PS3 Potential Fix for NTFS Drives Not Being Recognized

[Aezaeo]

WELL WOULD YOU GUESS WTF JUST HAPPENED!!?!?!

DID YOU GUESS!?!?!

lol so I seen @aldostools released a new update to prepISO, 1.28

https://github.com/aldostools/webMAN-MOD/releases/download/1.47.33/prepISO_1.28.pkg

So I thought i'd give trying to get NTFS working another try. This time around I tried a different cluster size. I'll have to double check, but it was the lowest possible cluster size, I remember that. Anyway, reformatted from FAT32 to MBR NTFS lowest cluster, plugged it into ps3 started that bad boy up, ran prepISO 1.28, went into ManagunZ file manager adn there she was, 1TB NTFS Drive!!!

I'll have to do another test to see if the cluster size is the issue or if it was just the latest prepISO 1.28.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I made the partition Logical as well. Not Sure if that makes a difference but it might. And after checking google for cluster sizes in NTFS I believe what I chose was 512 Bytes.

Yea, slow your roll on what I did. I'm actually having issues with it. It's nice that it's being recognized now but every file manager hangs when trying to open the drive.

I did mange to go from 512 Bytes to default cluster and it's still being detected but I'm still having hanging/freezing issues when tryin to view contents of the drive from the file managers, (ManaGunz, webamn Mod, Irisman). I'm doin some more tests atm going to go back to Primary partition and 64KB cluster to see if that fixes the hanging/freezing, or to see if it stops recognizing the drive again lol

Ok, I did some pretty thorough testing and here are my results. All testing was done through ManaGunZ File Manager.

1. I can confirm that by reformatting to MBR Primary 64KB made my drive disappear again.

2. I can also confirm that lowering cluster size back down to 512 Bytes and remaining a "Primary" partition, made my drive recognizable again.
So Logical or Primary doesn't seem to matter. It's the cluster size. But even making the drive recognizable again brought back the hanging(no freezes this time). And the hanging is much better than before, it's not a complete hang/freeze just takes a few seconds(10-30) for the drive to be read, it isn't snappy. Since the hanging seemed manageable on "Primary" partition, might want to stick to a "Primary" partion.

3. I can confirm that by reformatting to MBR Primary 32KB made my drive disappear again.

4. Success!!! Reformatting to MBR Primary 16KB, not only made the drive recognizeable again but there are no longer hangs/freezes. It responds like anything other drive/folder in the file manager(s).

Also, with Test #4, I tested the drive with (webman MOD FM, Irisman FM, ManaGunZ FM and MultiMan FM). First, to check if they recognized the drive and also to check response times. They all detected the drive and respnded well, minus, Multiman's File Manager. It's the only one that wouldn't detect the drive.

With multiman for those curious and are bound to ask, I do have my USB.cfg setup correctly. Also, I tested both Cobra and CFW modes and used PFS Driver in both modes. The drive would appear but would never actually load, it would stay stuck connecting.

I would also like to note, all this testing was done with the recent release of prepISO 1.28. Get it here: https://github.com/aldostools/webMAN-MOD/releases/download/1.47.33/prepISO_1.28.pkg
If you have an older version and would like to try what I've tried, I'd love to see some results to check if it was the updated prepISO that assisted in the fix of this issue or if it was just the cluster size all along. Other than that, I recommend getting the latest version anyway.

I have another drive that wasn't getting recognized at all either, I'm going to test that drive with this "potential" fix and see what happens. I'll be sure to share my info.

I hope this helps out some of you people who have been having issues with your NTFS drives not being recognized at all. Cheers!!!

DISCLAIMER:

I am in no way claiming that this is THE SOLUTION for everyone's drive. I'm merely showing what worked for me.


Update: I got my second External HDD to be recognized with NTFS. I used same method as above. Test #4!

 

[arcadekidflo]

The default allocation size is 4k . Tried that ?

 

[Aezaeo]

The default allocation size is 4k . Tried that ?

Yes, I did. If you notice in my quotes above, I mention going to the default cluster but experiencing hanging/freezing. That test was done with a Logical partition. It appeared to me, from my testing, that a Logical partition had worse hanging/freezing issues. However, I did not test a Primary partition with a default cluster size. But when comparing the tests I did, I have a suspicion that the drive will get recognized but have hanging/freezing issues, same as the Logical partition with a Default cluster size did.