Hacking Is it possible to clone an internal PS3 HDD?

[gamba66]

Hello,

As my Title suggests: I currently own a CECHA01 with Rebug 4.82 CFW and tons of games and homebrew on a 500GB internal that I swapped with the 60gb at some point.

Now I just build my computer and have a left-over 1TB drive and I would like to use it for the PS3.

Is it possible to directly clone the internal drive to the 1TB or do I have to manually backup the files and replay them on to the 1TB one?

Reason I am asking is because I have often found people writing it is not possible since the PS3 encrypts the drive.

I would be very grateful for any help

 

[AmandaRose]

There you go

https://www.ubackup.com/clone/clone-ps3-hard-drive.html

 

[gamba66]

There you go

https://www.ubackup.com/clone/clone-ps3-hard-drive.html

thank you very much but it seems its not possible given by the facebook comments under the article. The people say the software doesn't detect their PS3 drive.

But its useful to know I can back the drive up on an external and then replay it onto a new internal one with sonys restore function. Awesome! Didnt know about that

 

[leon315]

There's a proper BACKUP option under configs, it allows you to copy all files (include those copy protected ones)to any USB divers.

 

[gamba66]

There's a proper BACKUP option under configs, it allows you to copy all files (include those copy protected ones)to any USB divers.

Where is this configs located, do you mean on the ps3 or the software in the afore-mentioned article?

Thank you for your reply.

 

[leon315]

Where is this configs located, do you mean on the ps3 or the software in the afore-mentioned article?

Thank you for your reply.

Go to PS3->Option, somewhere there's the one i mentioned, and PS3 can only detect FAT/FAT32 formatted USB drive. The process is very simple and guided, it allows you to choose which files to copy into USB drive, but it WON'T copy ur trophies, u have to sync to $ony's server 1st.

 

[Jayinem81]

That thing sucks if you have a decent sized hard drive it will take days. It's faster (but still slow) to just copy everything to usb from file manager if you're using CFW or ethernet to computer.

 

[chrisrlink]

use qa mode then there should be an option under debug update called debug filetransfer (Assuming your on a cfw'd ps3) it creates a 1:1 copy via the USB just hook up your desired hdd and clone it that way

 

[gamba66]

use qa mode then there should be an option under debug update called debug filetransfer (Assuming your on a cfw'd ps3) it creates a 1:1 copy via the USB just hook up your desired hdd and clone it that way

This sounds like the best way for what I am trying to do.

I have rebug 4.82 as CFW

Where do I find the QA mode exactly?

Thanks for the help everyone

 

[chrisrlink]

to access it make sure it's toggled in rebug toolbox then hilight network settings then hold L1+L2+R1+R2+L3 (push in left stick) dpad down 2 options edy and debug options should appear you want the debug options menu the option will be in there QA mode or quaility assurance mode is a mode used by sony to do various techical functions during testing befor shipping off the factory floor the simply left it there thinking no one would access it boy were they wrong

 

[RiPPERD]

im pretty sure CLONEZILLA will do this for you... live boot usb for it, you will need to have a way to make the hard drive usb (dock/caddy) then you will need the other hard drive also usb (unless your on a compute, sorry been on laptops for too long)

then it will clone the entire disk byte for byte. I use clonezilla for till systems that i install

 

[gamba66]

to access it make sure it's toggled in rebug toolbox then hilight network settings then hold L1+L2+R1+R2+L3 (push in left stick) dpad down 2 options edy and debug options should appear you want the debug options menu the option will be in there QA mode or quaility assurance mode is a mode used by sony to do various techical functions during testing befor shipping off the factory floor the simply left it there thinking no one would access it boy were they wrong

Thank you, this is some excellent advice. I think I will choose this way, since I have only 1 SATA to USB Adapter and I can leave the source 500GB HDD inside the PS3 for the cloning process to the destination 1TB drive.

im pretty sure CLONEZILLA will do this for you... live boot usb for it, you will need to have a way to make the hard drive usb (dock/caddy) then you will need the other hard drive also usb (unless your on a compute, sorry been on laptops for too long)

then it will clone the entire disk byte for byte. I use clonezilla for till systems that i install

I have seen mention of clonezilla and it is good to know that this free software can clone the drive completely. If it doesn't work out on the PS3 with the debug menu I will definitely try this way (with one of the HDD's inside my PC and one via USB to SATA for the cloning process).

Thanks for the help.

One last thing: To prepare the destination 1TB Drive I must only format it in FAT32, right?

 

[Eveldee]

One last thing: To prepare the destination 1TB Drive I must only format it in FAT32, right?

As written above, the PS3 only recognizes hard drives formatted as FAT32, so yes

 

[chrisrlink]

not true actually I have formatted via the ps3 ntfs disk directly it just can only be mbr (this is for a fresh OS install btw so he maybe correct for transfering disk data

 

[Jayinem81]

Yeah PS3 internal is definitely not FAT32 because you can install games bigger than 4 GB to it. External is different than internal.

 

[Ryccardo]

If you do an 1:1 clone with dd or equivalent:
1- partition sizes of course won't change, which may or may not be appropriate for the new disk
2- the encryption key (which depends on the eid_root_key and the disk's ATA identity) won't change, which almost certainly is inappropriate for the new disk

 

[gamba66]

If you do an 1:1 clone with dd or equivalent:
1- partition sizes of course won't change, which may or may not be appropriate for the new disk
2- the encryption key (which depends on the eid_root_key and the disk's ATA identity) won't change, which almost certainly is inappropriate for the new disk

With DD you mean a disk cloning software I presume and are recommending the QA Debug way too?

 

[Ryccardo]

With DD you mean a disk cloning software I presume

Yes, dd is the original unix file copier, but nowadays it is mainly used and best known as a disk imager/eraser; it is what I recommend on any platform, but of course any 1:1 cloner is equivalent to it

are recommending the QA Debug way too?

Never used it (my personal choice is to just backup saves: hdd0/savedata/*, hdd0/home/*/savedata/*, and I think hdd0/home/*/psp-savedata/* - and transfer game backups & media files from PC again); from what I've heard the official direct transfer option is hit or miss (probably because not all sata/usb converters pass ata identity data correctly) and of course it's always nice to have an excuse to think twice about what you want to keep

 

[gamba66]

You all have been incredibly helpful.

Just wanted to say thanks again!