A new way of storing your content has been developed in order to move away from Sony’s proprietary PS Vita memory card. You can now use a Micro SD card to store all of your homebrew and game content. Though this takes some setting up, this is the preferred way of storage. This SD2Vita tutorial will help you set up an SD2Vita adapter using the newest homebrew plugin, StorageMgr. StorageMgr has improved compatibility over the previous SD2Vita plugin.
The SD2Vita adapter uses your PS Vita game card slot so if you play a lot of physical Vita game cartridges it may be inconvenient for you. Personally, I think the ability to use a MicroSD card (up to 256 GB) outweighs that fact. Plus, at the end of this tutorial you’ll find information to help you install your physical Vita games onto your MicroSD card.
What you need
1. Hacked PS Vita on HENkaku Enso Custom Firmware / h-encore / h-encore 2
If your PS Vita is hacked, continue with the tutorial.
2. An SD2Vita adapter
Version 3.0 and 5.0 of the SD2Vita adapter are the latest and greatest versions of the adapter. Any SD2Vita adapter older than v3.0 is not recommended.
My advice: Buy either version 3.0 or version 5.0. They are known by the PS Vita hacking community to be made of higher quality materials than previous versions. Additionally, they support the spring loaded mechanism so you are able to eject the SD2Vita itself and your micro SD card without fuss.
I own both 3.0 and 5.0 versions of SD2Vita. I’ve bought two bad SD2Vita 3.0 adapters that were dead on arrival. The first SD2Vita 5.0 I purchased arrived and worked fine. To be safe, I recommend buying several adapters (2 or 3) at the same time in case one arrives broken.
I also recommend buying from eBay because you can choose a seller that ships from the US. If you use AliExpress, though cheaper, your package will take a full month to arrive from China.
SD2Vita 5.0
- SD2Vita 5.0 (eBay)
- SD2Vita 5.0 (Amazon)
- SD2Vita 5.0 (AliExpress)
SD2Vita 3.0
- SD2Vita 3.0 (eBay)
- SD2Vita 3.0 (Amazon)
- SD2Vita 3.0 (AliExpress)
3. A micro SD Card (SD2Vita supports up to 256 GB)
- MicroSD Card (Amazon)
- MicroSD Card (eBay)
How to set up SD2Vita Tutorial Instructions
Part 1. Format your micro SD card
Insert your micro SD card into your computer and follow the Windows, Mac, or Linux directions below.
For Windows and Linux: Download the zzBlank .img file first
- Download the latest release of Win32 Disk Imager
- Download the zzBlank .img file if you haven’t already
- Open Win32 Disk Imager and select zzBlank.img that you downloaded earlier from your computer
- Select your microSD and click Write
- Take your microSD card out of your computer and put it back in
- Windows will prompt you to format your card. Use these settings.
- File System: exFat
- Allocation Unit Size: Default Allocation Size
- Do not put a volume label. Leave blank.
- Enable Quick Format if you wish
- Wait patiently for the formatting process to complete. When it’s done, click “OK” and close the format window.
- Set your micro SD card aside for now and continue to part 2 of this tutorial.
1. Go to Disk Utility > Select Card > Partition > Options > MBR > 1 partition > exFAT
2. Wait for the formatting process to finish.
3. Set your micro SD card aside for now and continue to part 2 of this tutorial.
1. Find the whole-device node (usually /dev/sdx)
- If you’re unsure, use the
mount
command
2. Unmount all partitions, but don’t eject the microSD
1 |
umount /dev/sdx |
3. Use the dd
command to write zzBlank.img to the card
1 |
dd if=/path/zzBlank.img of=/dev/sdx |
4. Take out the micro SD card and put it in again
5. Create a new MBR (msdos) partition table, an exFAT partition, and format that partition
1 |
mkfs.exfat /dev/sdx |
6. Wait for the formatting process to finish.
7. Set your micro SD card aside for now and continue to part 2 of this tutorial.
Part 2. Install the StorageMgr plugin on your PS Vita
Required Downloads
- An FTP client such as FileZilla
- The latest release of StorageMgr
- On the page above, download the latest storagemgr.skprx and storage_config.txt files
Instructions
- On your computer, open the storage_config.txt file in a text editor (such as Notepad) and edit it according to the guidelines below:
Configuration guidelines:
- MCD refers to the official Sony Memory card.
MCD=uma0
should be kept as-is if you plan to keep a Sony memory card in your device, and removed otherwise - INT refers to the internal memory (1GB on PSVita Slim/PS TV).
INT=imc0
should be kept as-is for PS Vita 2000 and PS TV users, and removed for PS Vita 1000 users - GCD refers to the micro SD card inserted into an SD2Vita adapter.
GCD=ux0
should be kept as-is for SD2Vita users. PS TV and PSVD for PSVita 3G users should change this line toUMA=ux0
. - UMA refers to USB mass storage for PS TV or micro SD inserted into a PSVD for PSVita 3G.
UMA=grw0
should be removed unless you have multiple storage devices (in which case the device which is not assigned toux0:
should be assigned togrw0:
For example, the config file for a PS Vita 2000 (Slim) which has internal storage, a Sony memory card, and is using an SD2Vita adapter would look like this:
More information about mount points and guidelines can be found on the official StorageMgr readme. After you are done editing the file, save your changes and continue to step 2.
- Now that your config file is edited, launch the Vita Shell app on your PS Vita and press START to access the settings
- In the settings menu press SELECT to change the mode to FTP. Press CIRCLE to close the Vita Shell settings
- If you prefer to use USB mode, you will need to connect your PS Vita to your PC via a USB cable. Keep in mind, some files will be hidden if you use USB mode with Windows. You must enable hidden files in Windows.
- Press SELECT to enable FTP access for your PS Vita
- Open your FTP software on your computer and enter the IP address and Port displayed on the PS Vita. You should now be connected to your PS Vita via FTP.
- Using your FTP client, copy all files from
ux0:tai/
tour0:tai/
- Overwrite any existing files in the
ur0:tai/
folder - If you do not have a
ux0:tai/
folder, skip this step
- Overwrite any existing files in the
- If it exists, delete gamesd.skprx and usbmc.skprx or any other storage plugin from
ur0:tai/
- Transfer storagemgr.skprx to the
ur0:tai/
folder - Transfer your storage_config.txt to the
ur0:tai/
folder - Open
ur0:tai/config.txt
text file. For any paths inur0:tai/config.txt
which containux0:tai/
, replaceux0:tai/
withur0:tai/
- If you did not have a
ux0:tai/
folder, skip this step
- If you did not have a
- Next, add the following line to
ur0:tai/config.txt
under the *KERNEL line:ur0:tai/storagemgr.skprx
- Delete the
ux0:tai/
folder.
Part 3. Transfer data and final steps
- Backup your Sony Memory Card (ux0 folder) to your computer using VitaShell via USB or FTP
- WARNING: If you’re using the USB method, make sure you have hidden files enabled and hidden operating system files enabled. This is a very important step necessary to make a full backup of your Vita Memory Card.
- This process may take a while, depending on how much data is on your memory card.
- Insert your micro SD card into your computer. Next, copy the contents of ux0 onto your micro SD card. This will copy your Sony memory card backup to your new storage device (micro SD card).
- Do not copy the ux0 folder itself to your micro SD card. Copy the contents of the folder over to your micro SD card.
- This process may take a while, depending on how much data is on your memory card.
- Insert your micro SD card into the SD2Vita adapter. Reboot your PS Vita with the SD2Vita adapter inserted into the game card slot.
What’s Next?
Congrats! At this point your Vita should have rebooted and recognized your SD2Vita adapter. The Orange LED next to the adapter should blink, indicating it is reading files stored on your micro SD card. Additionally, If you go into Vita Shell, your adapter is mapped to ux0 now.
Now you are free to install homebrew, PS Vita, PSP games, PSX games, etc. with your increased amount of storage.
If your PS Vita did not recognize the SD2Vita adapter
- If you are not on HENkaku Enso custom firmware (CFW) you will need to re-run your exploit (HENkaku or h-encore / h-encore 2)
- You may have received a faulty SD2Vita adapter. Sadly, some of these malfunction and are dead on arrival. Please try another SD2Vita adapter and reboot the system.
How to Install Homebrew and Games on your SD2Vita adapter
I highly recommend checking out NoPayStation. As the name implies, you are able to download PS Vita, PSP, PSX games free (if you own the license) directly from Sony’s servers. Check out the official tutorial here as well as the official site.
Visit the PS Vita Hacking Guide home page to check out what else you can do