PS3 CFW COBRA REBUG & Internal HDD Change

[CFW1971]

1. 455GB/1397GB, it looks like your PS3 internal drive was 1.5TB, not 2TB one.
2. PS3 recovery mode has 6 options ( Restart System - Restore Default Settings - Restore File System - Rebuild database - Restore PS3 System and System Update), as long as you dont pick number 5. Restore PS3 System, your data (profile, save, game ps2, ps3 blah blah) will stay intact.

Reading through your comment from the beginning, I understand you want to backup all yours PS3/PS2 disc to PS3 then sell them, and also find a way to backup them just in case anything goes wrong because you don't have physical copy left. So I will point you some directions to achieve the purpose without spending too much time reading those fragmented info all over the internet.

So as far as I read, you have a PS3 with 4.84 CFW installed, and a 1.5TB internal Hard Drive, am I missing something? If not then lets start.

1. Buy any external hdd box you find cheap and suit your need, but it gotta be 2TB or under, no need for 2 or 3 one TB drives. Western Digital Passport/Element Portable 2TB with usb 3.0 connector ( or any equivalents from Seagate, Toshiba) will do the job fine, they are 2.5 inch form so they dont need external power adapter like 3.5 inch HDD box.

2. Download the freeware Minitool Partition Wizard and install it on your Laptop, plug in the HDD box you buy to USB port on Laptop and let windows recognize it automatically. Then run Minitool Partition Wizard shortcut on your desktop screen and let it check the info of external hdd box. If it says the box is NTFS format, and MBR so you dont have to do anything. If the ware says Unlocated, GPT or FAT32, you just need to pick the right format on the left side option (NTFS, MBR) and proceed to let the ware do it job. Once it's done, you will check the info of disc again and it says NTFS and MBR, you are good to go now.

3. Plug the ethernet cable to both lan ports on PS3 and Laptop, disable wifi on laptop to let it use wired connection. Setup internet connection for PS3 with Wired Connection with Speed and Dupex option to 1000 Base-T-Full-Duplex, everything else like IP address, Default Subnet Mask, Gateway...auto, it will ask you to test connection, press either back or test connection wont make any problem even test connection give you error at PSN connection or something like that. After it's done, you check back the Connection List on PS3 Network Settings, it will tell you your PS3 addresss in your local network, you can remember or write it down, this info you can also retrieve from multiman system info on next step.

4. On PS3, run Multiman and leave it there.

5. On Laptop, run Filezilla, input your PS3 IP address, leave username/pass blank, port 21 and press Connect.

6. On the left UI of filezilla, choose your external hdd box on laptop and create folder name PS2ISO, on the right UI, open dev_hdd0, then open PS2ISO and drag 'n' drop game iso to PS2ISO on left UI. and wait for it done, normally with wired connection, you will get at least 20MB/s (or 200Mbps) for copy data between PS3 and Laptop, if it's slower because lan port or ethenet cable doesnt support Gigabit Speed (1000 Mbps). Now you have your PS2 ISO backup to external hdd box. When you want to play them just repeat the process but copy back the iso from hdd box to dev_hdd0/PS2ISO via ftp like you've done from step 1-6

7. Now with PS3 games, when you copy your PS3 discs with multiman, it will create jailbreak format games (folder type) which locate in dev_hdd0/GAMES or dev_hdd0/GAMEZ, simply copy them from there to your external hdd box like you did with PS2 ISO, you can later convert them into ISO with work perfectly on jailbroken PS3 by using a software name PS3ISOTOOl v2.2

8. If you choose to create iso from disc with multiman instead of jailbreak format (folder format), you can get them in dev_hdd0/PS3ISO and do same processes to copy them from internal drive to hdd box on laptop via filezilla. Remember this. on external hdd box, jailbreak format folder goes to GAMES or GAMEZ folder, PS3 iso go to PS3ISO folder in order to multiman recognize and load them. PS2 iso has to be on internal dev_hdd0/PS2ISO.

9. After all done, you can safely delete games on internal drive, and plug the hdd box to PS3 USB, multiman will do a scan (or press refresh on top of the game tab in multiman) and read PS3 games just fine. You can test them before deleting content, when you plug the hdd box in PS3 via usb port and do a scan in multiman, it will create 2 entries for same game, but you will see the disc icon on top of the game pictures that indicate they are ISO, you can also read where are they located, HDD mean games are on internal and NTFS mean games are on external drives.

If I miss something, please feel free to add it...

10. About profile and game save, this is easy. I will explain a bit:
There are 2 types of profile, local and PSN activated profiles, game saves a tied with profile. The easiest way to backup them both is to activate profile on PSN, this will let you copy your game saves to a fat32 usb, and also allow you to recover the profile when you connect to PSN. So after you finish backing up game to hdd box, update your fw to rebug 4.86.1 then install psnpatch 2017.B version (latest one). Run psnpatch and press X to disable cfw. When you are back to xmb, scroll to network tab and sign in, sign up for psn if you havent done it. After connecting to psn, choose synchronize trophies and wait till it done, then reset ps3. After reset cfw will be enable as usual. Now you can copy your game saves ( tab save utilities on ps3 xmb) to usb fat32 and plug it to laptop and make a backup there, I suggest you to do this periodcally. If you see some saves greyed out and dont let you copy to usb. Install apolo save tool ( you can find it on http://store.brewology.com), this tool will let you unlock the locked saves and allow you to copy them to usb.

Sir , you are a gentleman.

So much informations , it will take me somes days to use google translate and TRULY understand your tips & advice here. I will get back to you in couples of days with result.

(1) I remembered clearly that is was a purchase for a 2TB HDD , I remember been shocked after installation tho have REALLY LESS than 2TB of free space and i think its because of the CFW / Sony update pup installation.
but to be REALLY sure i would need to take off the hdd and verify the specs. but i guess it will not change the outcome i will have to experience sooner or later to have a 2TB or 1.5TB hdd.....sadly

last 2x questions i have for tonight :

(1) i just checked my 2TB HDD info in rebug tools box telling me I have 455.71 GB left out the 2TB
on the XMB in system i see 455GB.1397GB
if i do my math correctly , its like i used 942 GB actually
Did you know if i stop installing stuff and stay UNDER 1TB disk size say that im safe doing the "restore filesystem" a.k.a. "filesystem check" SAFELY without risking loosing or creating a problem and so that feature will do its work properly ???

I try to read all the information there , but since i originally speak in another language & considering the newbie im am , its PRETTY difficult to understand something. :
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Talk:Harddrive#Going_back_to_the_1TB_and_crosschecking


(2) when i hold select-start , i see theses informations :
Stockage : 461102 Mo de libre (free)
Memoire (Memory): 1912 ko de libre (free)
I was wondering if it exist a way , like i can do on my laptop , to wipe the memory/cache like "disk cleaning" and/or "historic cleaning" option on windows in order to give more space for the PS3 Memory ? maybe that could help with the "accumulating too much errors" ....? ...or to give small helping hand for my system to run more fluidely ?
(i have already unchecked (off) trophy/notification/messages option in system menu....ive heard it can help a lots) ??

 

[ItsmeAJ]

Sir , you are a gentleman.

So much informations , it will take me somes days to use google translate and TRULY understand your tips & advice here. I will get back to you in couples of days with result.

(1) I remembered clearly that is was a purchase for a 2TB HDD , I remember been shocked after installation tho have REALLY LESS than 2TB of free space and i think its because of the CFW / Sony update pup installation.
but to be REALLY sure i would need to take off the hdd and verify the specs. but i guess it will not change the outcome i will have to experience sooner or later to have a 2TB or 1.5TB hdd.....sadly

last 2x questions i have for tonight :

(1) i just checked my 2TB HDD info in rebug tools box telling me I have 455.71 GB left out the 2TB
on the XMB in system i see 455GB.1397GB
if i do my math correctly , its like i used 942 GB actually
Did you know if i stop installing stuff and stay UNDER 1TB disk size say that im safe doing the "restore filesystem" a.k.a. "filesystem check" SAFELY without risking loosing or creating a problem and so that feature will do its work properly ???

I try to read all the information there , but since i originally speak in another language & considering the newbie im am , its PRETTY difficult to understand something. :
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Talk:Harddrive#Going_back_to_the_1TB_and_crosschecking


(2) when i hold select-start , i see theses informations :
Stockage : 461102 Mo de libre (free)
Memoire (Memory): 1912 ko de libre (free)
I was wondering if it exist a way , like i can do on my laptop , to wipe the memory/cache like "disk cleaning" and/or "historic cleaning" option on windows in order to give more space for the PS3 Memory ? maybe that could help with the "accumulating too much errors" ....? ...or to give small helping hand for my system to run more fluidely ?
(i have already unchecked (off) trophy/notification/messages option in system menu....ive heard it can help a lots) ??

1. just follow my post and backup all you need to external drive, then do the system check later, that will be much better than doing it while the drive is full. Honestly the largest drive I have on my PS3 was 500GB so I don't have any experience with drive larger than than.

2. And when you press Select + Start to show system info in webman mod, that free memory was system's, you cant do anything with it so just let it be.

If you want smoothest experience with PS3, just install 250/500GB SSD, then buy the HDD enclosure and putting your current internal HDD to it as a backup drive just like my previous post mentioned. With SSD is fairly cheap nowaday, put one to PS3 is good option. Of course this can be done after you backup all your game to Laptop hard drive or another usb box you plan to buy.

I currently have 250GB SSD on my PS3 and 2TB external hard drive. I can load game from both internal SSD or external hdd just fine. If you want game load faster and smoothier, just copy the game from external drive to dev_hdd0/PS3ISO (iso) or dev_hdd0/GAMES (folder format) and it will run on SSD inside, doing this also eliminates almost slow loading textures and decrease loading time.

 

[CFW1971]

A PS3 with an internal hdd bigger than 1.5TB or so is inestable by definition, with an internal hdd so big the PS3 cant do the filesystem manteinance task

Hi Sandungas ,
apparently i made a mistake and despite remembering having ordered for a 2TB hdd it seem the real specs show it could be a 1.5TB finally.

did im safe with theses speces now ?
it is safe to try doing a "restore filesystem" on the safe mode menu while i have 455GB free space / 1397 GB HDD ? without risking to had to restaure everything and wipe my HDD ??

 

[sandungas]

Hi Sandungas ,
apparently i made a mistake and despite remembering having ordered for a 2TB hdd it seem the real specs show it could be a 1.5TB finally.

did im safe with theses speces now ?
it is safe to try doing a "restore filesystem" on the safe mode menu while i have 455GB free space / 1397 GB HDD ? without risking to had to restaure everything and wipe my HDD ??

Nice, then yes, enter recovery menu and do the restore filesystem, mostly as a confirmation that everything is fine, and also as manteinance

 

[CFW1971]

Nice, then yes, enter recovery menu and do the restore filesystem, mostly as a confirmation that everything is fine, and also as manteinance

I FEAR a lots i shake like a little girl to enter this recovery menu and start the restore file.

So , im really SAFE doing it on a 1.5TB ....my friend seem to tell me it could reach 100% completion but will not have made 100% of his task ...?

Im sitting RIGHT in front of my TV on the safe mode
with option :

1. Redemarrer le system
2. Retablir les parametres par defaut
3. Restaurer le system de fichiers
4, Reconstruire la base de donnees
5. Retablir le system PS3
6. Mise a jour du system.

...to my eyes , # 3 & 4 tell the same thing (?!) Im right or wrong ?
theses two option do the SAME thing or NOT ?

 

[CFW1971]

Nice, then yes, enter recovery menu and do the restore filesystem, mostly as a confirmation that everything is fine, and also as manteinance

OK i understand i have to use # 3
I started it , the console rebooted and gave me this message :

Le systen de fichiers du stockage dystem est endommage et vas etre restaure.
OK

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I got the message
une erreur est survenue lors de la restauration.
il faut formater le stockage system,
toutes les donnees sur le stockage system vont etre supprimees lors du formatage
voulez-vous formater
yes or no ?

Google translation :

an error occurred during the restoration.
you need to format the storage system,
all data on the system storage will be deleted during formatting
do you want to format
yes or no?

 

[sandungas]

Why dont you take the hdd out of the PS3 to read the exact model and write it here ?, this way we could see his capacity
First you said it was 2tb, later it was 1.5tb and everything was fine, and now looks is not fine, this is a mess

 

[CFW1971]

Why dont you take the hdd out of the PS3 to read the exact model and write it here ?, this way we could see his capacity
First you said it was 2tb, later it was 1.5tb and everything was fine, and now looks is not fine, this is a mess

OK i take it out and here the specs :

SAMSUNG Spinpoint
STI500LM006 REV A F/W : 2BC10005
PN: HN-M151RAD/AV1 1500GB +5V 0/85A

I Took it off , tried to re-install the Cobra Rebug 4.84.2 firmware WITHOUT HDD to force it , just cant , each time i select "X" for UPDATE it freeze.

I tried the Restaure Database , i enter in preparation mode ....for minutes and minutes , long period of time and it stay there.......

 

[Coro]

EDIT:
nevermind i totally misunderstood.

 

[sandungas]

Ok, so is really 1500GB
Inmediatly when you select the "restore filesystem" in recovery menu appears a text message that tells: "The file system on the system is corrupted and will be restored"
But that text is generic, and it doesnt really means that a problem has been detected (because the hdd filesystem has not been scanned yet), so at that point the PS3 doesnt really knows if the filesystem is corrupted
Is alarmistic and is not true in all cases, if you do it with a perfect filesystem is going to show the same text

If you acept it then it starts scanning the hdd... and it should take around 10 minutes as much, it depends of the capacity of the hdd (but actually, it should be completed successfully in less than 5 minutes or so)

https://www.ps3blog.net/2013/02/10/...s3-safe-mode-recovery-menu-video-walkthrough/

 

[Coro]

i think it is 1.5 because 2tb model number is ST2000LM003

 

[CFW1971]

Ok, so is really 1500GB
Inmediatly when you select the "restore filesystem" in recovery menu appears a text message that tells: "The file system on the system is corrupted and will be restored"
But that text is generic, and it doesnt really means that a problem has been detected (because the hdd filesystem has not been scanned yet), so at that point the PS3 doesnt really knows if the filesystem is corrupted
Is alarmistic and is not true in all cases, if you do it with a perfect filesystem is going to show the same text

If you acept it then it starts scanning the hdd... and it should take around 10 minutes as much, it depends of the capacity of the hdd (but actually, it should be completed successfully in less than 5 minutes or so)

https://www.ps3blog.net/2013/02/10/...s3-safe-mode-recovery-menu-video-walkthrough/

I ACCEPTED the scanning of the HDD but 5-10 seconds later it gave me this message :

an error occurred during the restoration.
you need to format the storage system,
all data on the system storage will be deleted during formatting
do you want to format
yes or no?

OF COURSE I ANSWERED : "NO"
but it told me my system had something wrong and i was tried everything , everything was jammed
I tried to install another used HDD (1TB) with nothing on it ...BUT i realized after dissasembling it that the USB port was wield on the circuit board...useless...

now i have found another HDD of 150mb full that im actually transferting stock on it on my 1TB external one in order to use it in my console and i will try re-installing Cobra Rebug 4.82 via USB.........

My head.....

Noooo NOT 2 YEARS of hard work man...!!!

 

[CFW1971]

I put my 1.5TB (full games etc) back in my PS3
I pushed power button once

I got message :

LE SYSTEM DE FICHIERS DU STOCKAGE SYSTEME EST ENDOMMAGE ET VAS ETRE RESTAURÉ

OK , I click X for validation , then i got a 2th message :

UNE ERREUR EST SURVENUE LORS DE LA RESTAURATION.
IL FAUT FORMATER LE STOCKAGE SYSTÈME.
TOUTES LES DONNÉES SUR LE STOCKAGE SYSTÈME VONT ETRE SUPPRIMES LORS DU FORMATAGE.
VOULEZ-VOUS FORMATER ? YES or NO ?

Of course i answer NO !! Then I got a final and last message with NO OTHER OPTION :

DEMARRAGE IMPOSSIBLE.
LE STOCKAGE SYSTEM APPROPRIE EST INTROUVABLE.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Im Hyper Anxious right now !!!!!

EDIT : From there , i have NO option to choose , everything is "jammed"
only option i have is to pull the power cord damn it !!!

 

[CFW1971]

OK
I RETRY A LAST TIME
I BOOTED THE SAFE MODE

SELECTED 3th Option : RESTAURE FILE SYSTEM

Black screen and white letters : PREPARATION EN COUR.... MERCI DE PATIENTER

with an black/white circle icon of something turning counterclockwise at the top right corner.

First time i tried this its stay there , my best friend said it entered in a "loop"

So now for the 2th time , i will let do its "preparation" i will wait the next 30min-1 hours and will update as soon something happen....(finger crossed)


EDIT : I need SERIOUS help here !!

 

[sandungas]

I ACCEPTED the scanning of the HDD but 5-10 seconds later it gave me this message :

an error occurred during the restoration.
you need to format the storage system,
all data on the system storage will be deleted during formatting
do you want to format
yes or no?

OF COURSE I ANSWERED : "NO"

I dont have any good news, it seems your filesystem was very damaged, up to the point the scanning cant be completed

Replacing the hdd temporally by a different one is not going to solve your problem, the only thing you can do is to try again, again, and again... if you are lucky maybe it completes in one of the tryes

 

[sandungas]

There is a way that could allow you to recover files from that hdd in PC btw... but for it to work you need the "EID root key" unique for your PS3

To get that key you need to run a program (in other words, your PS3 should be able to boot to XMB), incase you dont have that key already then you can use another hdd (temporally) to install a firmware, this allows you to get the key

 

[CFW1971]

I dont have any good news, it seems your filesystem was very damaged, up to the point the scanning cant be completed

Replacing the hdd temporally by a different one is not going to solve your problem, the only thing you can do is to try again, again, and again... if you are lucky maybe it completes in one of the tryes

I dont understand
my !^$*^@$ system was running up fine until i make this *!^&$@ option
No Lags , No freeze , everything was playing just fine.............................

 

[CFW1971]

system still in "loop" inside the preparation process.....after half an hour.....

 

[sandungas]

The only explaination posible about why you had all that problems cummulated in your hdd filesystem is because you have been bypasing that warning screen (usually displayed by the PS3 after a firmware crash) since weeks/months/years ago, right ?
It looks your PS3 never made a filesystem check since looooot of time ago
But you never advised us that you was bypassing the filesystem checks :/

I mentioned it at begining of the thread
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/cfw-cobra-rebug-internal-hdd-change.28830/#post-234135

A lot of people that used a huge internal hdd like you... what they does is to bypass the warnings that appears from time to time to fix the filesystem (when the PS3 crashes and reboots to a warning screen)
The firmware allows to bypassing that filesystem checks, but are actually a nice thing to keep the filesystem healthy

As a consequence of that the filesystem starts cummulating problems...

At that point you should have mentioned that you was bypassing the checks, and my approach to the problem would have been different

Im paranoid with hdd problems, so most probably i would have told you to enter in def con 1 mode, backup all the worthy files from it and format it
But most probably you would have thought that i was exagerating and your hdd filesystem was perfect

The truth is your filesystem was about to collapse... there is no need to believe me, the proof is what the PS3 is showing to you, it cant complete the filesystem check :/
Probably it means you have either a big cummulation of small errors, or a few huge errors

 

[CFW1971]

The only explaination posible about why you had all that problems cummulated in your hdd filesystem is because you have been bypasing that warning screen (usually displayed by the PS3 after a firmware crash) since weeks/months/years ago, right ?
It looks your PS3 never made a filesystem check since looooot of time ago
But you never advised us that you was bypassing the filesystem checks :/

I never had a message telling me i had to make a filesystem checks!
I rebooted this console after the crash i had 2 years ago or so (i initially thought it was because i didnt know how to use webman to adjust the fan and told my myself the system overheated because i have playing somes PS2 games backthen.

the only thing i passed was error that i should sent to sony , that each time i pressed "O" to skip and in all honesty i had only 3 or 4 of theses in the last two years.

I worked from ground , installing 4.82 and later 4.84 , only installing multiman , webman mod , irisman , Retroarch & psnpatch thats all.

then i installed all my PS2 iso without any issues , played / finished 2-3 of them flawlessly and then i wanted to finish installing my PS3 disc

I remember that the only times i got error message that system asked me to send the error to sony was using retroarch with nes roms and retroarch "freeze" and i had to press power button.

anyway......

I SOOOO depress right now..............incredible.........