Vita:Formatting SD Cards Without VitaDeploy

Credit to these guides goes Ben Melluish on vita.hacks.guide.

Windows Instructions

What You Need

• zzBlank.img
• The latest version of Win32DiskImager
• (Optional) The latest version of h2testw
  • This is not required if you do not want to check your storage device for errors.

Instructions

Section I - Formatting Storage Device

1. Install Win32DiskImager if you have not already
2. Insert your storage device into your computer
3. Launch Win32DiskImager
4. Select zzBlank.img as the "Image File"
5. Set "Device" to the drive letter of your storage device
6. Select "Write"
7. Select "Yes" to continue when prompted
8. Select "OK" to dismiss the dialogue box when the write completes
9. Close Win32DiskImager
10. Right-click the drive in Windows Explorer, then select "Format"
11. Set "File system" to "exFAT"
    • If your storage device has a capacity of 256 GB or greater, you must format with a cluster size of 64 KB. With 128 GB it is optional, but still recommended for a bit more performance.
    • Use MBR, not GPT, or it wont work
12. Select "Start"
13. Select "OK" to continue when prompted
14. Select "OK" to dismiss the dialogue box when the format completes
15. Close the format window

Section II - Verifying Storage Device

If you do not want to check your storage device for errors, skip this section.

1. Copy h2testw.exe from the h2testw .zip to your desktop
2. Insert your storage device card into your computer
3. Run h2testw.exe
4. Select "English"
5. Select "Select target"
6. Select your storage device card's drive letter
7. Ensure "all available space" is selected
8. Select "Write + Verify"
9. Wait until the process is completed

If the test shows the result Test finished without errors, your storage device card is good and you can delete all .h2w files on your storage device card.

If the test shows any other results, your storage device card may be corrupted or damaged and you may have to replace it!

macOS Instructions

What You Need

• (Optional) The latest release of F3X
  • This is not required if you do not want to check your storage device for errors

Instructions

Section I - Formatting Storage Device

1. Insert your storage device into your computer
2. Open the Terminal app
3. Enter diskutil list into the terminal
4. Identify which disk is your storage device in the format /dev/diskX
5. Enter diskutil unmount /dev/diskX or diskutil unmountdisk /dev/diskX and then sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/diskX to format the storage device
6. Remove and reinsert your storage device
7. Enter sudo newfs_exfat -R /dev/diskX to format your storage device into exfat
   • If your storage device has a capacity of 256 GB or greater, you must format with a cluster size of 64 KB with the following comamnd. With 128 GB it is optional, but still recommended for a bit more performance.
     • sudo newfs_exfat -R -c 64 /dev/diskX

Section II - Verifying Storage Device

If you do not want to check your storage device for errors, skip this section.

1. Unzip the F3X .zip file
2. Insert your storage device into your computer
3. Run the F3X app
4. Select your storage device
5. Press "Start Test"
6. Wait until the process is complete.

If the test shows the result Success! Your card is ok! your storage device is good and you can delete all .h2w files on your storage device.

If the test shows any other results, your storage device may be corrupted or damaged and you may have to replace it!

Linux Instructions

What You Need

• For Kernel 5.7 and above: install exfatprogs for your distribution (check your package manager)
• For Kernel 5.6 and below: install fuse-exfat and exfat-utils for your distribution (check your package manager)
  • fuse-exfat package may named as exfat-fuse in some distributions
• (Optional) The latest version of F3
  • This is not required if you do not want to check your storage device for errors

Instructions

Section I - Formatting Storage Device

1. Insert your storage device into your computer
2. Unmount your storage device with umount
3. Run sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX to wipe the storage device
   • sdX should be the device corresponding to your storage device (don't point to an existing partition; for example sdX1)
4. Remove your storage device from your computer
5. Re-insert your storage device into your computer
6. Run mkfs.exfat /dev/sdX to format your storage device as exFAT
   • If your storage device has a capacity of 256 GB or greater, you must format with a cluster size of 64 KB. With 128 GB it is optional, but still recommended for a bit more performance.
     • For Kernel 5.7 and above: mkfs.exfat /dev/sdX -c 64K
     • For Kernel 5.6 and below: mkfs.exfat /dev/sdX -s 128K

Section II - Verifying Storage Device

If you do not want to check your storage device for errors, skip this section.

1. Unzip the f3 .zip file
2. cd into the f3 directory
3. Run make to compile F3
4. Insert your storage device into your computer
5. Mount your storage device
6. Run f3write <your storage device mount point>
7. Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output.

$ f3write /media/michel/6135-3363/
Free space: 29.71 GB
Creating file 1.h2w ... OK!
...
Creating file 30.h2w ... OK!
Free space: 0.00 Byte
Average Writing speed: 4.90 MB/s

Now run f3read <your storage device mount point> and wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output.

$ f3read /media/michel/6135-3363/
									SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
...
Validating file 30.h2w ... 1491904/        0/      0/      0

	Data OK: 29.71 GB (62309312 sectors)
Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
					Corrupted: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
	Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
				Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average Reading speed: 9.42 MB/s

If the test shows the result Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors) your storage device is good and you can delete all .h2w files on your storage device.

If the test shows any other results, your storage device may be corrupted or damaged and you may have to replace it!