PS3 HDD Reader final for Windows by picard(aka 3141card) ******************************************************************************************* * * * Never forget!!! * * * * If you connect a PS3 HDD to your Windows computer, * * windows will ask you whether the HDD should be initialized. * * * * Refuse that!!! * * * * Or initialization will damage your PS3 HDD. Neither the PS3 HDD Reader * * nor your PS3 will be able to read the HDD afterwards. * * * ******************************************************************************************* The program must be run as an administrator, otherwise there will be no raw access to HDDs. The main purpose of this program is data recovery. Since the HDD of a PS3 is encrypted, the program needs the "eid_root_key" of your PS3. This "eid_root_key" can only be dumped on a PS3 with custom firmware. Use google to find out how to get your "eid_root_key". Your "eid_root_key" must be in the program folder. All folders / files you dump will be copied into the program folder. Make sure you have enough free space on your hard drive. Open a command prompt as administrator and "cd" to the program folder. Run: ps3_hdd_reader.exe hdd If everything is OK, a list of available partitions is displayed. The second argument "hdd" indicates that we are using a PS3 HDD. If you have a dump of a PS3 HDD, place the file in the program folder, rename the dump file to "backup.bin" and use "file" instead of "hdd". As an example, the output for my PS3 Slim HDD is: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- available volumes are... dev_hdd0 dev_hdd1 dev_flash dev_flash2 dev_flash3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "dev_hdd0" is the gameOS partition. To see the contents of a partition, use the "dir" or "ls" command. Run: ps3_hdd_reader.exe hdd dev_hdd0 dir / to see the the contents of gameOS root. The output for my PS3 Slim HDD is: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume is ps3_hdd dev_hdd0 Directory of dev_hdd0// 02.08.2021 05:52 <DIR> . 02.08.2021 05:52 <DIR> .. 01.21.2018 15:24 <DIR> GAMES 01.21.2018 15:24 <DIR> PKG 01.21.2018 14:59 <DIR> crash_report 11.23.2016 01:10 <DIR> data 11.27.2020 17:49 <DIR> drm 04.26.2020 23:06 <DIR> game 11.19.2012 09:58 <DIR> game_debug 01.21.2018 14:34 <DIR> home 01.21.2018 14:59 <DIR> mms 01.21.2018 15:24 <DIR> packages 03.05.2014 13:34 <DIR> savedata 02.08.2021 05:50 <DIR> tmp 05.17.2018 16:34 <DIR> updater 04.26.2020 23:05 <DIR> vm 08.31.2013 19:58 <DIR> vsh 0 File(s), 0 bytes 17 Dir(s), 291.424.550.912 bytes free ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the content of my gameOS partition. Use the arrow keys up/down to get the last command and expand the path to see the contents of a folder. Run: ps3_hdd_reader.exe hdd dev_hdd0 dir /home The output for my home folder is: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume is ps3_hdd dev_hdd0 Directory of dev_hdd0//home/ 01.21.2018 14:34 <DIR> . 02.08.2021 05:52 <DIR> .. 05.10.2020 02:55 <DIR> 00000001 0 File(s), 0 bytes 3 Dir(s), 291.424.550.912 bytes free ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is how you navigate through your fs. If you want to copy something from the PS3 HDD to your PC, use the "copy" or "cp" command. As an example I copy the PS2 emulator folder from the "dev_flash" partition. I run: ps3_hdd_reader.exe hdd dev_flash copy /ps2emu and thats my output. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- copy -> /ps2emu/ps2_emu.self copy -> /ps2emu/ps2_gxemu.self copy -> /ps2emu/ps2_netemu.self (100%) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The folder "ps2emu" with the three ps2 emulators is now in my program folder. This way you can dump all files from the available partitions. Notice: If the PS3 HDD is damaged, there is no guarantee that the PS3 HDD Reader will work or that all files will be dumped without errors. If my program could help you to save important data, I would be very happy about a donation :) https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/3141card picard (aka 3141card)