Create backup image of ps3 hdd

[XVISTAMAN2005]

I have been seeing a lot of posts about creating a backup image of the ps3's hdd system. Could some one pleases post a method that works as i am haveing trouble with this. I have tried winhex as suggested also norton ghost 12.0 with no luck. A windows method would be nice but linux will do.

Thanks
XVISTAMAN2005

[aldostools]

I also had problems creating a backup of my 60GB in a 40GB external USB HDD. This method worked for me:

1- Deleted all the demos from the PS3 (after all I can reinstall them with the PS3 Proxy)
2- Deleted all the photos, music and movies (they were also already on DVD backups)
3- Formated in FAT32 my 40GB external USB using Windows XP Disk Management (2 partitions: 32GB & 5GB).
4- Used the backup/restore tool of the PS3 to backup basically my purchased games, accounts, game saves, game tools.
5- Installed the new 250GB HDD, formated it for the PS3, formated it again for PS3/Linux, restored the backup, photos, music and movies, and reinstalled the demos.

[coxyy]

If you want to reduce the backup image size of your ps3 partition, you can format the drive and select to have only 10GB reserved for PS3 data. The remaining space will be available for otheros (this is another story).

Now you have a 10GB partition and you can backup it and restore it using dd with size > 10GB. Personally I am using the linux dd command line tool. Another choice is partimage which is providing a good GUI and partition selection.

[robots]

Originally Posted by XVISTAMAN2005 I have been seeing a lot of posts about creating a backup image of the ps3's hdd system. Could some one pleases post a method that works as i am haveing trouble with this. I have tried winhex as suggested also norton ghost 12.0 with no luck. A windows method would be nice but linux will do.

The easiest method is linux is do use "dd", but the problem is that you need to have enough space to save the whole hdd. (use usb<->sata convertor)

dd if=/dev/your_ps3_hdd of=/mnt/hdd_big_enough/ps3_save
restore
dd of=/dev/your_ps3_hdd if=/mnt/hdd_big_enough/ps3_save

you can also use some compression ... e.g.

dd if=/dev/your_ps3_hdd | gzip -9 > /mnt/hdd_big_enough/ps3_save.gz
opposite way is
gunzip -c /mnt/hdd_big_enough/ps3_save.gz | dd of=/dev/your_ps3_hdd

[superG]

I've personally used (linux):

cat /dev/sdX > /home/g/ps3_backup.raw
for backing up, and
cat /home/g/ps3_backup.raw > /dev/sdX

for restoring, it's fully tested in both ways and works correctly. compression isn't effective at all (it applies only for PS3 part and not for OtherOS), because PS3 part is encrypted.

[vger2]

Has anyone backed up their PS3 HDD to include YDL linux partion? Thinking about replace my existing 80 GB hard drive with a larger HDD. Would like to keep my existing YDL Linux partition without having to reinstall.

Thanks

[Nels0r]

I have used WinHex and the truth that has been fantastic using the option "Clone Disk".

Thank you XVISTAMAN2005 for everything

Originally Posted by vger2 Has anyone backed up their PS3 HDD to include YDL linux partion? Thinking about replace my existing 80 GB hard drive with a larger HDD. Would like to keep my existing YDL Linux partition without having to reinstall. Thanks

To do that you can do a backup with WinHex or mamedev.org or with any tool from linux.

[laarka]

Hi,

Please be aware that the dd utility is also ported to Windows, so you can use the same tool no matter if you run Windows or Linux (this also makes it possible to back up using one system and restore using another).

You can get dd for Windows here: http://www.chrysocome.net/dd


Laarka

[harry22673]

Hang on a minute.. Can you use the 500gb external hard drive you can buy from Argos?

[Zeborg]

with a bit to bit copy tool, example: Norton Ghost, you don't have reason to make a bad 1:1 copy, but this works well with a disk with the same size, really don't know how Ghost realizes the process with a different size harddisk, but I don't see any problem if you restore the image in another disk with different size. However, if the encryption of Ps3 remembers the bit position of the boot sector (any data, any sector) when you put the image in another size HDD, the process puts the boot data on another sector of boot zone of the new disk, turning the new copy to scrap.