PS3 Will missing game files affect manually restoring to new SSD/HDD?

[thesandalguy]

So as I've previously posted, my HDD is starting to show signs of failure after updating to HFW 4.91 and I want to replace the drive.
Backup Utility is failing, thus I have resorted to a manual HDD restore.
Someone said that all I need to backup is dev_hdd0 and dev_flash2, which I have gone ahead and done, along with the IDPS, PSID, and NOR.

However, the following files are corrupted:

dev_hdd0\hen\xml\hen_enable.xml

and some folders in:
dev_hdd0\game\NPUB30609

The aforementioned NPUB30609 (MGS2HD) literally has the entire game portion of it just gone. The only files that are in it is the main game metadata that you'd see on the XMB and the folder USRDIR, which has a subfolder MGS2, which is empty. The rest folders are, well, gone. I couldn't see exactly which folder was having an issue, all I know is that the copy process would abort on this specific game.

The following error would be thrown when copying the hen_enable.xml file or when I tried to copy NPUB30609 (in mmCM):

"Operation failed or canceled."



Sorry for the whole backstory (just in case those details were necessary or have some peculiarity of their own which I should know about), so here are my main questions,

1. Would restoring this backup with the empty NPUB30609 folder cause any problems with rebuilding the database and all? From what I know the PS3 was a little.. unique with how it handled hard drive stuff, so I just wanted to make sure that this wouldn't affect anything? (I plan to delete it after rebuilding the database on the new drive)


2. Is this order correct (for manual HDD restore)?

- dump dev_hdd0 and dev_flash2
- swap to new drive
- install hfw 4.91 and setup a dummy user (no activating the PS3)
- install hen and multiMAN
- restore xRegistry.sys (can xRegistry.sys be restored on PS3HEN with mmCM or no...?) and most folders from dev_hdd0 (be careful not to paste over game and hen and work on those individually)
- turn off and go straight into restore mode and rebuild the database
- reboot
- profit

EDIT: I've seen someone using this thing called xRegistry injector, does it still work and if so, should I use it then go into mmCM and do the hdd0 restore after reboot, then rebuild database?

Apologies for all the questions, I just dont know where to start with this stuff

 

[NiQ]

Sounds like bad sectors, and indeed it would be a wise idea to restore the
Don't worry about hen_enabled.txt, it gets created automatically when you install HEN. Regarding MGS2, if the directories are empty there's no point in restoring them at all. It also doesn't contain anything you can't redownload - it's the game itself in the case of a digital release, which you can redownload from the PS3 store at no additional cost, and in the case of a physical (disc) release it's the game updates and DLCs, which you can also just redownload. The important stuff, such as game saves, is located in /dev_hdd0/home.

I assume your system is not CFW compatible if you use HEN? If you were on CFW you could backup the ERK, making it possible to read files off the drive on your computer. Note that even if it's a CFW compatible model it would not be wise to flash new firmware at this point.
You can still create a 1:1 copy of the HDD on your computer without decrypting it, though, using the Linux ddrescue utility. It will copy anything that's still readable and you can just create an identical copy of the HDD (minus the unreadable sectors), saving you the need of messing with anything - but note that this is only possible if the new HDD is exactly the same size as the old one (due to it being encrypted you can't resize partitions, so if it's smaller the image won't fit and if it's bigger you'd be wasting the extra space).

You should be careful with xRegistry.sys, especially on NAND models (fat CECHA/B/C/E/G), where a damaged xRegistry.sys can permanently brick your PS3. If you have a NOR model (everything other than the above models) a damaged xRegistry.sys would typically just force you to reformat the HDD so it's not as bad.

 

[Berion]

If HDD is untrusted, backup everything You can but do NOT restore everything. Focus on data which cannot be recreated like saves and trophies plus of course registry file (even if damaged, PS3 will recover from it user ids etc.).

BTW: You don't need everything from dev_hdd0 either:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ultimate-userdata-backup-guide.29037/

I'm not familiar with HEN, so I dunno if allows to mount dev_flashes as -rw. If yes, then You can do that from FTP or file manager level.

Order is fine, yet You forgot about database rebuilding after data restored and rebooted once. Without it, no contents in XMB will be visible


@NiQ The same size or larger. Doesn't need to be exact size.

Where did You read that damaged xRegistry.sys will cause on NAND models a perm brick? I tested broken from CellOS perspective registry file on NOR and he will BSODed but on next reboot accept it.

 

[NiQ]

If HDD is untrusted, backup everything You can but do NOT restore everything. Focus on data which cannot be recreated like saves and trophies plus of course registry file (even if damaged, PS3 will recover from it user ids etc.).

BTW: You don't need everything from dev_hdd0 either:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ultimate-userdata-backup-guide.29037/

I'm not familiar with HEN, so I dunno if allows to mount dev_flashes as -rw. If yes, then You can do that from FTP or file manager level.

Order is fine, yet You forgot about database rebuilding after data restored and rebooted once. Without it, no contents in XMB will be visible


@NiQ The same size or larger. Doesn't need to be exact size.

Where did You read that damaged xRegistry.sys will cause on NAND models a perm brick? I tested broken from CellOS perspective registry file on NOR and he will BSODed but on next reboot accept it.

It could be larger - but then you're wasting the extra space. The PS3 will not resize the partitions for you.

 

[thesandalguy]

If HDD is untrusted, backup everything You can but do NOT restore everything. Focus on data which cannot be recreated like saves and trophies plus of course registry file (even if damaged, PS3 will recover from it user ids etc.).

BTW: You don't need everything from dev_hdd0 either:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ultimate-userdata-backup-guide.29037/

Okay, so it's probably a good thing that nothing in dev_hdd0\home\ is corrupted which keeps those things (nothing failed and files seem accessible just fine)

But on the other hand why shouldn't I restore everything? I wanted to back up the full dev_hdd0 so it would be like a one and done thing and stay the same as it was before (just without all the black screening and stuff)

I assume your system is not CFW compatible if you use HEN? If you were on CFW you could backup the ERK, making it possible to read files off the drive on your computer.

Yeah unfortunately I have a CECH2504B which doesn't seem to work with Evilnat but I haven't seen the other CFWs. Though I still like HEN and being able to just delete it if I ever wanted to. That comes at the risk of losing HDD access, which is why I backed it all up while I still could onto my USB drive.

Note that even if it's a CFW compatible model it would not be wise to flash new firmware at this point.

I don't intend on reflashing anything except for the xRegistry.sys which is fine since I could open it and look through it, and my XMB users don't seem to have any problems. I'm on a NOR by the way

You can still create a 1:1 copy of the HDD on your computer without decrypting it, though, using the Linux ddrescue utility. It will copy anything that's still readable and you can just create an identical copy of the HDD (minus the unreadable sectors), saving you the need of messing with anything - but note that this is only possible if the new HDD is exactly the same size as the old one (due to it being encrypted you can't resize partitions, so if it's smaller the image won't fit and if it's bigger you'd be wasting the extra space).

Yeah, the thing is I have a 300GB PS3 with a little more than 200GB free. So having to do a full HDD backup would take way too many resources, which I don't have. Hence why I did a HDD files backup to my USB because there's enough space.

Weirdly enough the contents of dev_hdd0 are only like 60 ish GB. Where could the other 40GB be?

You should be careful with xRegistry.sys, especially on NAND models (fat CECHA/B/C/E/G), where a damaged xRegistry.sys can permanently brick your PS3. If you have a NOR model (everything other than the above models) a damaged xRegistry.sys would typically just force you to reformat the HDD so it's not as bad.

A reformat seems pretty bad, so I don't think I have a damaged xRegistry seeing as the PS3 boots up and lets me use different users as of current and there doesn't seem to be any damaged data.

 

[Berion]

But on the other hand why shouldn't I restore everything?

Because drive is damaged, logic structure is corrupted, so none of these data is trustworthy. It is wise to restore only data which You cannot get from other way like eg. saves. Games and patches You can get again, and You will be sure they are fine (in Your backup, their status is unknown). Fact that You was able to copy file X or game Y starting, doesn't mean they aren't corrupted.

Yeah unfortunately I have a CECH2504B which doesn't seem to work with Evilnat but I haven't seen the other CFWs.

What CFW You can or cannot put on it doesn't matter. CFW or HEN depends if You have meta loader or have not (early 25xx has and those are compatible with CFW).

Weirdly enough the contents of dev_hdd0 are only like 60 ish GB. Where could the other 40GB be?

• GB vs GiB
• minus 2GiB for CACHE partition
• minus 256MiB for VFLASH partition
• minus 8% of total size of USERDATA partition.

@NiQ I know that. That's why we written Expander script. ;] But this doesn't violate what I said that user can use any size if it is equal or larger. I didn't say he will get back missing size on PS3.