PS3 [TUTORIAL] Unlock up to 8% extra total space on the PS3 internal hard drive

Update: picard (a.k.a. 3141card) has released a homebrew app (available here) that changes the reserved space from 8% to 1% automatically. Running the app again will revert the changes.

https://mega.nz/file/zdk1lKqZ#aj4WFdOeosH_ncIB5flNtUxPs341PSYaXdLF2DdA45A

PS3 Unlock HDD Space by picard (aka 3141card)
All credits to einsteinx2 on psx-place.com for his great tutorial:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/t...l-space-on-the-ps3-internal-hard-drive.20773/​

HOWTO:

• Install the package on your custom firmware PS3 and run it. It finds the active superblock of the gameOS partition and do the necessary patches. Usually 8 percent of the memory is reserved, the app sets this value to 1 percent.
  
• The optimization value is set to 1, for minimize disk fragmentation.
  
• The changes are permanent. The changed active superblock is written to the HDD with the system fs umount of the gameOS partition.
• Running the app again restores the original values, if desired.

You use this app at your own risk! I am not responsible for any damage caused to your PS3 system!​

If my PS3 app was useful to you, I would be very happy about a donation
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/3141card

picard (aka 3141card)

-- (Original Post Continued Below) --

Need some extra space on your internal PS3 HDD, if so then perhaps @einsteinx2 may have a genius method for unlocking upto 8% of space on your Internal HDD, while the space is more then likely allocated for performance reasons by Sony (use this guide at your own risk), some of this saved space could be considered overkill, as the creator of this method makes a valid point that some of this saved space on larger HDDs is more then some of the early model PS3 complete HDD size, so its likely some of that space allocation is a bit overkill on the part of Sony. einsteinx21 has provided a great tutorial found below explaining in detail about this recent discovery​

-STLcardsWS ​

Unlock up to 8% extra total space on the PS3 internal hard drive
​

About The How + Instructions Source Code Credits

• 
  The What
  
  By default, even on custom firmware, the PS3 reserves 8% of your total internal hard drive space. From my searching online, I don't believe anyone has ever successfully unlocked that wasted space, so I decided to give it a shot. Turns out not only is it possible, but it's relatively easy thanks to some existing tools created by the community. This guide will explain how to reclaim that wasted space by manually modifying the metadata of the UFS2 formatted GameOS partition using Linux, as well as the potential cons (primarily performance, though I haven't experienced any performance issues yet myself).
  
  I believe the pros outweigh the cons though, and have been using this now without issue on my personal PS3 with a 1.5TB drive for a few days now, installing tons of games without a hitch.
  
  The Why
  
  While external drives used with the PS3 are all FAT32 formatted (or NTFS if you have CFW), the GameOS partition on the internal hard drive is formatted using the UFS2 filesystem with a layer of encryption on top.
  
  Like other *nix file systems such as Ext2/3/4, UFS2 can reserve part of the drive's space to only be used by the system or the root user. This is to reduce fragmentation and also prevent the drive from completely filling up, possibly freezing the computer.
  
  By default, UFS2 reserves 8% of any drive's free space, in this case meaning it can't be used by the PS3 for installing games. This is why when you first install that shiny new 1.5TB hard drive you will see that not only is it only actually 1.36 TB because hard drive manufacturers really love counting in base 10, but you also lose another 111.4 GB.
  
  Now generally having this reserved space is not a bad thing, however the problem is that as drives grow larger, the amount of wasted space becomes larger than some of the smaller PS3's entire hard drives! Clearly that much isn't needed to prevent fragmentation.
  
  The tunefs documentation mentions that "the file system's ability to avoid fragmentation will be reduced when the total free space, including the reserve, drops below 15%. As free space approaches zero, throughput can degrade by up to a factor of three over the performance obtained at a 10% threshold." Note that these numbers are already higher than the 8% default that all UFS tools as well as Sony use. Also note that it says as free space drops to 0%, performance may be up to 3 times slower than normal. However, it's unclear whether that only affects newly written--presumably more fragmented files--or all files. It seems like this is a worthy tradeoff, especially since if you do notice any performance issues you can simply delete some games or other data to free up the space. By changing the minimum free space, performance is not changed at all unless you choose to fill the drive completely...but at least you can now make that choice.
  
  UFS2 supports two write optimization modes: time and space. Time optimization is the default--and is used by the PS3--and allows for faster writes at the expense of potentially higher fragmentation (though generally only as the drive reaches capacity). Since we're allowing ourselves to fill almost the entire drive, these instructions also change the optimization mode to space. That means that the filesystem will spend more time during writes to ensure the files are less fragmented, insinuating that it will shuffle blocks around to make contiguous space.
  
  The tunefs documentation says that "the file system can either try to minimize the time spent allocating blocks, or it can attempt to minimize the space fragmentation on the disk. Optimization for space has much higher overhead for file writes. The kernel normally changes the preference automatically as the percent fragmentation changes on the filesystem." However, since the PS3 uses a custom operating system and this documentation is from FreeBSD, I think it's best to manually set the space option anyway. I have not noticed any performance degradation so far since making this change, though I still have plenty of free space on my drive at the moment.
  
  Photos
  Here are the before and after photos. They were taken immediately before removing the drives and immediately after reinserting them.
  

  BEFORE	AFTER
  BEFORE	AFTER

• 
  
  The How
  
  While it's possible to mount a PS3 hard drive in Linux and view its decrypted partitions, unfortunately the tunefs.ufs tool doesn't appear to work. It always complains that it can't find the superblock. However, the file command does work fine to show the UFS2 filesystem info when tested on a dump of the start of the partition.
  
  So instead of using the tunefs utility to change the minimum free space and optimization type, I wrote a script to manually scan and test single byte changes to a dump of the partition's superblock using the file command until I found the correct locations to change.
  
  I tested this on 2 hard drives of vastly different sizes: 160 GB and 1.5 TB. On both drives, I found that the superblock was located in the same location--the standard 128 block aka 65,536 byte offset. I also found that the locations to set the minimum free space percentage and optimization type were in the same place on both drives--byte 65,599 and 65,667 respectively. However, I highly recommend running the find_ps3_ufs2_byte_locations script anyway just to confirm before making any changes to your drive.
  
  Once you know the correct offsets, changing the values is simple. To adjust the minimum free space, simply write the percent in hex to byte 65,599--e.g. for 1% free space write 0x01 or for the default 8% write 0x08. To change the optimization type, write a hex 0x01 to byte 65,667--the default is 0x00 for time optimization.
  
  I think this should be possible to do as a PS3 homebrew app so that it can just be done directly on the device without even removing the drive. Unfortunately I have zero experience with writing PS3 homebrew, but maybe someone else with more experience can use this information to do it. I'd love to see this as an option in the REBUG custom firmware settings.
  
  Instructions
  
  
  1. Dump your eid root key using IrisMan/MultiMan/etc
  2. Setup a computer or virtual machine with Ubuntu 16.04. The rest of these steps are done on that machine. I tested using Parallels on a MacBook Pro, but it should work on just about anything as well as other distros.
  3. Clone my repository: git clone https://github.com/einsteinx2/PS3-Reclaim-HDD-Space.git
  4. Change to the new directory as we'll do all of the work there: cd PS3-Reclaim-HDD-Space
  5. Rename your eid root key file to eid_root_key.bin and place it in the PS3-Reclaim-HDD-Space directory
  6. Generate your hdd keys: ./ps3hdd_keygen.sh
  7. Become root since most of this requires it: sudo -s
  8. Find the device name: fdisk -l (In my case, using an external USB enclosure, it was /dev/sdb)
  9. Make virtual byte swapped encrypted device
     1. If you have a drive 1TB or less (not confirmed the exact limit): ./makedev bswap16.512 /dev/sdb
     2. If you have a drive larger than 1TB (or maybe it's 1TB and larger, I don't have a 1TB drive to test): ./makedev bswap16.1024 /dev/sdb
  10. Create decrypted device: cryptsetup create -c aes-xts-plain64 -d ./hdd_key.bin -s 256 ps3hdd_crypt /dev/nbd0
  11. Map decrypted partitions: ./kpartx -a /dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt
  12. View decrypted partitions (ps3hdd_crypt2 is the UFS2 GameOS partition): ls -la /dev/mapper/
  13. View current free space: [ -d /mnt/PS3GameOS ] || mkdir /mnt/PS3GameOS && mount -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2,ro /dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt2 /mnt/PS3GameOS && df -h | grep "Avail\|ps3hdd_crypt2" && umount /mnt/PS3GameOS
  14. Dump the superblock of the GameOS partition: dd if=/dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt2 bs=512 count=256 of=GameOS_superblock.img
  15. Confirm the seek values for the next 2 commands: ./find_ps3_ufs2_byte_locations GameOS_superblock.img
  16. Set minimum free space to 1%: printf '\x01' | dd of=/dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt2 bs=1 seek=65599 count=1 conv=notrunc
  17. Set optimization type to "space": printf '\x01' | dd of=/dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt2 bs=1 seek=65667 count=1 conv=notrunc
  18. View the now larger free space: mount -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2,ro /dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt2 /mnt/PS3GameOS && df -h | grep "Avail\|ps3hdd_crypt2 && umount /mnt/PS3GameOS
  19. Disconnect device: kpartx -d /dev/mapper/ps3hdd_crypt && cryptsetup remove ps3hdd_crypt && ./stop-nbd0
  20. Pop the drive back in your PS3 and enjoy the extra space! Note that I left 1% reserved space rather than going all the way to 0% to ensure that the drive never completely fills up, as I'm unsure what problems that would cause for the PS3's operating system.
• 
  Source code
  
  For ease of use, this repo contains precompiled binaries for Ubuntu 16.04 64bit. If you need or prefer to compile yourself, here are the tools used:
  
  bswap16: https://github.com/sguerrini97/nbdcpp (note that for >1TB drives you must change <unsigned BS=512> to <unsigned BS=1024>)
  
  kpartx: https://git.opensvc.com/multipath-tools/.git/
  
  ps3hdd_keygen.sh: http://www.psx-place.com/threads/hdd-keys-generating-scripts.10610/page-2#post-125197
  
  
• 
  Credits
  
  I would never have figured this out if it weren't for others' hard work.
  
  Huge thanks to Berion at PSX-Place for the hdd key generation script as well as pointing me to the information on mounting a PS3 HDD in Linux. His post here contains the script and the link: http://www.psx-place.com/threads/hdd-keys-generating-scripts.10610/page-2#post-125197
  
  Huge thanks to sguerrini97 at Playstation Hax for implemnenting PS3 hard drive mounting support for modern Linux kernels. Here's the post about it: https://playstationhax.xyz/forums/topic/4671-mounting-ps3-hdd-on-newer-linux-kernels and the GitHub repo: https://github.com/sguerrini97/nbdcpp.
  
  Thanks to dsroche for writing the original nbdcpp implementation that sguerrini97 forked, and thanks to Glevand for the original work on mounting the PS3 hard drive in OtherOS and for the great information here on the PS3 dev wiki: http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Mounting_HDD_on_PC. Also thanks to anyone else that worked on PS3 hard drive mounting or anything else I'm not aware of.
  

​

 

@oppala Application have no GUI (if You talking about Unlock HDD app). It doing his job and returning to XMB.

 

Thanks



I know this can definitely be done from OtherOS Linux, as there are tools for mounting the drive in a similar way, so I don't see why it couldn't be done from within CFW. I like trying out new development environments, so unless someone ends up doing it first, when I have a spare minute soon I'll get a PS3 homebrew build environment set up and try and see if I can get something together. Since the drive is already mounted, the only part I'll need to focus on will be writing the correct bytes, but without having the standard linux tools I'll have to see how simple it is.

Is it possible to defragment the ps3 drive

 

@salazar07 It is possible on PS3 but nobody writen such application yet. On PC only via Linux (due to decryption needed on the fly) and via FreeBSD 6.0 on VM with exposed decrypted mapper as device for it. But still, it is not safe. UFS type used by PS3 on UserData partition is not exactly the same as on any known to us BSD flavor.

 

So i install the unlock hdd pkg and after i start the pkg it showed that there's no more than 500mb space storage and then i tried to uninstall game data etc and it didn't work still shows that i have 0 storage is there any solution that can help me im using hen

 

@oppala Application have no GUI (if You talking about Unlock HDD app). It doing his job and returning to XMB.

How long does the screen stay black? I have a 2TB drive, capped at 1.5TB, with PS3HEN on a Super Slim. Currently, I've been waiting about an hour on the black screen. The controller and power don't respond, and it doesn't seem to be doing anything. A progress bar or some indication would help confirm if it's still working, but I don't want to cut the power if it's actually resizing.
I couldn't find any information online or in videos about how long this process takes. Is this normal, or does it seem like something's wrong?

 

How long does the screen stay black? I have a 2TB drive, capped at 1.5TB, with PS3HEN on a Super Slim. Currently, I've been waiting about an hour on the black screen. The controller and power don't respond, and it doesn't seem to be doing anything. A progress bar or some indication would help confirm if it's still working, but I don't want to cut the power if it's actually resizing.
I couldn't find any information online or in videos about how long this process takes. Is this normal, or does it seem like something's wrong?

The PS3 has issues with HDDs above 1TB.

 

The PS3 has issues with HDDs above 1TB.

Not answering my question. How long should the procedure take?

 

hdds up to 1.5TB are possible, but it's really hit and miss with more misses. I think there are usually problems if you have to rebuild the database too. you're essentially trying to increase that number by unlocking hdd space. while the hdd may work (thus far) fine on its own, I wouldn't try this method on an already-maxed-out-space-wise hdd.

 

Not answering my question. How long should the procedure take?

sorry for the double-post, but this post just appeared... anyway, I'd say a "reasonable amount of time," which isn't much of an answer, but I think it would be obvious that something has gone wrong if nothing's happened after like a few minutes.

 

hdds up to 1.5TB are possible, but it's really hit and miss with more misses. I think there are usually problems if you have to rebuild the database too. you're essentially trying to increase that number by unlocking hdd space. while the hdd may work (thus far) fine on its own, I wouldn't try this method on an already-maxed-out-space-wise hdd.

Thanks, I have come to the same conclusion, this might be an issue. That helps. I have removed the app. I have in the mean time cut the power, PS3 still works fine, just can't make use of the app because hard drive is basically maxed out.

 

Not answering my question. How long should the procedure take?

Actually, that's the answer to your issue. Your HDD is not fully compatible with the PS3, and any operation done on the HDD will probably fail (as is your case). The PS3's OS is not able to handle partition tables over 1TB, with 1.5TB having lots of issues.

Here is an article on the dev wiki: https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Harddrive#Internal_Harddrive_maximum_capacity

It's a hit or miss, as @Charles_n_town pointed out.

 

Thanks, I have come to the same conclusion, this might be an issue. That helps. I have removed the app. I have in the mean time cut the power, PS3 still works fine, just can't make use of the app because hard drive is basically maxed out.

just be glad the hdd is working. hdds above 1TB are dubious at best. 1TB - almost all work, but above that, you can never really tell. you've shrunk the hdd, which is good, because I've never heard of a 2TB hdd working. if you want more space, you could try game data tool, but it's also hit and miss for the most part. it allows you to install packages to an external hdd, but the hdd must be in fat32 format, and not all games work. it's best to install to internal first, then copy, because installing a package is slow as hell to an external hdd directly (we're talking over an hour in a lot of cases).

edit: you can also extract the packages on your pc, then transfer them to the gamei folder on external. I can't recall if it's all caps, because the ps3 is case-sensitive. anyway, then, make a package of just the param.sfo, and install it. the full game will work then. it's much quicker probably.

edit 2: btw, you can mass or batch do this with robocopy iirc. you can have it just transfer over the param.sfo, then build packages from them. robocopy is a built in tool for terminal in windows.

edit 3: I forgot the command, but here it is:

pinky has it in his first tutorial, because iirc, this was to save a catastrophic issue with rebuilding the database, which will erase your external games unless there's a PARAM.SFO on the internal hdd, so keep them there.

edit 4: okay, here it is:
robocopy [source folder] [destination folder] PARAM.SFO /E

iirc, the /E will recreate the directory structure, and only copy over the PARAM.SFO, so do this on your pc, then ftp the destination folders to dev_hdd0/game , rebuild database. you're done.

 

just be glad the hdd is working. hdds above 1TB are dubious at best. 1TB - almost all work, but above that, you can never really tell. you've shrunk the hdd, which is good, because I've never heard of a 2TB hdd working. if you want more space, you could try game data tool, but it's also hit and miss for the most part. it allows you to install packages to an external hdd, but the hdd must be in fat32 format, and not all games work. it's best to install to internal first, then copy, because installing a package is slow as hell to an external hdd directly (we're talking over an hour in a lot of cases).

Yeah, I kept reading everywhere on the internet, that you could use 2TB drives on the PS3, that's why I just bought one, only to realize people were talking bullshit and I was glad I found a method to make it work, at least partially. It's OK if there might be issues every now and then, I bought a second PS3 just to mess around with, my primary PS3 is still there and I will keep it as a backup.

 

Not answering my question. How long should the procedure take?

Second or two.

 

you're essentially trying to increase that number by unlocking hdd space.

No. Application only changing flag in UFS2 filesystem table. If he limiting HDD size by HPA to 1.5TiB or TB, PS3 on all levels will see only that 1.5. For removing HPA, special ata commands are need to send which none PS3 software supporting, so it cannot see real size, nor modify it.

 

Second or two.

Thanks, I assumed people cut that part in the video. So it actually just is that quick. If I had known that, I would've known at once, that it just didn't work. But having read someone here saying their screen turns black and someone else replying, that's ok, let me assume it was ok for me as well, because no one said for how long it stays black. Thanks for clearing this up once and for all and who else might land here via Google reading this