Getting PSVSD to work from a fresh install?

[YoNoid]

I'm losing my mind trying to get this working, so let me explain what I've done so far.

I have a PSP-1100. Before installing the PSVSD, I was using an 8GB memory card and had also created a 1GB internal memory card—mainly to have basic homebrew set up in at least two places (but let's set that aside for now). The system was working fine. I had no issues running games from regular memory cards, launching homebrew apps, or doing anything else.

Today, I finally got my PSVSD. I installed it and prepared a 1TB SD card, formatted to FAT32 with a 64K cluster size. I connected the PS Vita to my PC via USB and copied everything from the original memory card to the SD card—including all system files, not just the visible folders.

Following this video:

I installed disable_3g.vpk and AutoPlugin2.vpk with no issues.

Then I used AutoPlugin2 to configure the PSVSD as my main LiveArea memory. But after rebooting, all my homebrew disappeared. I had to hold L during boot to get it to show up again.

I'm clearly missing something. I just need some guidance to make sure:

The PSVSD is installed and recognized correctly.

I can't access the new internal SD via VitaShell.

I've been doing modding for a long time—installed Switch Picoflys, ARK4, and even back in the PS1 modchip days—so this situation has me stumped.

Any help would be seriously appreciated. Help an old guy out.

 

[YoNoid]

I know it is not seeing my interal SD after booting not just because there are no apps. When I try to reinstall VitaDeploy I get this error.

Post automatically merged: Sep 11, 2025

Got it! I reformatted the SD card using the SD Association to exFat with 512KB cluster and it worked for some reason.

Now my question is since I have the internal partition should I no longer us the official memory cards?

Post automatically merged: Sep 11, 2025

Ok thought I had it. I see the apps I copied over from my Memory card, but things freeze, don't load sometimes. need some help. Could it be the format of the SD card since this time I finally got something to load even though its not acting right.

Also, this is an official Samsung SD card and has been verified before that is asked.

 

[XFoxPrower]

Since you have it, you may as well keep VitaShell & VitaDeploy on it in case something goes wrong. Not many reasons otherwise.

 

[YoNoid]

Agree, but getting weird errors running apps now off the PSVSD card. Thought this would have been more straight forward.

Post automatically merged: Sep 11, 2025

VitaDeploy loads, but if I try to "redownload" apps, they fail to install. VitaShell works, but some VPK installs like SharkBR33D fail.

 

[XFoxPrower]

What kind of errors? Unsafe Homebrew's still enabled in Henkakuu settings, right? Have you verified the legitimacy of your card with H2Testw (Windows) or purchased it directly from the manufacturer? (Such as Sandisk directly on Amazon). Because there are counterfeit cards out there. Say a 64 GB card that claims to be 1 TB. But once you write beyond 64 GB, it wraps around and overwrites old data, causing bizarre issues due to data corruption. If you have any doubts about the format of the card, SD2Vita Helper Tool (Windows) or VitaDeploy can do it properly.

 

[YoNoid]

I wrote the zzblank.img and reformatted at 64KB cluster. Working now.