Format of PS3 internal drive

[wesg]

I have a PS3 and Ubuntu 9.04 server. My friend also has a PS3, and he's removed the internal drive to upsize it. I want to try to transfer some files to and from this internal drive, but I haven't been able to access. Does anyone have the format of the internal drive and can confirm that it will mount on a Ubuntu system?

[beastrace91]

This post (http://www.ps3news.com/forums/playstation-3-news/playstation-3-hdd-file-system-details-direct-sony-92825.html) claims it is a fat32 drive how ever this thread (http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=3842541) debates that point some.

All in all just hook it up and see if it automounts/reads what do you have to loose?

Regards,
~Jeff

[wesg]

Thanks for the reply, Jeff. That was my plan, but I wanted to see if someone else had done the same, and maybe save me the trouble. I will definitely post the results when I try, though.

[mister_playboy]

The PS3 uses filesystem encryption, so the drive should not be readable in anything other than the PS3 it belongs to. This is why it's important to use the built-in backup tools to copy your PS3's data elsewhere when swapping HDDs.

EDIT: Wikipedia lists the filesystem on the PS3 as being UFS2. You would want to install ufsutils and libufs2 for your backup attempt.