PS3 Mount PS3 HDD on windows 10 - No HDDs Found Error

[i5han]

Hi guys, I'm trying to mount my ps3 hdd on windows 10 with aldos tools ps3 hdd gui. I keep getting this message about no hdd(s) found.

I have the eid root key placed in the directory and did not initialize the drive on windows.
I tried the following:
ran the program as administrator
ran the program with xp,7 compatibility
ran ps3.exe

I'm not sure if the problem is with the key file, the hard disk, the hdd gui application or windows 10.
Is there a way to verify the integrity of the key file?

Unfortunately, the source ps3 is dead and I'm trying to recover the data to transfer it to a new ps3 that I bought.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Berion]

EID Root Key must be of course from the same console as this HDD. Because every PS3 have it's own unique ERK, and from ERK other key/keys is/are calculated.

Also avoid additional controllers like USB case. Connect disk directly to SATA on MOBO.

And You will not able to mount PS3 HDD on Windows, You will able to read it via special application like i.e PS3 HDD Reader and this GUI for it. ;p Mounting is something different.

You can always try alternative solution(s): https://www.psx-place.com/threads/tutorial-hdd-mounting-and-decryption-on-linux.23308/

There is no way to check if ERK is proper without working console. Right after You read it on PS3, You should add validation method (packing into archive like i.e *.7z, *.rar; calculate checksum like i.e CRC32, MD5, SHA-3 etc.). ERK must be 48B in size.

 

[i5han]

Hi berion, yes the eid is from the same ps3. I had dumped it earlier in case of a situation like this. I connected it directly to the mobo. If i can read it from the gui tool it's enough. That's what i meant by mount I just want to copy the data over to a another external drive. put the ps3 drive in the new console and then copy over the data from the external drive.

 

[Berion]

EID is something different than EID Root Key. ;p

So maybe key filename is wrong? Should be "eid_root_key" (without extension).

 

[i5han]

Thanks for the help Berion. Managed to get it working. For some reason, the HDD was not picked up automatically. I created a disk image using HDD raw copy and used that image as a file source to ps3 HDD reader. I can explore and copy the content from the command line.

Gui application still says no hdds. Do you know how to use the image file as a source for the hdd gui application?

 

[Berion]

I never used Aldo's GUI to be honest for more than just test works/not works. ^^ But if You using CMD tool why on disk image? If see image should see also drive.

On Windows to use raw hdd from file (because Windows 10 support only *.vhd and *.vhdx to be attached from diskmgmt.msc), You must find virtual device like i.e Daemon Tools but for disk images rather than disc images. Maybe Arsenal Image Mounter? Never used but heard good opinions about it. But seriously, would be much easier for You to install i.e Ubuntu for WSL2 and use HDD Reader for Linux (is the newest version anyway of this app) or just use real Linux booted from pendrive (no need of installations) rather than making huge and unhandy media image file.

 

[i5han]

Well for some reason even the cmd tool doesn't pick up the actual disk. If I specify the source as "file" it works.
I don't have to attach the image for ps3.exe to access. I only need to copy the image as "backup.bin" to the same folder where ps3.exe is located and run "ps3.exe file dir /" which will list the root directory of the "backup.bin" image.

I anyway wanted to load up WSL2 for other work reasons. I'm waiting for windows 2004 build to be a bit stable