PS3 [Solved] Question about ps3 HDD swaping

[humanshield85]

Hello everyone
so here it is
I have a ps3 superslim 4.81 with 500 go HDD
now the current hdd is fine and full of games and content
I have some spare HHDs laying around
I wanna do some tests and stuff on my ps3 but i don't wanna lose my data
the backup restore is not suitable for me because I will lose some of my stuff and re downloading is just too painful (I have 512kb/s down speed at max third world problems ) plus i have like 400 go of data on my ps3 and it will take forever to backup and restore
so here is my question :
if I take my current hdd off and put a new one
I follow the guide to set the new one up and start testing on it once i'm satisfied and i wanna play my games can I put my old hdd back in and use it normally or will the ps3 reject it and force me to format ?

thank you in advance

 

[Berion]

Then You are out of luck. There is no way to move data to another HDD other than download again or using BDU on OFW.

Will reject and force You to format.

 

[playerkp420]

As long as when you go to put back the original HDD, the PS3 is on the same version (ex. 4.82). Then you will not lose any data.

I would recommend booting straight to recovery menu after putting original HDD back, and reinstalling whatever OFW or CFW the PS3 is on at that time.

 

[DeViL303]

As long as when you go to put back the original HDD, the PS3 is on the same version (ex. 4.82). Then you will not lose any data.

I would recommend booting straight to recovery menu after putting original HDD back, and reinstalling whatever OFW or CFW the PS3 is on at that time.

Hmm, interesting, so if the old HDD works, Then this begs a question, as we know the HDD info is stored in the xregistry (don't we?), BUT is the dev_flash2 partition that contains the xregistry on virtual flash on a NOR console?, and If so doesn't it get swapped with the HDD, and then it should work if the HDD key is the same (ie hdd from same console)? I always assumed this was not the case as that seems like a security risk that nullifies the whole point of including the HDD info in the xregistry in the first place? But maybe not. As there is already a per console HDD key, swapping HDDs between consoles is never going to be a concern for Sony, So the only purpose of the HDD info in the xregistry seems to be to stop a user from putting an old drive back in without formatting.. or am I missing something?

 

[playerkp420]

Hmm, interesting, so if the old HDD works, Then this begs a question, as we know the HDD info is stored in the xregistry (don't we?), BUT is the dev_flash2 partition that contains the xregistry on virtual flash on a NOR console?, and If so doesn't it get swapped with the HDD, and then it should work if the HDD key is the same (ie hdd from same console)? I always assumed this was not the case as that seems like a security risk that nullifies the whole point of including the HDD info in the xregistry in the first place? But maybe not. As there is already a per console HDD key, swapping HDDs between consoles is never going to be a concern for Sony, So the only purpose of the HDD info in the xregistry seems to be to stop a user from putting an old drive back in without formatting.. or am I missing something?

Yes, I believe it is because of xRegistry.sys being stored on the HDD with NOR models. So settings like PSN account details (user settings), devices attached to the Playstation (registered peripherals), the HDD model and serial number (console settings), etc... will still be intact when switching HDDs (if already married to that console). But for the HDD info to match what is in CELL_EXTNOR_AREA, I suggest to reinstall whatever firmware the PS3 is on to avoid any troubles. Even though it works swapping HDDs that are already married without doing so. If the old HDD is on a different firmware version than what the syscon is on, I think it will make you format.

I am not sure if NAND models will let you swap so easily. Will have to test that out.

 

[DeViL303]

Yeah I am fairly sure that NAND consoles will be different as xregistry will not be stored on the HDD.

Similar topic : Mentioned this before, but I would be interested in a CFW patch to make the HDD key/xreg hdd serial the same across all consoles for convenience.. I think the patch could be simple enough in theory (don't really have clue, just seems easy to replace complicated key with all zeros or something ) , but drawbacks would be anyone who installed that patched CFW would have to format drive once..so..will probably never happen.

 

[humanshield85]

As long as when you go to put back the original HDD, the PS3 is on the same version (ex. 4.82). Then you will not lose any data.

I would recommend booting straight to recovery menu after putting original HDD back, and reinstalling whatever OFW or CFW the PS3 is on at that time.

So if I'm getting this right
My ps3 is nor , and its on 4.81 OFW (no cfw compatibility) and I'm not planning on changing my fw version my data should be fine ? In theory ?

 

[playerkp420]

So if I'm getting this right
My ps3 is nor , and its on 4.81 OFW (no cfw compatibility) and I'm not planning on changing my fw version my data should be fine ? In theory ?

Yep, should be fine. I have had 3 or 4 HDDs married to my 25k at the same time, and was always able to boot with whichever one I wanted.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[humanshield85]

Yep, should be fine. I have had 3 or 4 HDDs married to my 25k at the same time, and was always able to boot with whichever one I wanted.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Thank a lot for the detailed and quick reply

 

[Berion]

I have had 3 or 4 HDDs married to my 25k at the same time, and was always able to boot with whichever one I wanted.

How is that possible? My CECHL only tolerate one HDD assigned to the console. Putting any other end with format and putting the old one also forcing me to format.

 

[pinky]

I believe the hdd's serial number is recorded in a second place away from the xregistry.

 

[sandungas]

I believe the hdd's serial number is recorded in a second place away from the xregistry.

Yeah, he mentioned it, inside flash chip CELL_EXTNOR_AREA
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Flash

Now the question im making myself is what is the purpose of this hdd info inside CELL_EXTNOR_AREA ? lol
It seems is not readed at boot time... or if readed is not used as a security check (otherway it should refuse a different hdd)

Im guessing maybe is used as some intermediate step at the time the firmware is installed, or is used for some special boot modes (like factory/service mode ?), or is something that was used for NAND initially but was "nerfed" for PS3 models with NOR flash
So it can be problematic to have an incorrect hdd info inside CELL_EXTNOR_AREA just incase the PS3 does some abnormal boot, or after recovering from a error, or at the time of hdd backuping/restoring, or dunno

This thread is interesting, i was not aware you could swap hdds in PS3 models with NOR that easilly

 

[sandungas]

How is that possible? My CECHL only tolerate one HDD assigned to the console. Putting any other end with format and putting the old one also forcing me to format.

Are you sure about that ?
It can be because the encryption layers (there are two applyed one over the other) of the hdd uses different encryption methods for PS3 fat and PS3 slim, look at the table here
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Talk:Harddrive

Also, for curiosity sake, the responsible of making that encryption/decryption is a subcircuit codenamed ENCDEC inside the southbridge (it makes "on the fly" crypto tasks for all the peripherals connected to the southbridge, such the hdd, bluray, wifi/BT, LAN, USB, etc..)
All the PS3 slims uses the same southbridge (CXD9963GB)... but is different in fats
http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Talk:SKU_Models

Maybe this is the reason why the hdd swap was not working for your CECHL.. and if this brainstorming im explaining is correct it seems is not going to work in any PS3 fat, it will only work in PS3 slim (and probably PS3 superslims too)

 

[sandungas]

Yeah I am fairly sure that NAND consoles will be different as xregistry will not be stored on the HDD.

Similar topic : Mentioned this before, but I would be interested in a CFW patch to make the HDD key/xreg hdd serial the same across all consoles for convenience.. I think the patch could be simple enough in theory (don't really have clue, just seems easy to replace complicated key with all zeros or something ) , but drawbacks would be anyone who installed that patched CFW would have to format drive once..so..will probably never happen.

Adittionally to that... if someone finds a way to "disable" that encryption layers over the hdd data i mentioned... i will be very happy to format the hdd and start from scratch XD
Transfering files from a hdd to another sucks... but removing that paranoid security checks could be a bless, are the kind of useless "features" we dont need

 

[playerkp420]

Well I just tried on a NAND model (CECHA01) that had an upgraded WD Scorpio Black 320GB HDD. It is on REBUG 4.82.1 LITE, that was installed after using ps3exploit v2.0 last night.

I swapped it for a Seagate 60GB I had lying around from an old PS3. It formatted the 60GB like expected, and I installed a few apps.

Then I replaced the 320GB HDD and it booted fine, and never asked to format or anything. Shut it down and put the 60GB in again, and still no formatting prompts.

Made some dumps before and after with rebug toolbox to investigate. I backed up xregistry.sys after it formatted the 60GB. Forgot to do it before, but think I should be able to find it in the NAND dump I have from before the swap.

UPDATE = So this is interesting. In the pic below, the top xregistry was backed up after the 60GB was formatted. The bottom xregistry was backed up after putting the 320GB back in, and it never was formatted.

UPDATE 2 = So I tossed in another old PS3 HDD, a Hitachi 40GB. After formatting xregistry shows "ƒ—.=.Hitachi HTS541640J9SA00 SB2A82SKDRRLGH"
I put the 320GB back in and... yep you guessed it. No format and shows
" îM.=.WDC WD3200BEKT-00F3T0 WD-WXE0A9915448"

Now I have three HDDs married to this PS3 and all work fine. I am convinced that I can marry as many HDDs as I want. At least to this launch model phat, and my 25k slim. I didn't try OFW on this phat, but I know it works on my slim. Was even able to boot with OFW HDD while CFW was on the NOR Flash. Has to be same version though. Those that are saying they need to format, is most likely not. If I were to update, the other 2 HDDs will probably prompt to format, maybe just recovery screen to reinstall, or even soft brick.

 

[kozarovv]

Well I just tried on a NAND model (CECHA01) that had an upgraded WD Scorpio Black 320GB HDD. It is on REBUG 4.82.1 LITE, that was installed after using ps3exploit v2.0 last night.

I swapped it for a Seagate 60GB I had lying around from an old PS3. It formatted the 60GB like expected, and I installed a few apps.

Then I replaced the 320GB HDD and it booted fine, and never asked to format or anything. Shut it down and put the 60GB in again, and still no formatting prompts.

Made some dumps before and after with rebug toolbox to investigate. I backed up xregistry.sys after it formatted the 60GB. Forgot to do it before, but think I should be able to find it in the NAND dump I have from before the swap.

UPDATE = So this is interesting. In the pic below, the top xregistry was backed up after the 60GB was formatted. The bottom xregistry was backed up after putting the 320GB back in, and it never was formatted.

UPDATE 2 = So I tossed in another old PS3 HDD, a Hitachi 40GB. After formatting xregistry shows "ƒ—.=.Hitachi HTS541640J9SA00 SB2A82SKDRRLGH"
I put the 320GB back in and... yep you guessed it. No format and shows
" îM.=.WDC WD3200BEKT-00F3T0 WD-WXE0A9915448"

Now I have three HDDs married to this PS3 and all work fine. I am convinced that I can marry as many HDDs as I want. At least to this launch model phat, and my 25k slim. I didn't try OFW on this phat, but I know it works on my slim. Was even able to boot with OFW HDD while CFW was on the NOR Flash. Has to be same version though. Those that are saying they need to format, is most likely not. If I were to update, the other 2 HDDs will probably prompt to format, maybe just recovery screen to reinstall, or even soft brick.

Very interesting find!

0x13F9F - 013FA0 = Original hard disc flag? I mean since update firmware, or something like that?

 

[sandungas]

Now I have three HDDs married to this PS3 and all work fine. I am convinced that I can marry as many HDDs as I want. At least to this launch model phat, and my 25k slim. I didn't try OFW on this phat, but I know it works on my slim. Was even able to boot with OFW HDD while CFW was on the NOR Flash. Has to be same version though.

Thanks for the test, is good to know, it can be usefull to have several hdds for games, or for betatesting apps or experiments that could freeze or crash the PS3 (i hate when the hdd does that "click" noise when cutting power in some crashes, this could damage the hdd)

Very interesting find!

0x13F9F - 013FA0 = Original hard disc flag? I mean since update firmware, or something like that?

Most probably it belongs to the xregistry.sys file structure... that first bytes (from 0x13F99 up to 0x13FA4) could be used to "link" that entry to his "owner" or something like that (in the file structure hierarchy)
In that example in 0x13FA4 is where starts the hdd info itself

 

[Berion]

@sandungas I have only test this once, on CECHL04 (so it is NOR) with some early Rebug 4.xx as I remember (4.21 maybe? right after I back from DEX to CEX because keys leaked and CEX CFW 4.xx start appearing). I was put another empty HDD, PS3 force me to format it, then I put back my old HDD and PS3 also ask me to format it (fw was the same and of course non of the sectors are modified). However, I'm the one with a console which no longer can install fw from recovery level (I didn't try FSM and I truly lost interest of solving this problem ;p). And on top of that, my PS3 not encrypting all sectors of the HDD (but I'm not sure if this this is normal but my first sectors is unencrypted, yet still ps3 hdd reader reading it so I dunno; @zecoxao said is not normal and not possible ;p). I don't know if this is anyhow important but I mention about this just in case.

Disabling HDD encryption could be very troubled as it involve ERK. I remember that Glevand try it and end with some serious issues (can't remember the details).

About xregistry.sys: I found that CellOS is very tolerant for that file. I.e I can copy that file from CECHL04 to CECH-2504 and after that, in first boot I have got some error message (can't remember what exactly but it's white letters on black bg, not the service one on blue bg) and after reset everything important are keep (debug settings and what was important for me NP Account IDs for both accounts to avoid resigning saves and trophies).