[Robin] over at acidmods sent in this interesting PSP mod. [PvP] added an internal hard drive (with the exception of a mini-usb cable sticking out the top) to his PSP. The advantage? Laptop hard drives are dirt cheap while sony memory sticks are still pretty pricy. More details should be along soon, but [Robin] assures me that this means up to 200GB of storage is possible for the PSP.
53 thoughts on “PSP Internal Hard Drive Mod”
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I read where the plug was necessary, but I would still try to find a right angle if possible to lower the profile a wee bit and reduce damage potential.
regardless it’s an awesome mod.
Storage like that and I’d get a PSP again!
Next, someone needs to break open the PSP, and solder up some sort of mini-usb pass-thru, so that you can use this mod, and still have that slot on the top free for other devices.
Also, how much battery drain does this mod create?
if there was only a hack to add more memory as web browsing anything with content causes not enough memory error :(
I wonder if it would be possible to use the memory stick or UMD bus to connect the hard drive instead of USB. This way, the USB port can stay free for other uses.
are there no pictures of the actual drive inside the psp or am I missing something?
Seems fishy to me. The PSP doesn’t have the hardware to act as a USB host. He’d have to have both a hard drive AND some sort of microcontroller to act as a USB host to both the HDD and the PSP and somehow pass data between the two.
You’d think someone with enough skill to miniaturise that circuit to that level would be able to solder a decent connection to the internal USB header.
Also, the fact that he “Can’t be bothered right now” about posting any details apart from the photos makes me very suspicious.
actualy it does work, its a bit confusing to do but I did it…(took awile to do) my freinds have all done the same thing too its vey amazing how much memory it gives you.
Yeah, I agree with babau. It seems very fishy…
I believe we posted how it was done we are using the hardware from an Ipod to drive it.
No instructions on how to do it makes me suspicious as well.
i dont buy it…
Babau, you can USB host using the correct firmwares and add ons…that is very possible.
There are a fe things i dont get. If he is using an older USB hard drive its not like that new one that can power themselves through USB…he said it was only 30GB.
Also he would have had to total gut the UMD drive and most of the battery bay…slim or fat…there is very little room in the PSP for the drive AND the USB IDE controller…
And why not just hack out the USB port and run the thinner cables along the top of the drive.
There are alot of things i do not understand aout this ‘hack/mod’.
Personally. I feel this is a fake.
He said he used parts from an Ipod. I think he was talking about the first ipods that only played music and used miniature spinning hard drives.
The psp has the ability to host other devices, but like you guys said it still looks fishy. I think back in 05 or 06 sony released a 1.3mp(I think)camera which could do 15sec video bursts and snap still photos too and a gps adapter with software map packs. I think they flopped and i haven’t seen them since, probably still circulating in japan.
Note:That’s why there a 2 screw mounts to the left and right of the usb interface as to hold devices in place.
1: space issue,
2: power issue,
3: cost.
its not practical, and the question is
DINT ANYBODY AT SONY THINK ABOUT IT?
They probably did considering they made the PSPgo with internal storage. Only downside was that they got rid of UMD drive.
all the technology to do it is available, he just got it to fit in the space the UMD drive used to occupy. i don’t doubt its real.
a tear down / how-to is called for, certainly. i would do this mod if i had the parts laying around.
a usb plug with a nice compact 90 in it would be a better choice. i’m sure its out there to be had.
this is a decent mod!
I don’t see how this would work. A 2.5″ wouldn’t fit. A 1.8″ drive might just, but it would require some fairly extreme modding to the drive bay.
As far as I know, IRShell/usbhoststfs doesn’t work in the way this guy is suggesting – it is designed for remote browsing of a PC running the server software (connected by USB or Wifi), not a directly-connected USB HDD. That’s supposedly not possible without USB OTG.
Either he’s using Wifi to browse a PC running usbhoststfs and pretending it’s actually an ‘internal HDD’, or I’m misunderstanding the claim being made.
That said, the Datel 4Gb drive supposedly uses a special CF>MSDUO adaptor board and a CF microdrive. Since IDE and CF are pin-compatible, why can’t we just hook up a similar adaptor (IDE > CF > MSDUO) and supply an external power pack for the drive?
Would there be file system limitations?
Hmm, you can pick those things up for about £40 now. Might be worth a play :)
invalid hostname did you use one of those so called “free hosts” and it got shut down?
This is total BS and the people who called it fishy my hats are off to you.
http://www.acidmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=13380.0
Posts from the original poster on that thread:
“cost me nothing to make because my friend gave me parts. should be around 50-80usd total. bear in mind that a 8gb pro duo cost 90-100usd”
“eh theres a lot of steps. ill do it when i feel like it. right now im working on making the psp a usb host”
“it has a solid state hdd”
This looking like a prank to me… $80 total with a 30GB SSD. Working on getting it to use USB host, but that seems to be the only way this could work.
Alexander: can you link the details on how to use USB host on the PSP? all I can find is USBHostFS, which runs on a PC to connect to the PSP, not using mass storage directly
tom61…
i was wrong about the usb host…well more confused then wrong mostly because i haven’t used USB host for such a long time or very often.
Its called USB host in the PSP firmwares and add-on but they DO NOT make your PSP a host device.
using IRShell or M33 you can access a Hard Drive on another computer as a guest device (as you and a few other people pointed out) but you CANNOT directly connect to a USB drive. I have tried connecting my 160GB WD Passport drive (it is powered through USB) and guess what…nothing happens. The PSP can use the USB as an expansion port for peripherals, but it can’t (to the best of my knowledge) put out the power the run my pocket sized wd passport.
Unless this guy is powering his drive, and i don’t think it would matter if it was SSD or HDD, then it should drain the power on the PSP in about 20 minutes(or something).
Why it won’t work…
the picture…come on’
The power…it would eat the 2600mh battery alive
the software…its simply not capable
the psp itself…even if you gutted the UMD drive and a few other components, it would still be like the to stuff Oprah into Anne Heche.
i keep coming back to this page to see if it has been demystified…but until someone puts out i am sticking to my first response that this is garbage.
Wow. He might have actually gotten this to work, and for the price stated too…
In a thread where he was humorously trying get a MemoryStick reader to work backwards (despite knowing about the differences between host and client USB), he posted this little tidbit:
“i should look at the Vinculum VNCL1 USB host chip, and the accompanying prototyping modules like the VDIP1.
The VDIP1 will interface to any microcontroller via a serial port and allow you to plug in and read a USB memory/storage device”
I keep forgetting about these fun little chips. The same chip used by car stereos to read USB pen drives could be used with the PSP by modifying the software that lets you use data from a PC (USBHostFS? IRShell?) to communicate with this chip instead. Official peripherals that plug into the USB port on top are not USB, they communicate via serial, so using that port makes sense now.
earljr: The memory stick bus is very doable, see: http://www.ic2005.com/shop/product.php?productid=24
I was briefly looking into using an adapter like the one above (more than likely I’d use the SD card adapter that can be had for $20), and, pending there was a card reading chip and another chip emulating the memory stick, replacing the reading chip with a USB host chip like the VNCL1.
Maybe Im stupid, but I read somewhere that the PSP firmware/OS can’t read from a storage system larger then 4gb (hence why the commercially produced PSP hard-drive is only 4gb).
Sounds iffy to me, need at least a few more photos before I can believe it.
http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=40432
fishy…
Apparently (according to his other comments in that thread), he used a solid state HDD and an intermediate pcb to host the drive. I don’t know how much a 30 Gb solid state drives are, but I’m sure they’re prohibitively expensive. This is a comment that a mod in that forum left:
“The harddrive used for this costs 300$, even though he said I was talking about the wrong hard drive, he was unable to just answer the question what the correct harddrive would be needed. So kids, aparently it’s not a SSD, but at the same time a SSD. Don’t ask me why he can’t.”
There’s no way a laptop HDD would fit in the back of a PSP. A micro HDD (like in a mp3 player) might fit, and might work if an intermediate pcb was used, like he claims. Seems really fishy
Jack it seems that a normal PSP with the latest firmware can address at least an 8GB Memory Stick, so that is likely old information. Much larger PC based storage can be done with USBHostFS.
ReKli, this guy is really random, and I have no idea why he was barking up that tree at all… What I posted seems the most probable way he did it, and it seems that he has the software skills to pull it off, based off some of his other posts on acidmods.
I do not believe this mod works the way he says it. and I don’t think its real…… 1.) The USB on the PSP will not supply power to any peripheral. 2.) Why would a real hacker use the usb when you can rig up the IDE cable for the lazer. (yes I know its read only, but I would also rig a passover for the USB. Why gut it then not put a crossover for the usb it’s way too simple, even with time constraints.
P.S. he probably didn’t use a laptop HD (if he did this for real) but a Ipod HD or flash…. No I’ve never done this, but with flash it would be swappable with a umd half the time…..
Am I the only one who noticed crappy pics?
seriously, it’s a psp with a usb cord sticking out of what appears to be a hole in the umd bay . I mean what the heck, he couldn’t have at least opened at umb bay to see how he got this “hard drive” inside? Such lack of info too. And good god, all the ass-kissing on those forums. YUck.
I’am calling this one two its not real. If yo had enough skill to strip the umd on the psp then you’d have enough skill to sort out the adaptor. Coupled with the power arrangments. and final some places he’s claimed hes useing an SSD and others an ipod.
u can just steel a mem stick from super stor
memory allocation would be a challenge, but the fitment of a 1.8″ drive would not. The UMD door is dimensionally larger than the hard drive (Toshiba units found on iPod Videos, Cowan iAudios, and Dell D430 laptops) and the cavity is deep enough.
first, the hard drive would fit if u gutted the umd drive.second all u would need is the IR Shell. The only problem is the fact that the hard drive would use up the battery within 15 to 25 min. so thats a bitch…
so… i agree totally fishy. however, it got me thinking. can this actually be done?
i’m new to the psp mod arena and don’t understand as much as many others. my hope is that my ignorance and newbie-ism can be beneficial. enough introduction.
fact: new laptops can now boot an operating system off of a usb.
question: could the psp do something similar?
fact: the psp can hook directly to a running comp. via usb. to play its games on the screen, transfer data etc.
question: could a portable, battery operated, “computer” be created to work with the psp in the same way a desktop/laptop could?
said “computer” seems reasonable. i’m thinking it should have no additional screen, or interface besides the psp.
essentially, could we figure out how to make a solid-state hard drive that would boot to an operating system without using a motherboard, processor, keyboard, monitor blah blah blah.
anyone negative comments, or “you’re dumb” comments can go outside and play hide and go ____ yourself.
love, chris
Just get one of the portable battery operated HD’s with all of the memory cards on them so you can swap files as needed. For $150 you can get an 80G unit.
Need some movies? Clear space on your 2G Memory stick, plop it in the device, copy the movie you want, poke it back in the psp, enjoy!
No need for a computer and 80G will hold a lot of movies, music, and iso’s
http://forums.avault.com/archive/index.php/t-7749.html
here’s the link. it might not be how this project was accomplished. but, for us novice types this REALLY does work. enjoy!!!
:)
here’s a cuh-buh-gillion right angled usb cords. buy and splice!
word to your mother,
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=right+angle+usb&btnG=Search+Images
looks gay as hell…
8Gig Duo cards are around £10 each now. Buy 10 to give you 80Gig storage for £100. Wire them all together, stick one end in the MagicGate slot and neatly cram the others into the gutted UMD slot with a button switch (neatly located on the PSP housing) wired to a simple circuit to select the cards sequentially (like the old compressed PSX memory cards). A tad expensive but simple and 100% achievable using basic electrics. A relay could be added so that the cards cannot accidentally be switched until a certain period of inactivity (a few seconds or so?) – to prevent data loss. A new 8Gig card can be added as and when funds allow – and that UMD slot can hold a lot of pro duo cards ;) Muahahahaahaaaaaa!!
I was most impressed by one single line of information.
That was “word to your mother”
Thankyou
y r yall so worried about weter or not it works. at least he took the time to do somethin with his life besides doubt other people
Mkay, many of the newer iopds are using CF size HDD so size is no longer an issue. As for power, the IPOD and the PSP run on virtually the same amount of juice so granted with the addition of a HDD IF being accessed continuously would deplete the battery in a shorter period of time an extra capcity battery could be purchased. As for the UMD, if you don’t plan on using it for the typical gaming then removal is fine and I’m sure there is an adapter to go between the CF drive and the UMD plugin. Noone ever said all this fun stuff was easy or quick just realistic.
you should check this guys psp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZydvrWHg0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2FCustom-PSP2000-LEDS-64GIG-internal-memory-red-white_W0QQitemZ110400347720QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games%3Fhash&feature=player_embedded
im pretty sure this is doable
text me at 972 897 7113 if u know how to do this
What kind of moron posts their mobile phone number on an extremely public website for the world to see (and spam)?
someone should post on instructables how to do either one of those. I myself will also look into it. Id prefer a whole hard drive. but ill look at both. plus if I did the hard drive, Id also find another alternate way to poser it, besides sucking the psp battery out.
Hello I’m still new to the psp hacking scene so bear with me because this is a pretty simplistic idea but anyways. Shouldn’t it be possible to remove the umd device completely and fill the bay with multiple memory sticks chained together like was earlier said the old psp memory card way and have a button or something to switch between the cards and use CFW programed to alter the code or whatever that reads the memory stick to be able to switch between the cards or use them as one.
Can someone tell me if this is even possible or not because I’m pretty sure thats what he has done in the last video.
Sorry for double post but It just hit me that it would make sense that the seperate cards could be read as diffent sectors on the same device sort of how a normal HDD uses different disks.
With the new 32gb pro duos your psp could theoreticly have 100s of gigs of storage and be able to upgrade or downgrade the amount of memory space to whatever you like.
Plus since the pro duos are pretty small you could carry even more and swap them out making the amount of available space virtually limitless in the same amount of space as a normal umd carrying case.
Now if someone could think of a way to upgrade the Ram or whatever it’s called on the psp that would be truly amazing.
There is approximately 1mm between the screen, and the case, also there is also approx 1/mm between the mini usb port on the motherboard this means that this mod can be done internally. there is also about 3mm of space inside the UMD part of the housing this is plenty of room to make this entire mod and internal one. this can either be one of two things. the usb could be either hard wired to the mother board and connected via wires, or that a female adult usb port could be placed in the indented part of the UMD drive cavity. None the less this is a great and probably the most practical mod. (all casings and housings must be removed from both the female usb and all attachments such as the flash stick.)
>Okay, The PSP’s UMD Drive can be removed, It’s been done a hundred times before.
>An Ipod HDD Is small, So it will fit into the PSP’s UMD Drive (I have already done this even with the interals of the drive present)
>Okay he took a USB cord and cut the end of it and placed it inside the UMD drive of the PSP?
Sure, All the hardware can fit. It isn’t a laptop hdd. It is an Ipod HDD. You can’t just take a Ipod HDD (or similar) And wire it up to the USB port of the PSP.
The PSP does not interface through it’s USB port the way some are thinking, It use’s 2 Type’s (A and B) A for USB Mass storage which your PC reads, and B to send data in to the PC and out of the PSP.
The PSP Does not Support USB-HOST as you guys think (and as some have already explained)
IRShell only reads USBHostFs if it’s being run on a PC, Unless you made an advanced micro controller to run the USBHostFS like a PC and wired the Ipod HDD to that micro controller (let alone actually having it read as a usb mass storage device) You’d also have to wire the PSP to the microcontroller.
That’s the only way possible, and to top that all off. You couldn’t use the hardware anyways as the PSP by default use’s Type-A in USB mode to read data so you couldn’t even read the info thats on the HDD let alone transfer it?
It’s a hoax. The PSP’s Firmware can only do so much, Especially when it comes to adding on hardware.
I think I modded mine wrong. It made a little popping noise and a mysterious substance got onto my hand. Suspecting it was acid, I washed it off. No burn! :)
This cannot be done in this way… the users who created this mod faked it and was banned from acidmods.com you can check their site for verification.. Currently you can only do either 32GB with an sd mod or if you want a hdd you’ll need an nslu2 network device with modded firmware to be the usbhost.. .too big to internalize