Hacking Unable to backup PS4 profile settings

[simbin]

My PS4's web browser stopped working the other day and I had to reinstall the PS4 5.05 update and rebuilt my app database.. ever since, I've been experiencing some weirdness and want to start over with a fresh HDD.



The issue I'm having now, is that I can't seem to backup my profile settings. I'm being told my USB doesn't have enough space, and I'm only trying to backup the profile settings, themes, etc - no games. I tried a couple different drives, FAT32, exFAT, MBR.. formatted both on PC and from the PS4 options menu. It still insists I don't have enough space. Is there some way to backup manually within the jailbreak, or anything else I can try? Or will I need one of those hacked "Activated" accounts from now on?

Update: Unfortunately I was never able to get this resolved. I just started fresh when I upgraded the internal drive.

Please see xatapkova post for a possible solution to db_rebuilder script issue:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/unable-to-backup-ps4-profile-settings.576947/#post-9556523

 

[Leeful]

Have you ever installed Linux internally or copied any other files to your PS4 HDD? because that will add to the size of the basic profile backup if you have.

I remeber a while ago I backed up my profile and it was a few GB i size which was odd because it should only be a few hundered MB. The reason was because I had copied linux instalation files to my hdd and for some reason it included them in the backup.

 

[simbin]

Have you ever installed Linux internally or copied any other files to your PS4 HDD? because that will add to the size of the basic profile backup if you have.

I remeber a while ago I backed up my profile and it was a few GB i size which was odd because it should only be a few hundered MB. The reason was because I had copied linux instalation files to my hdd and for some reason it included them in the backup.

I've only ever copied 2 files manually for the SM64 port. Probably a coincidence that it had anything to do with it, even though it was the last thing I did before I had problems. I'm suspecting a failing HDD. I was hoping to at least backup the profile settings, saves, themes, etc.

 

[Leeful]

what size does it say in Applications (and other things) after you have deselected them all?

EDIT: sorry I did not see the pic you posted.

Do you have an external HDD plugged in? It's seeing 1.21TB from somwhere which is odd..
What size is your internal HDD and your external if you use one?

 

[simbin]

what size does it say in Applications (and other things) after you have deselected them all?

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sorry I did not see the pic you posted. Do you have an external HDD plugged in?
It's seeing 1.21TB from somwhere which is odd..
What size is your internal HDD and your external if you use one?

1.21TB is the games I have installed to a 1.5TB internal HDD - deselected them all
also have an external drive with games, and the exFAT USB I'm trying to backup to

 

[simbin]

I went ahead and unmounted the external games drive from the menu, restarted, and tried again with just the USB stick.. same results unfortunately. I'm not sure what else it could be, other than corrupted data.

 

[Leeful]

Im curious to see if it was the db rebuilder script that messd things up.
I'm going to force a database rebuild, use the script to rebuild the database and see if anything similar happens to me.

I'll report the findings soon.

 

[simbin]

Im curious to see if it was the db rebuilder script that messd things up.
I'm going to force a database rebuild, use the script to rebuild the database and see if anything similar happens to me.

I'll report the findings soon.

Something else I noticed after rebuilding, is my internal games seem to have an issue when you bring up their Information.. next to Download Status, it just keeps blinking 3 dots "..." instead of saying "Completed" like the external games do once you connect the drive. I'm also experiencing an issue of randomly losing the ability to delete internal games or have them show up under system storage and/or losing the addcont DLC. You can keep manually setting the canRemove fields in the database, but somehow the data is getting reset - possibly pulled from another source, but not for external games. Curious to see what you find out. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help, thanks.

 

[Leeful]

yep it definitely was the db rebuilder script that messed everything up.

I forced a database rebuild in debug settings to wipe the database and then used the db_rebuilder script to get the games back on the home screen. As usual it did not return my homebrew apps (this is one of the many problems with the script) but the games did return.

The odd thing that happened when I went to do a backup is not only did it show the size of the installed games (Like yours does) It also said that no apps were installed.

I've never used this on 6.72 before so this might just be 6.72 problem. Either way it is another thing to add to the long list of problems with this script!


Before I did the tests I made a backup of my databases and when I restored my backup everything was back to normal and working as it should.


The script may help people who have had a forced database rebuild and let them play their games again but It also causes a lot of problems with the system after it has been used.

I have never liked this script and woud only suggest people use it as a very last resort if they do not want to go through all the hassle of initialising the PS4 and reinstalling everything.

The best thing to do is to alway have an up to date backup of your database's so that if anything ever goes wrong you can restore it without any problems or consequences.

 

[simbin]

yep it definitely was the db rebuilder script that messed everything up.

I forced a database rebuild in debug settings to wipe the database and then used the db_rebuilder script to get the games back on the home screen. As usual it did not return my homebrew apps (this is one of the many problems with the script) but the games did return.

The odd thing that happened when I went to do a backup is not only did it show the size of the installed games (Like yours does) It also said that no apps were installed.
View attachment 233329 View attachment 233330
I've never used this on 6.72 before so this might just be 6.72 problem. Either way it is another thing to add to the long list of problems with this script!


Before I did the tests I made a backup of my databases and when I restored my backup everything was back to normal and working as it should.
View attachment 233331 View attachment 233332 View attachment 233333

The script may help people who have had a forced database rebuild and let them play their games again but It also causes a lot of problems with the system after it has been used.

I have never liked this script and woud only suggest people use it as a very last resort if they do not want to go through all the hassle of initialising the PS4 and reinstalling everything.

The sensible thing to do is to alway have an up to date backup of your database's so that if anything ever goes wrong you can restore it without any problems or consequences.

Thank you for testing all this. It's a real bummer, but at least we have some more info. Now I wonder if I can do a factory rebuild (lose my games) and backup my profile settings, without running the script.

 

[Leeful]

Thank you for testing all this. It's a real bummer, but at least we have some more info. Now I wonder if I can do a factory rebuild (lose my games) and backup my profile settings, without running the script.

If I were you I would uninstall all the games and see if that removes the 1.2TB from the backup screen.
You could test it out by just uninstalling a couple and see if it makes a difference in the size.

If it works you should then do a forced database rebuild (by the PS4) , backup you profile and then initialise and restore the profile.

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If your profile backs up ok you can always restore your saves and trophys using the backup/restore tools in PS-Phwoar!

Make the backups before you initialise. Then restore your profile using the official method after you initialise then restore your saves and trophys.

 

[simbin]

If I were you I would uninstall all the games and see if that removes the 1.2TB from the backup screen.
You could test it out by just uninstalling a couple and see if it makes a difference in the size.

If it works you should then do a forced database rebuild (by the PS4) , backup you profile and then initialise and restore the profile.

My theory didn't work. I see what you mean now. It's actually showing that amount of space with everything unchecked - didn't notice that before. Wonder if I could just temporarily rename the folder where the games are stored.

 

[Leeful]

My theory didn't work. I see what you mean now. It's actually showing that amount of space with everything unchecked - didn't notice that before. Wonder if I could just temporarily rename the folder where the games are stored.

I don't think that would make a difference.

Uninstall a few large games and see if the 2.1TB in the backup screen is reduced.
If it is:
uninstall all your games.
Rebuild your database in safe mode or debug settings to clear out all the crap the script did.
Make a backup of your profile in system settings.
If you want to keep your saves and/or Trophys, Backup your save data and Trophy data using PS-Phwoar!
Initialsise your PS4.
Restore your profile using system settings.
Restore your savedata and Trophys using PS-Phwoar!

then all you would need to do is reinstall all your games and you would have a clean working system again.

Its a lot of work but if you are planning on wiping the system anyway there is no harm.

 

[simbin]

I don't think that would make a difference.

Uninstall a few large games and see if the 2.1TB in the backup screen is reduced.
If it is:
uninstall all your games.
Rebuild your database in safe mode or debug settings to clear out all the crap the script did.
Make a backup of your profile in system settings.
If you want to keep your saves and/or Trophys, Backup your save data and Trophy data using PS-Phwoar!
Initialsise your PS4.
Restore your profile using system settings.
Restore your savedata and Trophys using PS-Phwoar!

then all you would need to do is reinstall all your games and you would have a clean working system again.

Its a lot of work but if you are planning on wiping the system anyway there is no harm.

Here is what I'm doing to test real quick. I uninstalled 1 large game and the overall number went down. Now I'm reinstalling it.. in theory, I should be able to uncheck just that one game in the backup and also see the number go down. So then I will just need to do that whole process you described for everything.

RE @Leeful that theory holds.. luckily I can use the database to sort all the games by their folders I recreated the other day, which should help speed up the long process ahead.

I'm curious if anyone knows more about how the external game data is restored. It seems like it's just sitting there with the games.. if we just had some way to tap into that and rebuild the internal data.

 

[simbin]

Well I got all my games reinstalled to the internal drive after a factory database rebuild, and did a backup of my account settings in the process. It's strange though, because the download status for so many games still aren't showing completed after restarting the console. It's possible the db_rebuilder script messed up settings in some other files, but I'm not sure where to look. I would be interested to know if anyone has experienced similar results.

 

[xatapkova]

I had the same problem. For me the solution was to clear `user/addcont/` and `user/appmeta/addcont` directories, which contain DLC data.

It seems when using the db_rebuilder script, the DLC packages will not be registered into the database, which will make them stay when the application is deleted thereafter.

 

[godreborn]

I had the same problem. For me the solution was to clear `user/addcont/` and `user/appmeta/addcont` directories, which contain DLC data.

It seems when using the db_rebuilder script, the DLC packages will not be registered into the database, which will make them stay when the application is deleted thereafter.

there's a reason for that. iirc, the script only does the app.db. dlc is in the addcont.db.

 

[simbin]

I had the same problem. For me the solution was to clear `user/addcont/` and `user/appmeta/addcont` directories, which contain DLC data.

It seems when using the db_rebuilder script, the DLC packages will not be registered into the database, which will make them stay when the application is deleted thereafter.

Good to know. Unfortunately I never got it resolved before. I just started fresh when I upgraded the internal drive. Now I'm OCD about backing up my database files all the time LOL

 

[arfgh]

"forced a database rebuild in debug settings"

where exactly is that setting into debug ?

 

[godreborn]

A flag is likely placed on the internal hdd to do a database rebuild. That's how it works on the ps3 anyway. It's called like err.mms or mms.err, something like that. It's only a few bytes which are always the same. It triggers the database rebuild.

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alright, it's db.err, in the mms folder (just found the page with the info): https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Recovery_Menu#Rebuild_Database_without_Recovery_Menu

the mms folder is where the metadata indexer is on both the ps3 and the ps4.