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anyone know how to access files on a dead PS3's HDD?

post #1 of 23
9/6/08 at 12:55pm
Thread Starter 
my ps3 died, flashing the yellow and red light of death,i'd like to know if there are anyway of accessing the HDD so i can pull out my personal files on there b4 sending it in for repair?
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post #2 of 23
9/6/08 at 2:01pm
Edit: Oops nevermind.
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post #3 of 23
9/6/08 at 2:18pm
only if it's in a format your PC can read.

and it's not.
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post #4 of 23
9/6/08 at 2:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by steven975 View Post

only if it's in a format your PC can read.

and it's not.

This.
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post #5 of 23
9/6/08 at 3:13pm
in other words, the data is gone. Even a new PS3 won't read the drive as I believe it is encrypted and a unique ID on the formatting machine is the key.
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post #6 of 23
9/6/08 at 8:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by steven975 View Post

in other words, the data is gone. Even a new PS3 won't read the drive as I believe it is encrypted and a unique ID on the formatting machine is the key.

what you mean the data is gone?

how do you access the PS3's HDD data from a pc?
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post #7 of 23
9/6/08 at 9:06pm
You don't.

Sony doesn't want you to be able to access the data from a PC. If you plug the drive into a PC, it'll see it, but it won't be in My Computer (in windows) unless it is a format that the PC will understand. The PS3 hard drive is not, thus you can't access it.

The EXTERNAL drives connected to a PS3 are FAT32 formatted, which a PS3 or PC can read. The internal drive is not, however.
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post #8 of 23
9/6/08 at 9:54pm
That sucks man. My ps3 recently died, but I was lucky enough to get all of my saves. It was doing the flashing red light, which I think was attributed to the fan dying. So I placed a high powered fan behind the ps3, which allowed it to stay on for a few minutes in the xmb, and was able to get all my saves onto a thumb drive.
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post #9 of 23
9/6/08 at 10:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by steven975 View Post

You don't.

Sony doesn't want you to be able to access the data from a PC. If you plug the drive into a PC, it'll see it, but it won't be in My Computer (in windows) unless it is a format that the PC will understand. The PS3 hard drive is not, thus you can't access it.

The EXTERNAL drives connected to a PS3 are FAT32 formatted, which a PS3 or PC can read. The internal drive is not, however.

i understand that the ps3 hd and the pc aren't compatible.

im just asking if there s a way to get back into my ps3 HDD, connect to pc or not and to put out my personal pictures, log out my PSN ID so the individual thats fixing my ps3 wont't be able to read all my private messages, or log into my psn and steal my credit card number etc..
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post #10 of 23
9/6/08 at 11:05pm
maybe put your drive into a working ps3 and see if you can access it there? if so, grab usb hdd and backup all your important files. if not, maybe ask sony customer support what to do.
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post #11 of 23
9/6/08 at 11:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nagus69 View Post

maybe put your drive into a working ps3 and see if you can access it there? if so, grab usb hdd and backup all your important files. if not, maybe ask sony customer support what to do.

This will not work. When the PS3 powers on with a HDD from a different PS3, it is able to detect this and wont boot up without formatting the HDD.
This prevents the selling/trading of pre loaded HDDs.
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post #12 of 23
9/7/08 at 2:25am
A disk image app may be able to make a 100% backup of the drive, after which you coudl format it and sen off for reapir. Once repaired restore the image, boot the PS3 (presuming you get your exact one back again).

Quote:
log out my PSN ID so the individual thats fixing my ps3 won't be able to read all my private messages, or log into my psn and steal my credit card number etc..

Pretty sure the PSN ID data is in flash memory so your ****ed there even if you do have access to the HDD. Try logging into the PSN via the web on a PC and see if you can modify your details there.
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post #13 of 23
9/7/08 at 6:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gooki View Post

A disk image app may be able to make a 100% backup of the drive, after which you coudl format it and sen off for reapir. Once repaired restore the image, boot the PS3 (presuming you get your exact one back again).

That would only work if they send your original PS3 back to you. And, actually, I'm not certain it would even work then.
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post #14 of 23
9/7/08 at 7:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shape View Post

That would only work if they send your original PS3 back to you. And, actually, I'm not certain it would even work then.

I think it would, since it's still linked to your system ID#, but they won't send your original PS3 back to you. Believe me, I tried
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post #15 of 23
9/7/08 at 8:53am
A lot of imaging apps won't clone a disc if the format isn't understood. Ghost won't.
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post #16 of 23
9/7/08 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gooki View Post

A disk image app may be able to make a 100% backup of the drive, after which you coudl format it and sen off for reapir. Once repaired restore the image, boot the PS3 (presuming you get your exact one back again).



Pretty sure the PSN ID data is in flash memory so your ****ed there even if you do have access to the HDD. Try logging into the PSN via the web on a PC and see if you can modify your details there.


what flash memory? you're saying the psn id is not store on the hdd?

how do i log into my psn id on the web?
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post #17 of 23
9/7/08 at 12:40pm
Go to us.playstation.com. You should be able to link your PSN ID to your account on Playstation website and manage your PSN ID account that way.

I think the what is stored on the HDD is the MAC address of your PS3, I could be mistaken though.
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post #18 of 23
9/7/08 at 1:33pm
Quote:


what flash memory? you're saying the psn id is not store on the hdd?

Correct. I put in a brand new hdd, and all my PSN IDs were there before I'd done the restore, so I'd have to presume some of the ID data is stored in flash memory.
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post #19 of 23
9/7/08 at 2:00pm
The whole PS3 filesystem is encrypted. The decryption key is stored inside the PS3 itself. Only the PS3 that formatted the disk originally can decrypt the disk. Other than that, you're out of luck. If the PS3 is dead, and you don't know if you will get the same one back from Sony, chances are that any image backup of the file system done with a PC is worthless.
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post #20 of 23
9/8/08 at 8:34am
I'm wondering how many times you guys have to say "you don't"

Send it off for repair, it's the only option.
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post #21 of 23
9/8/08 at 10:17am
sony does provide a backup option. I suppose this is a hard lesson learned for the OP.
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post #22 of 23
11/19/12 at 6:52pm
connect it to a pc..asign it a drive letter but DO NOT format.
use a program like kroll ontrack that can recover raw. takes about 1 1/2 hours
recover file to a flash drive.

thats as far as i gotten so far...let u know if it works.
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post #23 of 23
11/28/12 at 11:05pm
You could do what I did. Reflow the machine to get it working long enough to pull lost files from. Then send it in for a more legitimate repair (or buy a new machine like I did).
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