PS3 PS3 Doesn't detect USB drive

C

cruxers

Forum Noob
Worked perfectly as NTFS with webMAN MOD the other day, isn't detected by the system now. Tried formatting to FAT32 using the formatter GUI, isn't detected by the XMB. Both USB ports appear to be working (tested with a third party controller dongle, a 1GB FAT32 drive I use for packages and USB cable tethering a PS Move controller to the system).
webMAN MOD version 1.47.32
along with
irisman 4.87, prepNTFS 1.27 and multiMAN 4.85.01
Cobra CFW installed on 4.87 OFW
 
Format the USB drive to FAT32 using Wii Backup Manager instead. It has never failed me.

the formatter GUI, EaseUS or Ridgecrop tools sometimes format to FAT32 in a way that PS3 does not recognize them.
 
SKEPTiCK said:
Format the USB drive to FAT32 using Wii Backup Manager instead. It has never failed me.

the formatter GUI, EaseUS or Ridgecrop tools sometimes format to FAT32 in a way that PS3 does not recognize them.
Click to expand...

Formatted using the latest Backup Manager version, doesn't show as connected when plugged into the system. No files or folders on it.
 
cruxers said:
Worked perfectly as NTFS with webMAN MOD the other day, isn't detected by the system now. Tried formatting to FAT32 using the formatter GUI, isn't detected by the XMB. Both USB ports appear to be working (tested with a third party controller dongle, a 1GB FAT32 drive I use for packages and USB cable tethering a PS Move controller to the system).
webMAN MOD version 1.47.32
along with
irisman 4.87, prepNTFS 1.27 and multiMAN 4.85.01
Cobra CFW installed on 4.87 OFW
Click to expand...
It must be Fat32 MBR partition, GPT is not supported.

Try formatting with this:
https://www.psx-place.com/index.php?posts/181332
 
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After reinstalling webMAN and prepISO, webMAN still doesn't detect my flash drive regardless of format. Is there something that "blacklists" drives on the system?
 
cruxers said:
Formatted using the latest Backup Manager version, doesn't show as connected when plugged into the system. No files or folders on it.
Click to expand...

Okay so, when you say "the latest Backup Manager" you mean the latest version of Wii Backup Manager, right?

DO NOT USE Windows format tool, Ridgecorp or EaseUS.

Open Wii Backup Manager, select "Tools", then "Format drives" Now set filesystem to FAT32 and leave Cluster size as 32KB.

If it's not working, then you haven't done it yet or you're doing it wrong and people always say "must be MBR not GPT" but I'm telling you the answer is Wii Backup Manager. I think most of these new-era USB drives have issues with formatting to unintended filesystem. It's like saying if the USB is NTFS when you buy it, then it is probably best intended to use as NTFS... not that FAT32 is completely obsolete but NTFS is the most typical filesystem and I believe that Windows 10 format tool, Ridgecorp or blahblahblah is prone to leave remnants of GPT partition even after formatting to FAT32, so this is why I use WBM instead.

failed USB recognition is also quite typical when you have incorrectly formatted a USB that is more than 32GB in size from NTFS to FAT32

But it is more of a framework issue rather than operator error, most tools are simply designed to work mostly for GPT/NTFS
 
SKEPTiCK said:
Okay so, when you say "the latest Backup Manager" you mean the latest version of Wii Backup Manager, right?

DO NOT USE Windows format tool, Ridgecorp or EaseUS.

Open Wii Backup Manager, select "Tools", then "Format drives" Now set filesystem to FAT32 and leave Cluster size as 32KB.

If it's not working, then you haven't done it yet or you're doing it wrong and people always say "must be MBR not GPT" but I'm telling you the answer is Wii Backup Manager. I think most of these new-era USB drives have issues with formatting to unintended filesystem. It's like saying if the USB is NTFS when you buy it, then it is probably best intended to use as NTFS... not that FAT32 is completely obsolete but NTFS is the most typical filesystem and I believe that Windows 10 format tool, Ridgecorp or blahblahblah is prone to leave remnants of GPT partition even after formatting to FAT32, so this is why I use WBM instead.

failed USB recognition is also quite typical when you have incorrectly formatted a USB that is more than 32GB in size from NTFS to FAT32

But it is more of a framework issue rather than operator error, most tools are simply designed to work mostly for GPT/NTFS
Click to expand...

I formatted it with the Wii Backup Manager twice after trying to format into NTFS for webMAN again with no effect. It was also formatted to FAT32 on purchase and was playing backups comfortably. Now no format is being detected neither by the system, nor multiMAN/webMAN.
 
cruxers said:
I formatted it with the Wii Backup Manager twice after trying to format into NTFS for webMAN again with no effect. It was also formatted to FAT32 on purchase and was playing backups comfortably. Now no format is being detected neither by the system, nor multiMAN/webMAN.
Click to expand...
Install managunz, enter in the filemanager, connect the USB device... and report back
Managunz have a "device monitor" thread running at the background that is monitoring the connections and disconnections of external devices... and it displays a notification on top-right corner advising of the devices that are connected or disconnected

If you see the notification advising about a "new device detected" and inmediatly another notification of "device disconneted" it means problems

Also, try to connect the USB device this way:
PS3 <--- USB HUB (with external power) ---> USB device

Incase it works (but doesnt works without the HUB) it usually means the PSU of your PS3 is too old
 
sandungas said:
Install managunz, enter in the filemanager, connect the USB device... and report back
Managunz have a "device monitor" thread running at the background that is monitoring the connections and disconnections of external devices... and it displays a notification on top-right corner advising of the devices that are connected or disconnected

If you see the notification advising about a "new device detected" and inmediatly another notification of "device disconneted" it means problems

Also, try to connect the USB device this way:
PS3 <--- USB HUB (with external power) ---> USB device

Incase it works (but doesnt works without the HUB) it usually means the PSU of your PS3 is too old
Click to expand...

I've opened up the file manager and plugged in the drive to the message of usb000 plugged, then a repeat of unplugged-plugged after 10 or so seconds. Plugging in the 1GB drive I used to install the file manager shows it in the explorer, even goes through the trouble of lighting up its internal LED. The 64GB drive I used worked perfectly fine playing backups before going kaput, but I was also using a third party controller that requires a dongle plugged in to connect. Could this have affected the drive?
 
sandungas said:
I dont understand what you wrote
Click to expand...
I think he's saying, he has two drives, the one that he's posting about, I think the 64GB one and one he used to install the backup manager(ManagunZ,IrisMan,MultiMAN) the 1GB drive. Not sure which File Manager he's using lol. Also I'm confused about the plugging and unplugging. From what I'm gathering, he's saying the manager was giving him a message everytime he plugged or unplugged, but he didn't specify which drive.

lmao Then the last bit, I'm assuming is a question about whether or not his controller had any effect on his drive . This is like the third thread in the past few days about drives lol. Gotta go to the basics.

Is your 64GB drive recognized by windows? I'm assuming you have a pc. Since your 1GB drive was detected with your Manager, test it in both USB ports. DO this to determine if one of the USB ports isn't shot. If both usb ports work and your 64GB drive is readable and writeable through windows then we're back to square one but we've eliminated the basics and therefore something with the ps3 and your 64GB drive is the issue.
 
Aezaeo said:
Also I'm confused about the plugging and unplugging. From what I'm gathering, he's saying the manager was giving him a message everytime he plugged or unplugged, but he didn't specify which drive.
Click to expand...

The file manager showed the drive being plugged into port 000, then after a couple of seconds rapidly showed port 000 unplugged then plugged again. No corresponding folder appeared or disappeared.

Aezaeo said:
lmao Then the last bit, I'm assuming is a question about whether or not his controller had any effect on his drive . This is like the third thread in the past few days about drives lol. Gotta go to the basics.
Click to expand...

I've combed through some threads here and haven't seen anything that helped with this. Sorry if it's so troublesome.

Aezaeo said:
Is your 64GB drive recognized by windows? I'm assuming you have a pc. Since your 1GB drive was detected with your Manager, test it in both USB ports. DO this to determine if one of the USB ports isn't shot. If both usb ports work and your 64GB drive is readable and writeable through windows then we're back to square one but we've eliminated the basics and therefore something with the ps3 and your 64GB drive is the issue.
Click to expand...

Detected by Windows Explorer, can write and read files. Both PS3 ports recognize the 1GB drive.
 
I'm pretty much in the same boat you are in, minus, my NTFS drive(s) never got recognized. Whereas, yours was actually in use prior. Another difference between me and you is, if I format to MBR fat32, my drive(s) to get recognized. So for me it's not a power issue, USB Port issue or a Hard Drive issue, same as you.

Only thing I haven't tried is the elimination of the managers to see if maybe something between them is being conflicted. I.e., Clean system with only one manager at a time to test if drive gets recognized with NTFS.

Hypothetical: If I only had ManaGunZ installed and it worked then it could be and issue between webman Mod and ManaGunz. Hypotheitcal: I would have only had those two installed at same time prior to test.

That last bit could have been written out better but that's the gist of the test.

I mentioned that this seems to be happening to a few users in the past few days, also makes me wonder if it's not the drives but something with the apps and how they handle NTFS. There was another thread a few days ago with guy who pretty much has the exact same happenings as you. His drive was being read and used in NTFS prior to it just randomly not being recognized anymore. But only unrecognizable from the ps3, windows still detected it with read/write.
 
Think in it this way, every USB device requires a diffrent amount of power from the USB connector
-The USB flash sticks always have the lowest requirements because the electronics are simple and are "flash" storage
-A SSD external drive (with his own USB controller) requires more power because the electronics are more complex
-A mechanical HDD drive (inside a USB enclosure) requires even more power because have mobile parts inside (moved by motors)
-The USB connectors of a PC uses to have a lot more power than the PS3

Keep than in mind when doing tests, is very usual to have a USB device that works fine in PC but doesnt works in the PS3 because his power requirements (usually a mechanical HDD drive with his own USB controller and enclosure), in this case when you connect the USB device to the PS3 is going to initiate and few seconds later is going to do a "click" noise (one time, or repeated several times, thats very bad) and turns off automatically
Managunz is a handy app to check that because the notification messages it shows

The most simple way to have a confirmation that you have this problem is either:
-Because the USB flash devices works... but the mechanical doesnt
-By connecting the USB device to an intermediate "USB HUB" with his own power adapter, this way the PS3 doesnt needs to power the USB device
-By doing a temporal test replacing the PSU of the PS3
 
sandungas said:
Think in it this way, every USB device requires a diffrent amount of power from the USB connector
-The USB flash sticks always have the lowest requirements because the electronics are simple and are "flash" storage
-A SSD external drive (with his own USB controller) requires more power because the electronics are more complex
-A mechanical HDD drive (inside a USB enclosure) requires even more power because have mobile parts inside (moved by motors)
-The USB connectors of a PC uses to have a lot more power than the PS3

Keep than in mind when doing tests, is very usual to have a USB device that works fine in PC but doesnt works in the PS3 because his power requirements (usually a mechanical HDD drive with his own USB controller and enclosure), in this case when you connect the USB device to the PS3 is going to initiate and few seconds later is going to do a "click" noise (one time, or repeated several times, thats very bad) and turns off automatically
Managunz is a handy app to check that because the notification messages it shows

The most simple way to have a confirmation that you have this problem is either:
-Because the USB flash devices works... but the mechanical doesnt
-By connecting the USB device to an intermediate "USB HUB" with his own power adapter, this way the PS3 doesnt needs to power the USB device
-By doing a temporal test replacing the PSU of the PS3
Click to expand...

Both the 1GB drive and the 64GB drive are flash devices that both worked perfectly well before the 64GB drive suddenly became unrecognizable by the system. The same exact thing happened with an external HDD that worked perfectly fine until one day it just stopped being recognized. Both USB ports give stable good power when charging a controller, both the 64GB drive and the external HDD are recognizable by my laptop.
 
cruxers said:
Both the 1GB drive and the 64GB drive are flash devices that both worked perfectly well before the 64GB drive suddenly became unrecognizable by the system. The same exact thing happened with an external HDD that worked perfectly fine until one day it just stopped being recognized. Both USB ports give stable good power when charging a controller, both the 64GB drive and the external HDD are recognizable by my laptop.
Click to expand...
Ok, so it seems we are talking about 3 diferent USB devices
The mechanical HDD in a enclosure connected by USB (lets call it 500GB) stopped working first ?
And some time later the others 1GB, 64GB stopped working too ?
This usually means the PS3 PSU is dying, im not telling that im complely sure about it but if i had to find the problem i would start by suspecting about the PS3 PSU
 
Aezaeo said:
I think I have a USB hub lying around somewhere, I want to test that method for my drives. Thanks for the heads up @sandungas
Click to expand...
The USB HUB is the easyest way to check it. After that you are a bit confident that the problem is related with the PSU, so you can take the risk to buy a new PSU because most probably is going to solve the problem

The second easy way to check it (and definitive) is incase you have 2 PS3's of the same model, so you could swap the PSU's of them for a temporal test, or as an alternative (not easy) to use the ATX PSU from a PC temporally, there are a couple of tutorials about how to do it in the "PS3 hardware mods" subforum
 
Last edited:
sandungas said:
Ok, so it seems we are talking about 3 diferent USB devices
The mechanical HDD in a enclosure connected by USB (lets call it 500GB) stopped working first ?
And some time later the others 1GB, 64GB stopped working too ?
This usually means the PS3 PSU is dying, im not telling that im complely sure about it but if i had to find the problem i would start by suspecting about the PS3 PSU
Click to expand...
The drives in question are an external HDD, a 64GB flash drive and a 1GB flash drive.
The external HDD worked completely fine for a couple of days before not showing up in the file managers, works perfectly on my laptop.
Same thing for the 64GB flash drive that worked perfectly fine.
Currently the 1GB is still detected by the system to the point where I comfortably can install packages.
Both USB ports don't seem to have a problem with power since both charge controllers pretty quickly, if that's any measure.
 
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