PSP:Upgrading your Storage

A PSP can easily make use of a larger capacity Memory Stick or a micro SD card via adapter.

Note: If you want to use a micro SD card adapter, single card adapters work significantly better and are recommended over dual SD card ones. Most generic single card adapters can only read up to a maximum of 128 GB due to them not supporting LBA48. If the SD card has a large amount of software, you may want the use of a custom firmware plugin called Game Categories Lite to reduce game preview loading times. Adapters can be found cheaply on Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, and at some other online retailers. Most modern high speed SD cards are faster than the PSP can make use of, so speed does not matter as much as ensuring that your chosen card is made well. The PSP Go can also use full size Memory Stick Pro Duo adapters adapted to M2.

Backing up a previous Memory Stick

If you aren't upgrading from another Memory Stick, you can skip this section and go straight to the formatting guides.

You will need a method of connecting the system's memory card to a computer. This can either be:

• Mini USB data cable (Any model except Go)
• PSP-N430 cable (PSP Go, required to back up internal memory data)
• A card reader that can read Memory Stick Pro Duo and/or M2.

Procedure

1. If you are running custom firmware, ensure that your USB device is set to Memory Stick.
   • On PRO or (L)ME: Press Select and navigate to USB Device. Ensure that it it set to Memory Stick.
   • On ARK: Press Select, then navigate to Advanced VSH Menu > USB Device.
2. Connect your PSP to a PC via mini USB. To do this, navigate to Settings > USB Connection on your PSP.
3. Next, navigate to your PSP within your file manager. It should appear as a USB drive.
4. Ensure that hidden files are visible within explorer (View > Show/hide > Check "Hidden items").
5. Copy all files on the card to a folder you can easily remember.
6. Press circle on the PSP to disconnect your PSP from your computer, and remove the old Memory Stick.

Formatting a New Memory Stick

Method 1: Formatting New Card with a PSP

Items Needed

• A Memory Stick Pro Duo, or Memory Stick Duo to microSD adapter with a microSD card.
  • PSP Go would instead use an M2 Memory Stick, but microSD adapters for this system are available as well.
• A method of connecting the PSP's memory card to the computer. This can either be:
  • Mini USB data cable (Any model except Go)
  • PSP-N430 cable (PSP Go)
  • A card reader that can read Memory Stick Pro Duo and/or M2.

Procedure

1. Insert the new Memory Stick.
2. Format your new card on the PSP by selecting Settings > System Settings > Format Memory Stick. This will create the PSP's folder structure on the card.

Restoring backed up data

1. Connect your PSP to your PC with the new memory card inserted into it. Repeat the steps above to set the USB device setting if you are using custom firmware.
2. Copy all files from the folder you created in the Backing up a previous Memory Stick to your memory stick.
3. Safely eject the drive from within explorer, then press circle on the PSP and disconnect your PSP from your computer.
4. Verify that everything you wished to copy over was transferred.

Method 2: Formatting New Card with a Windows PC

Items Needed

• SD Card Formatter (Optional, recommended for a full format)
• Rufus or GUIFormat (Required for 64 GB or larger SD cards; Rufus recommended)
• Memory Stick directories/files from a PSP formatted card
  • A pre-made package that contains these files can be found here.
  • If you made a backup of a previous Memory Stick, you will already have these directories.
• Memory Stick (Pro) Duo to microSD adapter with a microSD card, or a new Memory Stick Pro Duo

Procedure

1. Insert the new memory card into your PC (if you have a microSD or Memory Stick card reader) or insert it into your PSP if you don't have a dedicated card reader.
   • If you're using the PSP as a card reader, connect your PSP to your PC with a mini USB cable. Repeat the steps listed in the memory stick backup section to set the USB device setting if you are using custom firmware.
2. Open the SD Card Formatter application to select the memory card you want to format, and proceed to clicking the format button. Read the pop-up warning message and click yes.
   • If your SD card is 32 GB or less, then you can proceed step 5. However, if the card is 64 GB or larger, it will be formatted as exFAT and unreadable by the console. In this case, you will want to format it with a tool like Rufus so that it's still FAT32.
3. To format a 64 GB or larger SD card, you will either need to open Rufus or GUIFormat.
   1. In Rufus, select your SD card along with the following options:
      • Boot selection: Non bootable
      • File system: FAT32
      • Cluster Size: 64 kilobytes
      • You can also disable the setting Create extended label and icon files so the SD card doesn't have Rufus's USB drive icon.
   2. In GUIFormat, just select an allocation unit size of 65536 and type in the desired name for the card as the volume label. Then, click Start to begin the reformatting process.
4. Click the Start button in order to format the card. Once finished, exit Rufus.
5. Create the previously mentioned the PSP directories on the freshly formatted SD card. This can either be from a backup of an old memory card or just downloading the directories and extracting them to the new card.
6. You can now safely eject the SD card and try using it on a PSP. If everything was done right, the memory card should appear as normal.