PS Vita / Ps TV Vita Dumper Comparison / FAQ PSV Format [by yifanlu]

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    Key points:
    • STOP using Vitamin/MaiDumpTool. Those tools were hacked together before taiHEN was ready and therefore depends on hacks around the fact that there was no kernel access. Game executable metadata was not preserved and creates lots of compatibility issues including corrupting saves while in suspend mode.
    • psvgamesd creates .psv files which will be the standard archival format for Vita games (like .iso or .nds but for Vita). These files are not trimmed or compressed and therefore will take a lot of storage to save. Until trimming/compression features are implemented, a way to use the best of both psvgamesd and NoNpDrm is to save your raw dumps on your computer (for backup) and when needed (like if you lose access to your cart), you can use psvgamesd to mount the image once, then use NoNpDrm to "install" it as a bubble (saving space) and finally delete the original .psv from your Vita.
    • psvgamesd allows you to backup your 3.61+ games for use if/once later firmware are hacked.
    • psvgamesd currently does not support backing up digital games but the .psv format will eventually be used to archive digital games as well. More information on the format is here.
    • When a .psv is mounted with psvgamesd, you can run any other tool (including NoNpDrm and Vitamin) on it, so until existing workflow (such as game translation) is upgraded to not depend on legacy dumps, it is always possible to go from .psv to any other format but not the other way around! You must dump the original cart to create a .psv!

    Legal Disclaimer: I helped author the .psv format to help standardize the format for backup and archival but I do not endorse any method to circumvent DRM. This guide is provided for informative purposes only and does not serve to aid any party in circumventing DRM. I have not worked directly or indirectly on any DRM circumvention features.


Source: github.com/yifanlu
 
I'm not sure if NoNpDrm should be in the table as it's not a dumper (or first two categories should be named different as NND dumps nothing).

Are *.psv are sector by sector copy of the Game Card? Should be IMO for real copy preservation purpose. Also compression for decompression on the fly should be implemented (something like *.cso/*.dax/*.jiso).
 
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