[PS3]PS3 HDD Analysis

[F9zDark]

HanSooloo has shared some interesting results from a preliminary HDD analysis…

1. The HDD is encrypted with a (most probably) Sony proprietary format.
2. If Linux is setup on the machine, the HDD will contain the relevant ext2 or ext3 partitions, but it will NOT be visible to a regular OS. This is because, the HDD does NOT have a standard partition table. If one uses WinHex to scan the HDD, then the program will find the ext2/ext3/swap partitions at their respective offsets.
3. A program has been written to scan blocks of 16bytes for where contiguous data is on the HDD. This program has identified major blocks of data on a freshly formatted 60GB HDD.
4. Of major interest is that right around the 380MB marker, we start seeing blocks of 64KB data, and this repeats itself EVERY 183.72MBs. Why does a system need 64KB worth of markers every so often, is a mystery at the moment.
5. Each HDD is "individualized" the moment it is formatted on a particular PS3 unit. An individualized HDD CANNOT be used in another PS3 unit due to (in theory) a unit based signature being written to each HDD.
6. A project is underway to "individualize" 2 same make and model (Seagate Momentus 60GB 2.5" SATA) HDDs and perform a byte level diff to spot differences in the disk layouts.
7. This diff will also be analyzed by the data block scanning program mentioned in Item-3 above.

I wonder… Will the long overdue ISO loader be able to play backed up images off the HDD? Hrm…


Poster's Notes:

It doesn't surprise me that Sony would have encrypted the PS3 partition of the hard-drive, making it somewhat tamper resistant. However this encryption does seem to have some implications with 3rd party developers.

For instance, there are so far, two game companies (that I know) developing titles for the PS3 that seem to believe that downloadable content may not be possible for it. While its strange to hear of that, considering other companies have released updates and content for games on PS3, its also something to be concerned with.

Does this belief that downloadable content for PS3 is not possible stem from the strange encryption encountered on the PS3 partition of the HDD? Is it due to the fact that these companies are unwilling to research and develop a content delivery method that would accommodate the PS3?

One of the companies I know to have said this is Bethesda, the makers of Oblivion. They have 3 platforms for which Oblivion is home to: PC, Xbox360 and PS3. The ease of installation of mods on PC is nothing short of spectacular; however, the official mods are not unified; one must download the mod for PC AND for the Xbox360 if they wish to have the same features in both copies of the game.

Having to also accommodate the PS3 may not be something that Bethesda is interested in, especially if they need to 'start from scratch' with every mod they want to make on the PS3.

What are your thoughts?

[ElRazur]

My thought is this - why do the likes of you (not OP) sit down and try to undo someone's handiwork? What do you benefit from hacking every console and talking about it on the net? I feel it is totally unecessary period. I hope sony catch people like you and throw the book at you.

[F9zDark]

The thing of it is, without hackers we wouldn't have the homebrew scene (for any consoles). I don't know if you own a PSP ElRazur, but homebrew is what kept the PSP alive for me.

Hacking the encryption behind the PS3 partition will open the drive for other uses. Aside from the practicality of the issue, essentially what happens to the PS3 drive is that it becomes useless in non-PS3 systems. If the encryption is cracked this is no longer the case.

Now, granted other things can come out of it that aren't beneficial, game hackers for instance can hack saved data or update data possibly leading to a cheat.

But there are also some benefits: some games may be able to make use of mods. Oblivion for instance, has an absolutely HUGE 3rd party mod community for the PC version. Imagine if this hack lead to getting 3rd party mods loaded onto the PS3? Oblivion's success on PS3 would be astronomical and it would prolong the life of the game by at least 3 years.

[hockey2112]

My thought is this - why do the likes of you (not OP) sit down and try to undo someone's handiwork? What do you benefit from hacking every console and talking about it on the net? I feel it is totally unecessary period. I hope sony catch people like you and throw the book at you.

Why are you on this board, then?

[ElRazur]

F9zDark
I see what you mean and to some extent do agree with you. The problem however is the fact that more of the "evil sides" of such creation are exploited and in the long run propably costing someone money along the line (e.g programmers, publishers etc)
I do own a psp and i havent had a thought of hacking since i had mine (a month after release). I aint to fussy about such things, as i would gladly pay for a game on the psp.
Having said that, i once made a thread asking how to hack the ps3 so that it can play pal ps2 games (mine is an import!) So on that count maybe i am guilty too.

hockey2112
I come here mostyl to read about ps3 news. Also, i am an avid gamer like most in here.

[F9zDark]

To be honest, I was extremely pissed when Paradox came out and said they have an ISO loader in the works. Because frankly, it bothered me that such was all they could come up with when they began hacking the PS3.

However, I believe this HDD hacking will have more benefits than detriments. But only time will tell.

On a tangent, whats your PSN id and what games do you play? Mine is F9zDark.

[ElRazur]

Im ElRazur. I have F1-CE and RR7. I used to have Rfom but i finished it and gave it away.

[hockey2112]

hockey2112
I come here mostyl to read about ps3 news. Also, i am an avid gamer like most in here.

Fair enough, and we welcome you. Just keep in mind that this is the DCEmu forum: "The Homebrew & Gaming Network". ;)