E3 flasher can update its firmware, and it's tied to one-PS3-only. There's an update which will let you use your E3 to downgrade/flash/backup on more PS3s.
PS3 has NAND and on later Slim models NOR, not all PS3s can be downgraded to a up-to-date method of cfw (3.55 for now). This means, some can't handle 3.55 ofw because of newer hardware and will brick instantly.
E3 has a solderless NOR clip, which you can *by pressing the clip against the chip a little* do the E3 perform restore/rewrite flash images to NOR. Unfortunately, NAND will require soldering points to an E3 NAND base-like adapter...
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Nice iniciative Devin, you've got all my support from here!