Guide: How to Run PS3 Games with 4+GB Files from External HDD

[bitsbubba]

I have successfully achieved a way to have large files on the external, and it was quite simple honestly.

I only tested this on a 160GB drive, but I assume it works on any drive.
This is what I did....

1. Took a 160GB hdd and hooked it up internally.
2. Allowed the PS3 to install it's proprietary files, format, fix file system.
3. Booted to hack, filled up the hdd with games.
4. Put the drive in an external case and hooked it up via USB.
5. It works.

I did this 2 days ago and looked around to see if anyone else already did this. I found nothing.

NZHawk's Awesome MountPoint Manager v1.0 used with this method is great. It isn't hard to figure out what else to do. Naysayers will want proof, I'm not looking for recognition. I am just sharing what I discovered. I was curious, tried it and it works.

I do have a question though.... How hard would it be to make a homebrew app that would install the PS3's file system on an external without having to go through this process?

this to me doesn't sound possible considering if the USB's on the PS3 could recognize that format wouldn't sony already have a format function for that use.

[jeffsgonefishin]

i am new to both ps3 and jailbreak. is it best to use a external drive for the jailbreak or the internal drive? i should have my amazebreak dongle in a few days. i have updated to 3.41. if i use a external drive do i just format to fat 32?

[ThaDman1234]

God of War gives me a white screen after I beat Ares. Any way around this? Thanks!

[Transient]

I do have a question though.... How hard would it be to make a homebrew app that would install the PS3's file system on an external without having to go through this process?

I tried something similar back before the PS3 was hacked. I was trying to find a way to transfer >4GB videos from the PS3 to a USB drive, so I thought the PS3's own format would be an obvious choice. Unfortunately, it didn't work -- the PS3 wouldn't mount the USB drive when in that format. If that has secretly changed in one of the updates, that is pretty interesting.

Regarding your question, I think the difficulty of creating such an app would depend on some unknown factors. The internal HDD is per-console encrypted, and while we already know how to retrieve those keys and do the decryption/encryption, it adds some complexity.

The PS3's built-in format utility targets the internal drive and it may or may not be written in such a way that it could be patched to target USB instead. If you had to write your own utility, you'd need to figure out the partition structure, which as far as I know, nobody has done yet.

[dizzylol4]

Thanks for this tutorial.