Theory for formatting an external drive to allow 4GB plus files

[DeViL303]

Hi, newbie on here. I'm wondering if somehow we could format external drives in the same way as internal drives using a homebrew app, the PS3 might read off an external drive in this format without much modification.

Ive been thinking about it and have a theory I would like to test if i am able,I would not need homebrew formatting app for this test if it worked.

1. Use a ps3 to format a second 2.5" drive internally
2A. Then take that out put it into pc and zero out any firmware and data on main partition it leaving the disk partition intact (see below)
or 2B. dont modify drive at all and leave ps3 data on it
3. then put it into a external USB caddy and plug into PS3
4. try reading it with comgenie on PS3 and see can I (A)write to it or (B)read the ps3 data on it

Step 2A or 2B is the main part im not sure of as would we be able to see what is data and what is partition boundries and markers, I hope markers and boundries would not be encrypted or maybe we could see a pattern.

I think PS3 be able to see data that it encrypted itself so seeing as it was formatted and encrypted on the same ps3 system it might be readable, then we could maybe use comgenie to delete all files on it. I assume seeing as we can manipulate files on internal drive with comgenie the encryption/decryption is transparent and done on the fly so to speak and would not be a problem?

anyone here got any suggestions or the knowledge and time to help test something like this? I will try testing myself once my avr board arrives (still waiting ) I've heard that some test PS3s read games of a 2nd HDD (BD emu) instead of a bluray disk, what way is this HDD formatted in, is it same as internal,or is it same as a bluray disk? or is it fat32? (doubt its fat32 due to the 4GB limit) is there a app on these ps3s for formatting the second HDD or does it not work like that? another way would be if built in format utility on ps3 could be modded to format external drives in the same way as internal.

Thanks

P.S. I doubt this would be 100% possible without a firmware patch but it may be easiest way of getting 4GB+ file support without too much work.

[ricopico]

I'm not an expert, but I do know a bit about filesystems.

First issue is that the pc will not be able to read any of the filesystem, this is because nobody knows the exact specification of the filesystem, and such no driver has been written. When you put a PS3 formatted drive into a pc, it will show up as RAW data. You wont be able to see anything on the drive, let alone zero out only non firmware related things.

Next you speak about putting data back onto the drive. Data on hard drives need to be written in accordance to the filesystem, and as above, we dont know how the filesystem works. Next - the data is encrypted as its written, although this is an extension of the filesystem,

If you managed to actually write some data to the hard drive, you need to make reference to it in the equivilant file allocation table, so that the ps3 will know the data is present, without this reference it will not know how to access that particular file on the platter.

As I say, I am no expert and im sure the experts on this forrum will likely confirm or correct my thoughts.

It might be easier to somehow write to the harddrive using the known and established filesystem used on blurays. UDF 2.5, this is supported from a number of operating systems and the ps3 can read from it. I have no idea if this will work on harddrive's though.

Further to my last post, I have done some poking around.

I have formatted my flash drive to UDF 2.5, using 512byte block size (this would theoritically allow HD size of upto 2TB).
I then put some simple photo's on the drive to test if the ps3 will be able to read it.

The ps3 didnt appear to mount the filesystem, the xmb didnt have the option to see the usb stick, and the FTP app didnt have a mount point for it.

Perhaps the PS3 will only read BD's in this format. When the PSJB came out there was talk that a BD emulator was assisting in the playing of retail games. Parhaps we can use this to read UDF from usb.

[Transient]

In the past, I tried doing steps 1,2B,3,4 but the PS3 simply won't mount a USB drive unless it is FAT16/32. It might be possible to write a homebrew app that gets the PS3 to mount it, but nothing that we can do as of right now.

[Fusseltuch]

Had the same idea before but haven't tried it. Maybe it's not necessary to get any visual notice that it is mounted. If you can see it with the FTP-Client AND BackupManager is able to use it, that would be nice. But like i said: haven't tried it..

[oVERSoLDiER]

The hard thing is, that you can't read out the information which the PS3 written, because its encrypted.

[DeViL303]

yes you are right , it would not be readable on pc but I thought the ps3 should be able to read it itself as its encrypted by its own keys?

[aamir007]

From what ricopico has tried if it doesn't appear when using ftp and it doesn't have a mount point then i highly doubt back up manager will detect it. It would be a point to work on to get it a mount point for it but that would only be possible if the PS3 recognizes the external hard drive using that partition.

[FireSokar]

Has anyone tried exFAT format?

[oVERSoLDiER]

What you want with exFAT. PS3 don't recognize exFAT.

[DeViL303]

From what ricopico has tried if it doesn't appear when using ftp and it doesn't have a mount point then i highly doubt back up manager will detect it. It would be a point to work on to get it a mount point for it but that would only be possible if the PS3 recognizes the external hard drive using that partition.

Ricopico only tried UDF format and only using XMB, im talking about PS3s native format and using jailbroken PS3 and comgenie or similar app. This is very different in my eyes, still waiting on PIC and minimus avr board, Hurry up !