PS3 PS3 SSD work around

[DRU-17]

To start off with this is more about informing of my findings and I will gladly take any criticism or concerns anyone throws at me.

I have been messing with a customers ps3 slim that was already running CFW. They wanted the hdd 1TB swapped for an ssd 1TB I have done this same work before, upgrade a hard drive to ssd, use FTP to rip the data from the old drive and reinstall on the new. On that one I used a silicon power ssd and it went smoothly. Also on that sytem I had to use FTP because the original drive in the system was 500GB and the customer need more space so the new ssd was 1TB.

On the system this post it about the customer provided a WD BLUE SSD. I checked it with crystaldiskinfo as it was not in a package. It showed low usage and good life. I thought oh this will be easy. I attempted to DD the contents of the original drive to the new drive.

NOPE.

Errors after only a few bytes. Crystaldiskinfo on the original drive shows it is on the way out. I put the original drive back in the system and it turned on fine. So now I have confirmed that the drive is dying and even though I can't copy it over due to errors with DD it will at least work to save the customers data using FTP. Then I attempted a fresh CFW install and the installation stopped at 98% and stayed there for over an hour. I stopped the install. Used CMD to clean the disk using diskpart, thinking maybe the issue was caused by the possibly bad data that was copied over from the failing drive. Tried again and got the same result. I put in a used but known good hdd and install went fine. I thought the issue was with the drive so I had the customer bring me a brand new drive. This time it was a PNY. Again same result install stalled at 98%. I even let it sit at 98% overnight as it was late and I thought maybe it is just taking longer than I anticipated.

NOPE.

Still at 98% the next morning. After digging through the forum I found a thread called [GUIDE]SSD for PlayStation 3. I found that there are issues with certain SSDs on ps3 systems due to ssd controllers and or other hardware/software on the SSDs themselves PNY is on that list but WD is not. I started thinking I could buy the same ssd I had used before but I didn't like the idea of having to charge my customer more money for a job they already spent extra on by them buying another ssd to begin with.

Then a thought occurred to me.

What if I take a 1TB hdd and install CFW on that then use DD to copy it to the ssd. Side note DD is great but it is time consuming when using it for drives that large. After it was done I installed the ssd into the system and I heard that beautiful start up sound and saw the EVILNAT text on the screen. I dont know exactly how the ssd couldn't complete the install process but it worked.

I will update this post if there are any issues after I reinstall the customers files and I will have the customer inform me of any issues that come in the future. I cannot iterate enough I have no idea what I bypassed to make this work I just know it did work, for now. I hope this maybe helps some one in the future if they want to use non-supporting hardware or if this method proves to be a failure it will serve as a warning. I also have my doubts in the ability to update this system in the future without performing the same work around. If I had to guess even attempting an update would ruin the file system and make the data that is on it useless in which case I do plan to save my customers original drive and the FTP files in case that happens.

 

[GuilloteTesla]

First, your message is very hard to read. Use some line breaks next time.

Second, your bypass will work for the time being but any issue with the data (like a DB rebuild or file system check) may render the console locked in System Recovery Mode until a proper HDD is installed. This is a hardware compatibility problem, not data.

The PS3 was never designed to use SSDs, many issues will happen sooner or later as many people had already documented them. It's true that there are some drives that work fine but those are the exceptions, not the rule.

 

[DRU-17]

First, your message is very hard to read. Use some line breaks next time.

Thanks for the suggestion it was late when I posted. I have gone back and edited to add the breaks. I hope this makes it easier to read.

Second, your bypass will work for the time being but any issue with the data (like a DB rebuild or file system check) may render the console locked in System Recovery Mode until a proper HDD is installed. This is a hardware compatibility problem, not data.

The PS3 was never designed to use SSDs, many issues will happen sooner or later as many people had already documented them. It's true that there are some drives that work fine but those are the exceptions, not the rule.

That's exactly what I thought as far as it breaking the file system if any issues were to occur.

 

[Berion]

I attempted to DD the contents of the original drive to the new drive. (...) Errors after only a few bytes.

What errors exactly? dd cannot be used for damaged media, ddrescue instead. FYI:

sudo ddrescue -f -n -v /dev/sdx /home/test.img /home/test.log

Used CMD to clean the disk using diskpart, thinking maybe the issue was caused by the possibly bad data that was copied over from the failing drive.

Pointless. Enough to overwrite first sector to be forced format on PS3 side.

What if I take a 1TB hdd and install CFW on that then use DD to copy it to the ssd.

Bad idea if target storage is not equal (sector amount equal or larger) than source storage. Otherwise you will end with broken filesystem of user partition.

I dont know exactly how the ssd couldn't complete the install process but it worked.

No one reversed emerinit and updater, not even in regardless of disk formatting. It is one big unknown for now with few mysteries like eg. size caps.

I have no idea what I bypassed to make this work I just know it did work, for now.

You bypassed usage of mentioned by me above components. But still, issue will occurring when user will need to use fsck or got BSOD. Been on your place, I would dump ERK to safe headache related to disk image creating or need of working system for FTP. Read about PS3HDH usage.