PS5 Disc Drive Pairing Explained

alexfree · Jun 13, 2026

Everything you ever wanted to know about PS5 disc drive pairing (and what would cause you to loose it) https://alex-free.github.io/ps5-disc-drive-pairing-explained/.

tglaria · Jun 13, 2026

"Everything" is a bit optimistic from my understanding.

I would like to know
how does the pairing work?
what files are modified?
is it on the console or in the drive itself or both?
What's stored in a backup that doesn't keep the pairing, or does it?

And that's just starting.

Good idea, but the word "everything" doesn't quit fit the description for me.

alexfree · Jun 13, 2026

tglaria said:
"Everything" is a bit optimistic from my understanding.

I would like to know
how does the pairing work?
what files are modified?
is it on the console or in the drive itself or both?
What's stored in a backup that doesn't keep the pairing, or does it?

And that's just starting.

Good idea, but the word "everything" doesn't quit fit the description for me.

Fair. My understanding is:
1) PSN servers generate a unique key based on the drive that the console accepts. The console can not generate this key on it's own by design.
2) Not sure if this is known or documented anywhere publicly anyways yet. I hear people are working on reverse engineering it.
3) It's definitely at least on the console side in some capacity, which is why resets are fine on a PS5 Slim Disc Edition that is factory paired, but it looses this if you wipe the whole OS. PS5 fat Disc Edition must be storing it differently since it can never loose the pairing.
4) Backups never affect pairing under any circumstances nor does it store any pairing.

console · Jun 13, 2026

That's good guide for everyone to know.

If what internet broke down then system become garbage to trash away into landfill.

alexfree · Jun 13, 2026

console said:
That's good guide for everyone to know.

If what internet broke down then system become garbage to trash away into landfill.

Fat never becomes garbage. SLim Disc Edition FW 8.0+ never really does either unless you reinstall os via pup or update via pup in that sitch

Dimitris_Sf · 2026-06-22T17:18:11+0100

great this simplifies everything related to pairing!Allthouth some weeks before i talked to somebody on reddit that got his PS5 Slim disc version fw>8.00 with the drive unpaired :rolleyes:

Edit : cosnole bought from a shop new in the box

Okaris · 2026-06-23T02:34:33+0100

alexfree said:
Fair. My understanding is:
1) PSN servers generate a unique key based on the drive that the console accepts. The console can not generate this key on it's own by design.
2) Not sure if this is known or documented anywhere publicly anyways yet. I hear people are working on reverse engineering it.
3) It's definitely at least on the console side in some capacity, which is why resets are fine on a PS5 Slim Disc Edition that is factory paired, but it looses this if you wipe the whole OS. PS5 fat Disc Edition must be storing it differently since it can never loose the pairing.
4) Backups never affect pairing under any circumstances nor does it store any pairing.

I read from another post that you can back up the bd pairing information using https://git.etawen.dev/earthonion/ddd_pair_dump/releases.

Has anyone tried this successfully? I tried running the payloads on my PS5 pro but it doesn't seem to generate any files to backup. Or does it only work on slim models?

PS5 Disc Drive Pairing Explained

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