You can use usb harddrives with fat32 on xbox 360 and ps3's

[yoda313]

I don't know how many people here now this but if you have an external harddrive you can use this on a playstation 3 or xbox 360 as long as it is formatted in fat32.

This might not be breaking news to many of our users here but it sure was a shock to me. I found a utility online called fat32format.exe. This will let you format ANY size harddrive to fat32 and retain the full capacity. It is a command line utility and works great. I was able to have my western digital 160gb wiped and formatted in fat32 at the full capacity (well you know the 149 or so not the true rated space).

I then loaded some wma's, jpg's and a test divx file. ALL WORKED PERFECTLY! FYI it is a USB 2.0 harddrive

There is another utility out there a compuapps swissarmy knife format utility that will also do fat32 but I could not get it to work. This fat32format program is quick and simple and does the trick.

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I am elated about this. I have been trying for months to figure out how to network my xbox 360 to my pc and now recently my ps3. HOWEVER this revelation now eases that burden. The only ability I don't have with this is watching live tv that the windows media center on xbox 360 would have enabled. I can live without that. I SHOULD be able to still record in dvr-ms on the pc and then simply copy the file over to the harddrive and watch later. I haven't tried that yet but I don't see why it shouldn't work.

This is awesome and now I don't ever have to buy one of those harddrive enclosure devices like tivx or movix or whatever. If you already have a xbox 360 or ps3 you simply can use any usb harddrive and format it to fat32.

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?????

Again sorry for rambling on and on about stuff people may see as perfectly obvious. This took me forever to discover. Now that I have there is no going back. I may start to look into getting a larger external drive. Also I am interested in getting some 720 or 1080 material to test on the 360 and ps3 WOOHOO!

[[_chef_]]

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?????
WOOHOO!

Maybe you didnt ask?

[rhegedus]

Duh!

[yoda313]

Yeah I guess I deserve that.

But the thing that stopped me from pursuing that was the size restriction on fat32. I figured network streaming was my best option and that was the only path I tried.

Now that i know I can format any harddrive to fat32 and have virtually limitless capacity I will go this route. I will see if I can put together some high def clips to test.

Where are the specs of file types the ps3 can handle?

[FulciLives]

Major problem with fat32 is the 4GB file size limitation.

Some 720p downloads and almost all 1080p downloads are larger than 4GB so an external fat32 HDD does no good.

However using a media server I can copy a file of any size from my compuer to my PS3 allowing me to watch those 720p/1080p files that are over the 4GB mark.

As for the Sony PS3 ... it supports MP4 with AAC audio with resolutions up to 1080p. I have also played 720p and 1080p WMV VC-1 videos although the PS3 is very picky as to what kind of WMV audio it will play which means I often have to re-encode the audio of downloaded WMV videos.

I've also used MKV2VOB on some HD resolution MKV videos which then played fine on my PS3.

MeGUI has several XboX 360 profiles and one or two PS3 profiles. It also has one "basic" profile that says it is both PS3/XboX 360 compatible. I'm actually encoding a standard NTSC DVD Video right now by this method. Is taking freakin' forever on my old system (I keep putting off buying a new computer until I can afford EVERYTHING I want but I'm so close ... maybe another couple of months now and I'll have enough).

Only thing about the PS3 I dislike is no FLAC audio support. I have a lot of music on my computer in that format. Although the PS3 supports WMV it didn't like the WMV lossless audio option. I did get it to play WMA 9.2 192kbps stereo CBR (48kHz or 44.1kHz) format (encoded with GoldWave). It also does MP3 at a CBR of 320kbps etc.

From what I understand it is also very easy to pull out the internal HDD of the PS3 and install a new larger HDD. In fact Sony made it this way on purpose (so it was easy to do) knowing that people would want to do this. It accepts 2.5" laptop type HDD's with the stock model being a 5400rpm SATA 150 drive.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[yoda313]

@fulci - yeah the limit sucks BUT at the moment I'm only testing dvds.

I ripped Star Wars Episode 3 to single layer and tried copying it over. Unfortunately it denied it. I thought the limit was only on single files at 4gb not an entire copy session. Anyway I reripped it with the movie only and got it to 3.88gb. I plugged it in the ps3 and was amazed at the quality. This looked fantastic over the hdmi connection. Really close to the dual layer original disc in my opinion, close enough to justify using the method at least.

The only downside was for some reason the chapter markers didn't take with the movie only rip. I am now ripping Episode 2 Attack of the Clones in full disc mode. I made sure to get it well under 4gigs, at least a 100mb to spare so it will transfer. I'm hoping this will enable full disc function.

I really wish I found out about the vob playibilty earlier than this!!! I'm gonna have to look into a harddrive larger than 160gb

I have a question about swapping out the drives. Does that void the warranty? I bought an extension warranty through Best Buy. The internal 40gb harddrive is fine for me now. If I were to eventually swap it out for a larger harddrive would that allow transfers? If I were to use a 2.5" external enclosure to transfer files and then plug it back in would that work?

This is exciting.

By the way I did get the same usb drive to work on the xbox 360. Unfortunately the xbox 360 only handles compressed video so I'd have to convert video to wmv. I could try high def wmv but as fulci mentioned that would hit the 4gb limit.

EDIT - The full disc backup didn't work out well. Even though I ripped the whole disc to about 3.8gb it still didn't function as a normal disc. It just showed the individual vobs. So I am now backing up episode 2 onto on iso file in full mode under 4gigs in hopes of retaining full menu function.

Does the ps3 handle divx ultra? Is that the only way to have a full functioning menu? Can you use freeware to do divx ultra? I actually do have corel dvd copy 6. I am not sure if that would do divx ultra or not.

[FulciLives]

I have a question about swapping out the drives. Does that void the warranty? I bought an extension warranty through Best Buy. The internal 40gb harddrive is fine for me now. If I were to eventually swap it out for a larger harddrive would that allow transfers? If I were to use a 2.5" external enclosure to transfer files and then plug it back in would that work?

My understanding is that Sony does indeed promote the swapping out of the built-in HDD for a larger HDD and that they purposefully made it easy-to-do ... not that I've tried yet. So it would not void the Sony warranty but a third party warranty ... who know *shrugs* ... I guess you would have to read it or check with BEST BUY about it.

As for swapping internal hard drives ... once you put in a new internal HDD it has to be formatted so you loose whatever is on it. Before you take out the current HDD you have to back-up your save games to an external (or USB stick etc.). Once you put in a new one you can then copy your saved games to it once it is freshly formated. You can't take out the internal ... put in a new one ... then use the old internal as an external to transfer saved games back. Basically once you take out the internal it will have to be reformatted as FAT32 to use it as an external. So make sure you back-up your saved games before doing any swapping. Also you might want to get an external USB box for 2.5" hard drives allowing you to use the old internal as an external once you format it to FAT32.

This is exciting.

The Sony PS3 is a damn kewl device and it makes a regular DVD Video look absolutely amazing the way it does upscaling ... not to mention if you have the DVD Upscaler option set to "Double Scale" it actually underscans the image a bit ... I actually get a thin black border all around on my TV which normally does a lot of overscan (especially on the sides). Nice to have the whole picture. Plus I think "Double Scale" makes it look better BUT "Double Scale" only works if you have the PS3 set to 1080i or 1080p output. I have a 1080i HDTV.

By the way I did get the same usb drive to work on the xbox 360. Unfortunately the xbox 360 only handles compressed video so I'd have to convert video to wmv. I could try high def wmv but as fulci mentioned that would hit the 4gb limit.

EDIT - The full disc backup didn't work out well. Even though I ripped the whole disc to about 3.8gb it still didn't function as a normal disc. It just showed the individual vobs. So I am now backing up episode 2 onto on iso file in full mode under 4gigs in hopes of retaining full menu function.

Does the ps3 handle divx ultra? Is that the only way to have a full functioning menu? Can you use freeware to do divx ultra? I actually do have corel dvd copy 6. I am not sure if that would do divx ultra or not.

I don't think the Sony PS3 does DVD Video ISO or do DVD VIDEO_TS folders. I could be wrong though.

Although it has DivX support I don't think it is DivX Ultra although I have no DivX Ultra encodes to try. I'm pretty sure (although I haven't tried) that it will support high resolution (up to 1080p) with DivX and XviD which can't be said of most (if any) stand alone MPEG-4 capable DVD players which all seem to be limited to a DivX/XviD resolution of 720x576

If you really want to play back-up DVD stuff on the PS3 I suggest you try encoding from DVD to x264 MP4 using meGUI which has a MP4 profile that is compatible with the PS3 and the XboX 360. You can use 5.1 AAC audio.

In fact as I mentioned I am currently doing Tim Burton's SWEENEY TODD (USA NTSC DVD Video release) in this manner but I cannot comment on how well it works ... the damn thing is still encoding *sigh*

I'll report once it is done and I get a chance to watch it. I did watch the original DVD last night on the PS3 and it looked pretty damn good although I thought it was a bit "grainy" at times but I think that is just the way that DVD is because I've not seen "grain" issues with other DVD Videos I've played. In fact I play all my NTSC DVD discs on the PS3 now since it makes them look so damn good.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[yoda313]

Thanks fulci.

I'll have to try that double scale. I do have the ps3 set to 1080i. I haven't gotten to the dvd iso yet, some other things came up.

I'll hold off on a harddrive swap. Though I'll try to remember to ask the people at Best Buy if that would void their warranty. Its a two year coverage (60.00, I figured what the hell, I used my tax rebate on it so the government paid for it ).

[FulciLives]

Thanks fulci.

I'll have to try that double scale. I do have the ps3 set to 1080i. I haven't gotten to the dvd iso yet, some other things came up.

I'll hold off on a harddrive swap. Though I'll try to remember to ask the people at Best Buy if that would void their warranty. Its a two year coverage (60.00, I figured what the hell, I used my tax rebate on it so the government paid for it ).

Bold and Italics added by me.

What you meant to say is that you paid for it with your own hard working TAX money that the government decided to pay back to you. Remember that is money you original EARNED yourself!

Reminds me almost of a story I read on a Linux blog where this guy went to BEST BUY and was talking to someone there about Linux (he spied them holding a Windows Vista upgrade box) and one of the BEST BUY "geek squad" guys was interested in his Linux spiel and let the guy spin his Linux LiveCD on a demo computer and here the guy said he was showing them all it could do including the spinning cube we all love etc. and one of the "geek squad" guys (he had attracted a small group of them) exclaimed, "This must be illegal ... Microsoft wouldn't allow this!"

The parallel of course being that the government doesn't control your money just as Microsoft doesn't control the OS you put on your computer.

Of course you can "get away" with using Linux and not have to use Microsoft. Try keeping ALL of your money from the government and bad things will happen. Oh wait ... hasn't Microsoft tried to bully Linux with cries of "patent infringement"? Hmmm ... is Microsoft a government? They sure act like one at times ... don't they!

OK ... sorry ... rant over LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

I followed DJRumpy's meGUI guide (well more or less ... I used the "PD-PS3/Xbob360" profile for video instead of his "old" suggestion) and using a standard NTSC DVD Video as a source I created a MP4 video file.

Using a video bitrate of only 1500kbps I was able to back up a nearly two hour movie with 5.1 AC-3 to a file size of about 1.32GB using h264/x264 and 5.1 AAC audio. The result was stunning ... much better than your standard XviD or DivX MPEG-4 ... in fact very nearly looked identical to the DVD.

Only bad thing was it took freakin' forever to encode but like I mentioned my computer is S-L-O-W by today's standards.

Most importantly it played back great on my Sony PS3 and should also be compatible with the XboX 360 but I don't have one of those to test.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[draven1968]

There is a workaround for file size limitation for external hard drives.

format the drive to HFS using MacDrive7 (this app works on WindowsXP based computers)

Problem solved

I have tested this on a Seagate 120 gig with several files OVER the 4 gig limit works like a charm on my Xbox360.

(i disable this program from startup, and just launch it when i need it)

cheers

[FulciLives]

There is a workaround for file size limitation for external hard drives.

format the drive to HFS using MacDrive7 (this app works on WindowsXP based computers)

Problem solved

I have tested this on a Seagate 120 gig with several files OVER the 4 gig limit works like a charm on my Xbox360.

(i disable this program from startup, and just launch it when i need it)

cheers

Will this also work when using the HDD with a Sony PS3 ???

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[draven1968]

dont know about PS3 (cus i dont own one ) but the logic is....

The XBOX360 recognizes a Apple iPOD (which is MAC format)

then if The PS3 recognizes a Apple iPOD (which is MAC format)

theory is ..it should work.


only one way to find out, give it a try hope it works for PS3

cheers

[rallynavvie]

The USB ports had to work for USB drives on a PS3. How else would you carry save data over to a friend's house? USB drives also worked with the PS2. You can even connect a printer to the PS2 via the USB port. I can't recall if you can do the same with the PS3, but there probably isn't a need to yet. I've just been happy with the Bluetooth implementation as I can use the PS3 for surfing the web on the big TV with the BT keyboard/mouse combo I picked up a while back. The keyboard also works in some games for typing in names and profile information.

[yoda313]

@draven1968 - what is hfs? Is macdrive7 payware? How much?

Well I did some more testing. I used videora ps3 and got it going nicely on the mpeg4 setting. That setting worked on the ps3 and the 360.

I also tried a drv-ms file from media center on the 360 and the ps3. No go. BUT I used Tmpgenc DVD Author 2.0 to convert the drv-ms file to a program stream mpeg file. IT WORKED ON THE PS3! It read as a standard mpeg 2 file. As long it is under the 4gigs on the fat32 drive it works like a charm.

the mpeg 4 file mentioned before works on the 360 and loads into the ZUNE software for playing. However I haven't tried synching it to my zune yet. I believe since its not a wmv file it will force a reencode. I'm not in a hurry to test that just yet.

EDIT - Apparently Macdrive 7 is freeware. At least its free to download. I haven't rebooted yet to start the program. It does say it is vista compatible however I am testing it on my xp pc. I'll report back later tonight. I will test a single movie only dvd rip into a vob file. THose are usually 6gb or so when taken from a dual layer and all the extras and multi audio tracks are removed.

EDIT 2 - Ok you get a 5 day trial for Macdrive 7. don't know what it costs. It worked for formatting the usb harddrive. I ripped Star Wars Episode 4 to a single 6 gig vob. I copied it without a problem. My xbox 360 did see the drive but not the vob file of course since it doesn't do vobs.

Unfortunately the PS3 DOES NOT recognize the mac formatted drive. It just sees nothing even though the drive is connected as normal. So I can say with some confidence that formatting a drive to a mac hfs system will not enable seudo ntfs performance for the ps3. It does seem to work for a xbox 360 as the previous poster mentioned. So for now PS3 users seem to be stuck with fat32.

[[_chef_]]

@draven1968 - what is hfs? Is macdrive7 payware? How much?

http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/arch_fs.html

[yoda313]

Ok I have a question can the PS3 handle Divx Ultra? Does it do divx menus? Does it handle divx in high def resolutions? I know it handles "divx" but what about the other varieties?

Are there freeware apps for divx ultra? If not what are sub$50 USD options for divx ultra software?

[FulciLives]

I do not know if it supports DivX Ultra (with the menus and all) but I seem to remember that when DivX Ultra first came out that the DivX website had some samples you can download so if they are still there on the website ... well you can download and try.

I do know it supports high resolution DivX and XviD which I believe includes up to 1080p although the highest resolution XviD I ever had (to try) had a width of something like 960 and I forget the "matching" height now but it was a movie in 2.35:1 and it was 1:1 square pixel ratio (have since deleted that file).

Again I think the DivX website has some 1080p and 720p DivX samples but I think you will find that even if the PS3 can play them (as I think it will) that you are better off with H.264 if you want quality.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[yoda313]

BUMP!

Well I finally got around to buying Macdrive 7. I know have my 320gb external drive formatted to hfs and have 298gb free to play with.

I already loaded a bunch of xvid and divx shows and movies on their.

I converted a full length dvd movie from a single 6gb vob to a 6gb divx with 5.1. The result was nearly a perfect copy. And the transfer worked just fine on my Xbox 360. I still haven't fooled around with the divx ultra stuff. THough I don't really need it for menus as I can go through the harddrive folder easily enough - I just want it to insert chapter markers.

-----------------------------------

MeGUI has several XboX 360 profiles and one or two PS3 profiles. It also has one "basic" profile that says it is both PS3/XboX 360 compatible. I'm actually encoding a standard NTSC DVD Video right now by this method. Is taking freakin' forever on my old system (I keep putting off buying a new computer until I can afford EVERYTHING I want but I'm so close ... maybe another couple of months now and I'll have enough).

If you really want to play back-up DVD stuff on the PS3 I suggest you try encoding from DVD to x264 MP4 using meGUI which has a MP4 profile that is compatible with the PS3 and the XboX 360. You can use 5.1 AAC audio.

Using a video bitrate of only 1500kbps I was able to back up a nearly two hour movie with 5.1 AC-3 to a file size of about 1.32GB using h264/x264 and 5.1 AAC audio. The result was stunning ... much better than your standard XviD or DivX MPEG-4 ... in fact very nearly looked identical to the DVD.

Unfortunately the xbox 360 does not accept 5.1 aac. If it did I'd take this up in a heart beat.

Would there be a similar suggestion for wmv? The 360 does wmv with 5.1 perfectly.