Internal/External Difference(s)

[Darkensteele]

Is one method better than the other? I notice some people put backups on an external while others use the ps3's internal hdd. When you are using one or the other, is the file placement the same? I believe when I backed-up mass effect 2 to my external I used the gamez folder in the root dev000(something close to that directory); simple enough (and the reason I used the external method). Reading different theads it appears to use the internal, the file structure is different?

[856534110967635]

im no professional on this subject, but from the experience of using both, neither really feels superior to the other. In some cases, you can't play certain games like rdr from external because of the whole 4gig limit thing. personally i try to put all my games on external (my internal only 160gig) plus i prefer copying folders manually as opposed to ftp.

Lots of people have noted stuttering on external/internal drives they had added to their ps3, but there's a whole thread of workarounds for that. Oddly enough rdr stutters like crazy on the internal that came with my ps3, so i think it varies for people depending on what's most convenient for them.

[Boxdgm]

From my experience almost any game will work internally, with the only 2 exceptions of the 30+ games ive backed up are Dead rising 2 and GTA Episodes from L.C. Those 2 will only work on external (without installing a .pkg xmb icon).

Most games will work on external but if it has any files over 4gb Like most sony games (gt5, kz2 gow collection) it will only work on internal.

So really one isnt better than the other ideally you will want both for 100% compatibility. Id get a bigger external than internal myself since externals tend to be cheaper and most games can be played from an either with a few exceptions.

On my ps3 i have the stock 160gb internal just for the games that will only fit on internal and a 500gb external for all the other games and games that only work for external.

[vrobec]

I think internal is the better solution. Loading times are shorter, no additional power is required from PS3 for the USB device. I'm going with 500GB internal (Samsung HM500JI), and 500GB external WD Elements SE.

[Darkensteele]

Thanks for the replies, but I'm still a little confused. What is the file structure for a backup on internal? I successfully installed mass effect 2 to my external, but cannot get anything to work when installed internally. So far these are the programs that I have installed on my ps3:

Backup manager (this does not seem to work or do anything as I get an error message so I'm going to delete it)
Multiman & Gia
Blackbox
app_home ps3 game (duh, don't remember why I installed this or what it does but I get the same error message when launching I get for backup manager)

I really appreciate everyone's patience and help. I've got a pretty good basic understanding but believe I can benefit from you experts out there . Thanks again.

[856534110967635]

first of all, backup manager is from the original psjailbreak, and those guys are long gone, so it wasn't designed for cfw (delete it). second, the file structure is the same, the paths are different. the problem youre describing i havent experienced, but here are some things to check for:

-is gamez the name for both internal/external directories? if not, i believe you must alter it to match

-you need to be using unmodded eboots for your games

-if your backup managers use diff patches (lv2/BDEMU.bin) and you use both without rebooting, your games won't work

if this isn't the problem or my suggestions dont work, please provide me with more information on your setup and i'll do my best to help