instead of having to move the files over? I don't have many games installed in the first place, they are mainly sitting on the HDD waiting to be installed. Plus, I don't mind reinstalling everything if I need to. I haven't played any games yet so I have no saves, if that matters. Then app2usb will allow me to install and play directly from the HDD? Theeen delete the fpkg from the HDD after installation?

Sorry if this sounds confusing, I tried to question these the best I could. Thanks for any help!

 

[mav2010]

I am using AppToUSB for quite some time now and it works great!

1. The first time you run the App2USB payload, it will move all of the installed fpkgs to your external drive. If you already have the fpkg file on the hdd, put it into the root of the drive (must be the exact same name as it was during the installation). Then the payload will pick it up and move it into HDD://PS4/CUSAXXXXX/ folder. If you want to keep some games on the internal drive, add them to the HDD://PS4/AppToUsb.ini file. See link below in case you don't have that file yet.

2. See above. The "workflow" is always this: put fpkg onto HDD root --> install fpkg onto PS4 --> run AppToUSB payload --> FPKG will automatically be recognized and moved into correct folder. Same for updates and DLC. Unfortunately there is no way to directly install it onto the external drive.

3. see 2

4. No need to do that, you anyway would need to reinstall all of the games.


I keep all the games I currently play on the internal drive for the sake of speed and easiness. All the ones I am done with or don't play so often, are moved to the external HDD.


Link to AppToUsb.ini file:
https://github.com/stooged/AppToUsb-50X/blob/master/bin/AppToUsb.ini

 

[DickFitzwell101]

Thank you for breaking that down. It had me scratching my head for a while.

Just to be clear, I'll basically need two separate external devices. It's not possible to have the fpkg on the HDD, and install it to that same place, correct?

No matter what, I'll need to install to the internal,, theeen move it. Wanna make sure I got that right.

 

[mav2010]

No, one external drive is perfectly fine. I am doing it exactly that way. The workflow I described (fpkg to root and so on) is all done with one single external drive.

The only thing that doesn’t work is installing directly to the external drive. You always have to install to internal drive, then run AppToUsb payload to move it to the external drive again. But if you keep the fpkg in the root of the external drive as described in my workflow, running the payload takes a few seconds.

 

[DickFitzwell101]

Ahhhh, I got you now. Thanks for clarifying! Good to hear I'm good with what I have. Thanks again mate!

 

[CeciF]

There's gotta be a simpler way to install games on USB without having to go through this time consuming process (PC --> USB --> PS4 --> USB).
If we just copy the pkg to USB (keeping same folder structure needed for APP2USB of course), then on the PS4 side manually create & copy just the necessary game header folder/files from the pkg, and then use fix_db.py to rebuild app.db on PS4, theoretically this should work, right?

 

[BlueCop]

Why not use the built in external HDD features of the PS4? I have a dedicated 5TB drive formatted for/by the PS4 and set as the default install location. I can then remote install or use an exfat usb stick/hdd to install packages to the dedicated PS4 external drive. I can use the PS4 menus to move between internal and external. It just seems like a much smoother experience then Apps2USB.

Am I missing some other advantage to Apps2USB that keeps people using it?

 

[Leeful]

Am I missing some other advantage to Apps2USB that keeps people using it?

In my opinion the only real advantages of using app2usb these days is that you have a physical backup of the pkg files on a drive that is readable on a computer and that you can use the same drive to copy files between PS4 and PC.
Apart from that using the PS4's Extended Storage feature has many advantages over using app2usb.

• The Extended Storage Drive can be plugged into another PS4 and any game installed will be playable.
• The games installed on the Extended Storage are 100% compatable with rest mode when using Hen v2.1.1, while any app2usb game will crash.
• If you ever needed to reset or reformat your PS4 you could just plug the extended storage drive back in and all your games would instantly be there without having to re-install them again.

 

[CeciF]

Why not use the built in external HDD features of the PS4? I have a dedicated 5TB drive formatted for/by the PS4 and set as the default install location. I can then remote install or use an exfat usb stick/hdd to install packages to the dedicated PS4 external drive. I can use the PS4 menus to move between internal and external. It just seems like a much smoother experience then Apps2USB.

I was under the impression that the transfer rate even over wired LAN is slow, but mine (theoretical) method isn't any faster either considering all the steps involved... I think your way is more practical. What transfer speed do you get using remote install?

Btw, is this where I can get the latest Remote PKG Installer from?
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/remote-pkg-installer-updated-by-flatz.21470/

 

[Leeful]

@CeciF I did a lot of speed tests on this a while ago, here are my results on a 37.2GB pkg. HERE

For max speed If you are tranfering over LAN make sure that it is a true LAN connection.
e.g LAN cables between PS4 & Router and between Router and PC or a direct connection between PS4 and PC.
If ANY link in the chain is over WiFi it will slow you down a lot.

 

[MasterJ360]

Anyone know a way to reverse the moving process? I pretty much got screwed over with App2USB as it created a new config with default settings. So basically it moved all of my PS2 games. apps and updates to the external ignoring the config I already had lol. Like wtf, the config I previously edited only had ps4 games to be moved. Guess im gonna have to re install everything manually. Having 175gb of updates sitting on an external is a waste of space.

 

[Leeful]

Anyone know a way to reverse the moving process? I pretty much got screwed over with App2USB as it created a new config with default settings. So basically it moved all of my PS2 games. apps and updates to the external ignoring the config I already had lol. Like wtf, the config I previously edited only had ps4 games to be moved. Guess im gonna have to re install everything manually. Having 175gb of updates sitting on an external is a waste of space.

The AppToUSB.ini config file needs to be in the PS4 folder on the USB drive if it is on the root it will be ignored. Was yours on the root of the drive?
Unfortunatly I dont know of an easy way to reverse the moving process apart from moving all the pkgs from the folders to to root of the drive and reinstalling them again.

 

[MasterJ360]

The AppToUSB.ini config file needs to be in the PS4 folder on the USB drive if it is on the root it will be ignored. Was yours on the root of the drive?
Unfortunatly I dont know of an easy way to reverse the moving process apart from moving all the pkgs from the folders to to root of the drive and reinstalling them again.

Yeah its in the ps4 folder. The difference I saw between both configs were that the newly created config had a "app2usb" while mine had "Apptousb" lol. Seems like reinstalling every non ps4 game pkg is the only way. Luckily for me I only have 300 folders to go through basically looking for homebrew apps and ps2 games. Thankfully updates has its own folder so thats not an issue. I was wondering why it was taking so long to just move 4 ps4 games in which I had edited in my config, now I know why.

Update: All is good now everything back to normal just lots of installing.

 

[barelynotlegal]

hey i was wondering i moved all my stuff to external, but it was kind of a accident, is there a way i can move it back?

 

[Hayato213]

hey i was wondering i moved all my stuff to external, but it was kind of a accident, is there a way i can move it back?

Reinstalling it I'm afraid to move it back into internal.

 

[DariusEvans]

Reinstalling it I'm afraid to move it back into internal.

hmm if you have a external in extended format (ps4 format) you can just move them there from hdd seting, the ps4 take them as if they were in the internal drive so all move to extend normaly and work fine

so in all you could take a small hdd big enought for the gasme ya wana move and format it as extended, move your game there and move tem back or lets them there after

i use both extended and app2usb dont have a 4tb around and got 2x 2tb so 1 in extended and the other in exfat for app2usb

 

[barelynotlegal]

Reinstalling it I'm afraid to move it back into internal.

is it as easy as moving the pkg's located in side the folders
example would be:
root:/ps4/CUSA00052/game.pkg
there is a ic0n and a pic img in folder as well. its been so long i forgot
and thanx in advance

 

[Hayato213]

is it as easy as moving the pkg's located in side the folders
example would be:
root:/ps4/CUSA00052/game.pkg
there is a ic0n and a pic img in folder as well. its been so long i forgot
and thanx in advance

You could move all the games on to the root of the HDD to reinstall them, you could go for extended format route if you want, just that the HDD you are going to use would be exclusive for the PS4.

 

[barelynotlegal]

ill just move pkgs to root and rinstall
thanks

 

[Deleted User]

Why not use the built in external HDD features of the PS4? I have a dedicated 5TB drive formatted for/by the PS4 and set as the default install location. I can then remote install or use an exfat usb stick/hdd to install packages to the dedicated PS4 external drive. I can use the PS4 menus to move between internal and external. It just seems like a much smoother experience then Apps2USB.

Am I missing some other advantage to Apps2USB that keeps people using it?

Yes. So if you watch here:



By using app2usb I maximize storage capacity. Instead of just one usb drive for games I can use my app2usb drive along with an external storage drive. Hope that makes sense.