How to clone your storage

From ConsoleMods Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This page will guide you to cloning storage for backup or upgrade purposes. 

NOTICE do not format/enable/initialise the drive in any way it will cause complete data loss.
  • Cloning Internal and extended storage works on both jailbroken and retail consoles.
  • App2USB is only for jailbroken consoles.
  • Before going forward use either the native Application Saved Data Management tool to backup your save data to a USB drive or use Apollo Save Tool if on an exploited console.

Introduction

External/Extended storage and App2USB

How was it tested?

  • With reference from the devwiki a few different options were tested. Most free windows software failed to clone the partitions as needed.
  • A free Windows alternative was found and worked well so it was used for the guide.
  • A plain live Linux distro performed best while Clonezilla a standalone Disk Imaging and Cloning software took the longest (Described below)
  • All tests were ran on 2 PC's with relative specs and ultimately the HDD's were the bottleneck when being ran from external enclosures and over direct SATA connection. (Your mileage may vary if using external enclosures)

Software options?

  • You are free to attempt to use alternative software at your own discretion be it paid or free the guide offers 3 free options.

1. HD Clone for Windows.

  • HD Clone is a quick solution if you don't want to restart your PC and dedicate it to this job.
  • This option was tested and took around 5 hours from a 500GB HDD to another 500GB HDD.

2. Ubuntu live USB a basic Linux distro or on an already installed Linux OS you will use "dd".

  • Ubuntu and any other Linux live USB or already installed OS are practically the best option for the job being the fastest and easiest to run albeit needing you to reboot your PC and dedicate it to the job.
  • This option was tested and took just under 5 hours from a 500GB HDD to another 500GB HDD.
  • If you already have a Linux OS installed but do not have GParted install it or use the terminal or alternative software to view drives and tell them apart.

3. Clonezilla live USB a standalone Disk Imaging and Cloning software.

  • Clonezilla is known worldwide and is also a great option unfortunately due to predetermined commands which fail being run and take up extra time slowing down the job this is the least recommended use this only if a normal Linux live USB gives you extreme trouble.
  • Additionally Clonezilla gives errors and gives up on cloning extended storage and is more trouble than it's worth to amend it.
  • This option was tested and took just over 8 hours from a 500GB HDD to another 500GB HDD.

Warning for alternative software

  • The cloning software only needs to see the drive detected certain software will not detect it because it does not have a drive letter and etc. This disqualifies any such software from being used as an alternative.
  • Do not format/enable/initialise the drive in any way it will cause complete data loss.

Can i clone to a larger drive/Different size drives?

  • Unfortunately currently any attempts to alter the partition size leads to failure due to it breaking the encrypted partitions and may not ever be possible so any drive you use needs to be the same size or larger but you cannot take advantage of the extra space.
  • See Upgrading your Hard Drive for help with backing up data when moving from a smaller drive to a larger drive. (You will need a 3rd drive)

How long will it take?

  • Depending on the size of the drives and the speed of the drives 5-12 hours possibly more but this is normal. A test was done and it took roughly 5 hours from a 500GB HDD to another 500GB HDD.


Cloning Internal or External/Extended storage

  • Cloning both Internal and External/Extended storage is the same process for both.
  • Additionally Clonezilla gives errors and gives up on cloning extended storage so it only works with Internal storage.
  • Only App2USB is different and does not need precise cloning.
NOTICE do not format/enable/initialise the drive in any way it will cause complete data loss.
  • The cloning software only needs to see the drive detected certain software will not detect it because it does not have a drive letter and etc. This disqualifies any such software from being used as an alternative.

Cloning on Windows with HD Clone (Internal or External/Extended)

  1. For this guide the free edition of HD Clone was used It has a Windows exe and a Linux AppImage.
  2. Download and unpack the zip
  3. Connect both the PS4 HDD and the new drive to the PC via external USB enclosure or via SATA directly to the motherboard.(Reboot needed if you will use SATA)
  4. Open HD Clone and Under "Clone" Select "Disk"
  5. Select the Source Disk the one from your PS4. (If your Source disk is not being recognized allow some time to pass while in the available disks menu)
  6. Select the Target Disk the new one you want to clone your data to. (If your Target disk is not being recognized allow some time to pass while in the available disks menu)
  7. Press "Start" and "Continue" then allow it time to complete the process.
  8. After it is done you can put the new drive in the PS4 and boot it up.
  • If it boots into safe mode and asks for a software reinstall turn off the console and do the following.
  1. While the console is shutdown hold the power button till you hear a second beep.
  2. Connect a PS4 controller with a cable to the console and press the PS button.
  3. Choose to restart the console.
  • If that does not work enter safe mode again and this time choose to rebuild the database. (If you are on a exploited console this will cause your homebrew and games to disappear at the bottom of this page there is a guide on how to restore them)


Cloning with a Linux live USB or active OS (Ubuntu used)(Internal or External/Extended)

  1. Download the Ubuntu install image
  2. Download Rufus.
  3. Flash the Ubuntu image to rufus
  4. Open Rufus and select the Clonezilla image.
  5. Show the advanced properties and select "List USB Hard Drives"
  6. Select your drive.
  7. Set "Partition scheme" MBR
  8. Set "Target system" BIOS or UEFI
  9. Press on "Start" and allow it some time to flash.
  10. After it is done turn off your computer.
  11. Connect both the PS4 HDD and the new drive to the PC via external USB enclosure or via SATA directly to the motherboard.
  • Preferably unplug your main storage drives from the PC to avoid accidentally deleting important data and speed up scans later in the process.
  1. Boot into Ubuntu and in the shell choose the top option.
  2. When it boots into the desktop follow the setup popup until it asks if you want to install or try choose try.
  3. Open GParted and choose to authenticate the user it will then launch the program. If you already have a Linux OS installed but do not have GParted install it or use the terminal or alternative software to view drives and tell them apart.
  4. Once it opens click on the top left of the app "GParted" and under "Devices" you want to do the following.
  5. In "Devices" all the current drives will be show you can click on them an view their partitions you first want to find the Source drive this is the drive that was inside your PS4 it will have 15 partitions the largest one showing as 420GB take note of its name for example "sda".
  6. Again in "Devices" you want to find your target drive this is the new drive that you want to clone the data to. Find it by going through the available drives and matching it's size and it having an empty "unallocated" partition table (As mentioned before) or if you are sure of the drive just take note of its name for example "sdc".
  7. You can now open a terminal and run the command
sudo su
  1. You can then build and run the clone command by putting in the names of the drives in the appropriate space and example is given below.

This command is an example 

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdc status=progress
  • In the command the first drive in the "if" section is the drive that was inside the PS4.
  • In the command the first drive in the "of" section is the new drive you want to clone data to.
  • In the command "status=progress" displays a simple progress bar to show you what it is doing.
  • Build the command and run it then wait for the process to finish.
  1. After it is done you can put the new drive in the PS4 and boot it up.
  • If it boots into safe mode and asks for a software reinstall turn off the console and do the following.
  1. While the console is shutdown hold the power button till you hear a second beep.
  2. Connect a PS4 controller with a cable to the console and press the PS button.
  3. Choose to restart the console.
  • If that does not work enter safe mode again and this time choose to rebuild the database. (If you are on a exploited console this will cause your homebrew and games to disappear at the bottom of this page there is a guide on how to restore them)


Cloning with a Clonezilla live USB ( Internal storage only)

  1. Notice during the process some stages may take some time they may even look stuck but just give it time. The guide tells you at one point that no more user input is needed after that you can leave it and wait for it to be done.
  2. Notice during the process errors and warnings as shown below can be ignored
  • Unrecognised disk label
  • Failed to translate partition name
  • not a block device
  • Refusing to sfsck unknown or unsupported file system
  1. You will need a USB Flash Drive or a External HDD/SSD.
  2. Download the Clonezilla live image
  3. Download Rufus.
  4. Flash the Clonezilla image to rufus
  5. Open Rufus and select the Clonezilla image.
  6. Show the advanced properties and select "List USB Hard Drives"
  7. Select your drive.
  8. Set "Partition scheme" MBR
  9. Set "Target system" BIOS or UEFI
  10. Press on "Start" and allow it some time to flash.
  11. After it is done turn off your computer.
  12. Connect both the PS4 HDD and the new drive to the PC via external USB enclosure or via SATA directly to the motherboard.
  • Preferably unplug your main storage drives from the PC to avoid accidentally deleting important data and speed up scans later in the process.
  1. Boot into Clonezilla.
  2. Choose your language and keyboard layout. (Preferably keep the default keyboard layout)
  3. Choose "Start Clonezilla" (Do not enter the shell unless you know what you are doing)
  4. Choose "device-device" then give it some time.
  5. Choose "Beginner mode" (Do not enter the expert menu unless you know what you are doing)
  6. Choose "disk_to_local_disk"
  7. Choose the local disk source this is the PS4 drive you want to clone to the other drive. Here select the drive with the name or serial number that matches your PS4 drive.
  8. Choose the local disk as target this is the new drive you want to clone the data to select the one that matches the name or serial number of the new drive .
  9. Parameters here choose "-sfsck Skip checking/repairing source file system"
  10. Partition table on the target disk here choose "-k0 Use the partition table from the source disk"
  11. Choose what to do once the process is complete. Here you can choose what you want the system to do once its done cloning.
  12. You will be asked to press Enter do so.
  13. After some time the setup will give the last user prompt which confirms you are okay with deleting all data on the Target disk this is the new drive that you want to clone to it needs to be erased and all data on it will be overwritten.
  14. Visually confirm the selected drive is the correct one then type y and press enter then type y and press enter a second time.
  15. There will be no more user prompts and the cloning will take a few hours depending on the speed of the drives and etc. Once it is done the system will do whatever you have previously decided.
  16. After it is done you can put the new drive in the PS4 and boot it up.
  • If it boots into safe mode and asks for a software reinstall turn off the console and do the following.
  1. While the console is shutdown hold the power button till you hear a second beep.
  2. Connect a PS4 controller with a cable to the console and press the PS button.
  3. Choose to restart the console.
  • If that does not work enter safe mode again and this time choose to rebuild the database. (If you are on a exploited console this will cause your homebrew and games to disappear at the bottom of this page there is a guide on how to restore them)

Cloning a drive being used with App2USB

  1. You do not need to clone a drive due to how App2USB works simply copy over the pkgs and .ini file and run the payload again.


I rebuilt my database and now all my homebrew and games are gone how do i get them back?

For both internal and extended/external storage

  • When you rebuild the PS4 database you lose the home screen entries of homebrew apps and dumped games on internal and extended/external storage all of which are FPKG apps but they will still be taking up space because they are still there.
  • Here are a few ways to recover them. Take note that sometimes the games may not show up on the home screen but become available in the Library app from there you can select them and they will start showing up again.
  • Sometimes unplugging your extended/external storage can cause the games to be locked even when jailbroken. Allow it to repair itself then continue the guide to recover the games and apps
  • Itemzflow and Apollo Save Tool have an option to also rebuild the DLC database but only Itemzflow has a dedicated option to Re-activate for extended storage.
    • See Itemzflow section for extended storage restore options. Take note Itemzflow cannot run from extended storage if you install it and it defaults to there move it to internal storage.

Using Apollo Save Tool

  1. Download the latest version Apollo Save Tool from Pkg Zone or Github and put it in the root of a USB drive ( Has to be formatted in Exfat) then plug it into your PS4.
  2. Jailbreak your console as you usually do.
  3. In GoldHEN Debug Settings before entering the Package Installer under it are some options make sure Enable Background Installation is NOT enabled.
  4. Install Apollo and select yes to reinstall it if it asks you to ( This happens only if it was previously installed)
  5. Open Apollo Save Tool and go to User Tools.
  6. Then select App.db Database Management.
  7. There you can select Rebuild App.db Database (Restore missing XMB items) and you can also select Rebuild DLC Database (addcont.db)
  8. Then close Apollo and log out of and log in the user account for everything to properly show up.
  • If you cannot see the games and apps on the home screen check in the PS4 Library App.
  • Optionally you can then create a backup of your current database to use in the future with the restore option.
  • If you are not using GoldHEN or cannot see the app after it has been reinstalled try one of the other ones in this guide. Or if all apps have not been recovered try using one of the other apps in this guide.

Using Itemzflow

  1. Download and install Itemzflow from Pkg Zone and put it in the root of a USB drive ( Has to be formatted in Exfat) then plug it into your PS4.
  2. Jailbreak your console as you usually do.
  3. In GoldHEN Debug Settings before entering the Package Installer under it are some options make sure Enable Background Installation is NOT enabled.
  4. Install Itemzflow and select yes to reinstall it if it asks you to ( This happens only if it was previously installed)
  5. Open Itemzflow and press the Options button on your controller.
  6. Navigate to Rebuild FPKG Database and press X to interact with the submenu.
  • The submenu has 3 options you can navigate it with righ and left on the dpad.

1. Rebuild Internal Database

  • Rebuilds the internal storage database to recover home screen items.

2. Rebuild Only DLCs (inc. ext hdd)

  • Rebuilds the DLC database for both internal and external drives.

3. Re-activate ext. Content

  • Re-activates the games and apps on extended storage that are disabled.
    • Notice even if they still have a warning sign on them try running them anyway after running it should dissapear.

7. Choose an option according to what you need and you're done. If you cannot see them on the home screen check in the PS4 Library App.

  • If you are not using GoldHEN or cannot see the app after it has been reinstalled try one of the other ones in this guide. Or if all apps have not been recovered try using one of the other apps in this guide.

Using PS4TOOLSET

  1. Download and install PS4TOOLSET from Pkg Zone and put it in the root of a USB drive ( Has to be formatted in Exfat) then plug it into your PS4.
  2. Jailbreak your console as you usually do.
  3. In GoldHEN Debug Settings before entering the Package Installer under it are some options make sure Enable Background Installation is NOT enabled.
  4. Install PS4TOOLSET and select yes to reinstall it if it asks you to ( This happens only if it was previously installed)
  5. Open PS4TOOLSSET and select Recover Lost Games.
  6. It will search for the games once it is done you can press X to recover them.
  7. You can also press Triangle if you want to only recover DLC's or if the previous option did not properly recover them.
  • Usually after using this app you can find the recovered games and apps in the PS4 Library App.
  • If you are not using GoldHEN or cannot see the app after it has been reinstalled try one of the other ones in this guide. Or if all apps have not been recovered try using one of the other apps in this guide.
Retrieved from "https://consolemods.org/wiki/index.php?title=PS4:How_to_clone_your_storage&oldid=53246"