[Glowball1]

Originally Posted by Katnip I will try that once i get my enclosing tomorrow. I'll google how to recover those bad sectors (im new to this kind of thing). Hopefully i don't mess this process up. Thanks hellsing and glowball! I'll give you an update once i get my enclosing By the way here are more things that i noticed from my PS3. 1.) PS3 would not respond to the controller when trying to power the system on, i have to do it manually via the on switch in front. There is, however, no red/yellow blinking, its just a normal start up. 2.) When starting it up, i would get the said error "Cannot Start. Correct hard disk not found", but with a black background (no swirls). I searched youtube and this guy had the same problem but his start up background has swirls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Gp5FoFKEltg). I don't know if its anything but i want to give you guys as much info as possible. 3.) Also, in the video posted above, the guy wants me to go through system restore to fix it, but i cant as i have mentioned before hand. Anyways thank you guys for helping. I'll keep you posted when i get my stuff tomorrow.

I can confirm that it is your ps3 internal settings (dev_flash 2) that is messed up fella. Because the bluetooth address for your controller (pad) is also stored there. Here is another snippet of my settings

I would recommend that you get that new hdd but do not mess with your old one just yet cus the ps3 encrypts the hdd so a pc program may think it's got bad sectors in good places if you know what I mean lol.

[Katnip]

@hellsing1
After reading this thread (http://community.eu.playstation.com/...t/td-p/4958411) I've switch the HDD that i am buying from Western Digital (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...le_1?ie=UTF8&m) to this Seagate one (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details). Although the thread that i linked to seemed to be old (4 years ago), they recommended using Seagate 2.5" Any GB 54000 RPM instead of a Western Digital one because of the same problem "Cannot start. Correct Hard Disk not Found". Its pricier and lesser in GB capacity than the Western Digital. Im going more for reliability so to speak.

@Glowball1

Its looking more and more like a problem with the internal settings based on the symptoms and the examples that you have posted.

Once again thank you both for helping me (and for future people who wants to chime in). Again, i'll get back to you guys when i receive my items tomorrow.

[hellsing9]

Glowball1 is right, if you know the drive is *half-dead* you can mess with that type of tools on windows, but it will mess up with the crypto and other things = No-go for the moment discard what i said.

Regarding the HDD I had no problems at all with Western but if you choose the Seagate it's and awesome purchase too.

Welcome, again keep us posted.

[Katnip]

UPDATE: I have received the items.

What i am going to do now is replace the old HDD with this new one then format it via the ps3, Then switch the old one back in and hope for the best.

UPDATE:
The method did not work. The new HDD was formated and everything was back to normal (but without the saves and other stuff). When i inserted the old HDD, the error still popped up so it is safe to conclude that the old HDD was the problem, but i still don't want to lose hope on those stuff that was on there, i stupidly did not back up my stuff, and here i am now.

I'll try VirtualLab Data Recovery, swissknife, and other recovery tools you guys recommend

UPDATE:
It is said that the PS3 has its own encryption thingy and that if you use an enclosure and insert the usb in your PC that the PC would not recognize the files inside the HDD since its encrypted. But you can, however, reformat via the Disk managment. I knew this info before hand, but i did not want to lose hope and lose all the data i have. I am trying now to research how to fix the bad sectors on the hdd (im encountering softwares like HDDregenerator, Spinrite, Low level Formatter, etc.....). So right now i'm organizing a step by step process on what to do. Maybe someone can light a path for me. Thank you very much

[Katnip]

Update:

So i have used HDD Regenerator 2011 to repair the bad sectors on the HDD.

I pre-scanned my HDD (Option 1)...

and found 1 bad sector...

...which is sector#181644544

I then proceeded to repair it using Option 2....

but got an error... (i think this causes the error, a bad MBR, i'll try to research about it)

Continued to scan...

Resulted in....


I then reinsterted this HDD to the PS3 HDD slot, but still gives me errors.

I will try Option 4....but according to here it could take days-weeks. This guy used SeaTools to fix his bad sectors and it worked.

Its getting late and i'll be heading to bed. I'll try more stuff tomorrow and keep you guys updated.

EDIT:
Here is more food for thought, this one is regarding spinrite

"STEVE: Exactly. It's the perfect solution. And I do have a neat note from a listener of ours, Philip Garrett, who wrote, in my quest to always find new SpinRite stories, "SpinRite Saves a PS3." Of course the PS3's been in the news a lot lately because of the backdoor stuff that's been happening, all of the hacking of the PS3. He said, "Sir or Madam: My PS3 Slim started acting flaky during a game add-on download on Sunday, February 20, 2011. The interface was sluggish and would momentarily freeze up. On Monday evening, when I arrived home from work, I attempted to turn the PS3 on, and it would only perform an incomplete boot before hanging up and freezing solid.

"I have two years' worth of game-saved files and other moderately important information on that hard drive, so it was important to me to repair it. I had a hunch that the problem was with the PS3's hard drive. I removed the hard drive from the unit and slaved it to my main machine. I inserted my SpinRite disk and rebooted the machine. SpinRite booted right up, and I was able to select the slaved drive and run SpinRite at Level 2. After 30 minutes, SpinRite completed its work and showed one unrecoverable sector. I crossed my fingers, hoping the drive had been repaired enough to properly boot. I placed the drive back into the PS3. The PS3 boots right up. I was able to immediately perform a backup of the data onto an external drive."

SOURCE: http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-289.txt

"Spinrite Story

52:52 - 54:12 Philip (Indiana)

Spinrite fixed a PS3 hard drive "

SOURCE: http://wiki.twit.tv/wiki/Security_Now_289

Thanks!

UPDATE:

Scanned with HDTUNE



Found 1 bad sector

UPDATE:

My theory as to why the HDD does not boot

1.) The Master Boot Record is damaged
2.) There is 1 bad sector
3.) Per glowball1, the ps3 internal settings dev_falsh2 is damaged

Please help if you know how to fix these. I am already trying a variety of ways. Will update more if i find something relevant

UPDATE:

Tried to do spinrite, but i get an error,

"spinrite final verification of its ability to safely read and write to this drive has failed!....." So i'll try on a different computer and hope it works.

UPDATE:

Found this site, its a PS3 HDD tool of some sort, worth a read if you know the logistics and technical stuff from it

[Katnip]

MAJOR UPDATE:

I have found my solution!!! Guess where it was? right there on the PS3 itself!!! When you get this error and tried to access system restore, it would prompt go back to the error again, BUT try going to system restore AGAIN (holding down the on/off switch button) this time make sure you have connected your controller with the usb to the ps3 and keep pressing (a lot!) the PS3 button. The system restore menu APPEARED. I was shouting and crying and all that good stuff.

MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT CHOOSE OPTION #5:
RESTORE PS3 SYSTEM

This will restore your system to original including, formatting and erasing all of the data on the HD and returnig all system settings to default. This will not take your system back to a previous Firmware release. Use this option as a last resort, unless you have nothing on the console that you want or you want to erase everything on the console, do not use this option.

Only choose options #2 and #3

Also MAKE SURE TO BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Thank you everyone who has participated in this thread. I hope this one helped you as much as i did.

God bless us all!!!
=================================
UPDATE:

I am now stuck in system restore loop!

Found this one thread, but do not know what he means (please read):

Note: This is a solution to a problem I had shortly after the PSN outage started. Now that I can sign-in, I'm posting it here in the hope that others with the same problem dont destroy their data before they've exhausted their options.


The problem

If you have an internal disk failure on a PS3 it is sometimes possible to recover (most of) your data depending on the nature of the fault.

The problem I had was some bad sectors on the disk. Bad sectors are areas of the disk that do not correctly store the data that was written to them. The result was that I got a black screen when switching the PS3 on and it would just get stuck there. Using the filesystem recovery option in the recovery menu was unsuccessful and resulted in it repeatedly attempting to recover the filesystem.

The theory
As you may know the internal disk is encrypted using a key that is unique to your PS3. As a result you cant simply connect the disk to a PC and expect your PC recover your data (it wont understand the disk).



Given the complexity of most encryption algorithms, the only viable way to recover your data is using the PS3 itself, which is a problem if the console wont boot.



Most computers have a means to deal with bad sectors by quietly re-mapping them to good sectors in the background and attempting to correct the bad data. Unfortunately the PS3 doesnt seem to do this properly (if at all), it seems that the filesystem recovery will repair the data in a bad sector and write it back to the same bad sector. This doesnt work and it gets stuck in the corrupt disk loop.



The solution is to make the sector good again by cloning the disk to a new one and running the recovery on the new disk. Note that the data is never decrypted and the PC will not understand the data but once we've finished, the PS3 will understand the new disk (since it has the decryption key).


How to do it

I'm only going to cover recovering using a Windows PC here since thats what I used. Linux/Mac users will have to adapt this for their own OS but this shouldnt be hard since I'm actually using Windows ports of standard Linux tools. I'm also going to assume that you are familiar with command line tools.



You will need:

a new hard disk that is compatible with a PS3 and is at least the same size as the corrupt one. It isnt worth using a bigger disk since this process does not support resizing the filesystem.
A way to connect this disk to a PC. I used an IOMAX External Enclosure for a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive.
dd for windows. You can get it from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd
Enough disk space to store a complete copy of the PS3 hard disk

A word of warning. The data dumper (dd) is a very powerful tool but it is also a very destructive tool if you make a mistake (it's often nicknamed the data destroyer because of how easy it is to make catastrophic mistakes). Only try this is you fully understand what you are doing or if you dont mind accidentally erasing a disk. If in doubt at any stage, STOP.



Identifying the disk

Start by taking the corrupt disk out of the PS3 and connecting it to the PC.
Open an admin command prompt. On WinXP click start..run, type cmd and click ok. On Win7 click start, type cmd, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, and say allow if when UAC prompts you.



Run: dd --list


You will get a list of the disks connected to your system. You are looking for a disk of the correct size (in bytes) named \\?\Device\HarddiskX\Partition0 where X is a number. In my case X was 7.



Extracting the data

Now you want to extract as much data as possible. This bit will vary a lot depending on where it fails so I will describe my case and you will have to work out the commands for your case. You will need to make a note of the block numbers and sizes used at each step since you will need them again later.


I ran:

dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-0M-xM.img bs=1M --size --progress
dd reports the last block that was successfully copied. In my case it failed while copying block 197753, so I renamed the file to ps3-image-0M-197752M.img and ran:
dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-197754M-xM.img bs=1M --size --progress skip=197754
this one failed while copying block 0 so I deleted the file and ran:
dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-197755M-xM.img bs=1M --size --progress skip=197755
this one completed successfully so I renamed the file to ps3-image-197755M-END.img. At this point I had everything except for 2 MB.



The next step was to minimise the missing data. I reduced my block size to 1KB (note that this means you have to multiply the block numbers by 1024) and ran:
dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-197753M+0K-xM.img bs=1k --size --progress skip=202499072 count=2048
this failed during block 796, so I renamed the file to ps3-image-197753+0K-197753M+795K.img and ran:
dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-197753M+797K-xM.img bs=1k --size --progress skip=202499869 count=1251
this failed during block 1178, so I renamed the file to ps3-image-197753+797K-197754M+951K.img and ran:
dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-197754M+952K-xM.img bs=1k --size --progress skip=202501048 count=72
this one failed while copying block 0 so I deleted the file and ran:
dd if=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 of=t:\ps3-image-197754M+953K-xM.img bs=1k --size --progress skip=202501049 count=71
this one succeeded, so I renamed the file to ps3-image-197754+953K-19775+0K.img



At this point I had everything except for 3KB. You could go down to 512B but I stopped at this point since I think 3KB is a small loss.



Restoring the data
Now swap the corrupt hard disk for the new one



You now need to put all the good data back in the right places. The commands will be approximately the same as the ones you used to copy the drive except that you need to swap 'if' and 'of', use seek instead of skip, and it is not necessary to use count or --size since dd can work it out from the input files.


In my case I used:
dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 if=t:\ps3-image-0M-197752M.img bs=1M --progress seek=0
dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 if=t:\ps3-image-197755M-END.img bs=1M --progress seek=197755
dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 if=t:\ps3-image-197753M+0K-197753M+795K.img bs=1k --progress seek=202499072
dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 if=t:\ps3-image-197753M+797K-197754M+951K.img bs=1k --progress seek=202499869
dd of=\\?\Device\Harddisk7\Partition0 if=t:\ps3-image-197754M+953K-19775M+0K.img bs=1k --progress seek=202501049



If they all succeeded then you have a new hard disk that is an exact copy of the corrupt one with random data where the corrupt disk was corrupt. This might not sound like an improvement, but the important point is that the bad sectors on the corrupt disk are now good sectors on the new disk (albeit with bad data in them).



Disconnect the new disk from the PC (dont forget to use the usual safe remove option) and put it in the PS3.



Enter the recovery menu. To do this, start with the PS3 in standby mode and hold the power button until it switches on and off again. Release the power button and hold it again. It will beep when you press it, beep again after a few seconds and double beep a few seconds later. Release the power button when you hear the double beep.


Pick the recover filesystem option and follow the prompts.
When it finishes, the PS3 will reboot. Hopefully it will be successful. If not there is either a more serious problem, or you have been unlucky with the exact position of the original disk corruption.



Note that even if it booting succeeds, its possible that some data has been lost or is still corrupt, so bear this in mind if you find that particular saves/files arent working properly.



Improvements

Linux users should be able to use dd_rescue to successfully copy more of the hard disk, much more easily than the process described above.

Source: http://community.eu.playstation.com/.../td-p/12842867

Since this is Ps3Hax, i am sure that there are knowledgeable people out there who knows what this guy wrote, that can enlighten me on what to do. I am stuck on this part and i need help really badly

[Katnip]

UPDATE:

Tried HDD Regenerator again, this time it "restored" the bad sector and now there is "none" remaining. Will try to insert it to the PS3 again to see if anything changes.





UPDATE: I FIXED IT WOOOOO!!! Guide is below

Take that Sony!

They told me i couldnt fix it and that i would lose all my stuff, but i never gave up and stayed up late researching and testing and i finally figured it out!!!!

[Katnip]

Introduction

So i have recently encountered a HDD problem. My game froze and nothing would respond so i had to use the switch off button at the back of my FAT PS3. An error popped up saying "Cannot Start. Correct hard disk not found", and it would continously loop to that prompt. I tried going to the System Restore but was not able to go there initially. I have read a lot (when i say a lot i mean A LOT) of threads/websites/blogs regarding HDD problems. They mostly say the same thing "Your HDD is toast/Kaput/damaged" and that you have to "reformat/Send in for Repair" that would eventually lead to the extinction of the DATA inside your HDD. But now i am here to tell you that THERE IS A SOLUTION and a way to retrieve back YOUR SAVE DATA THAT YOU HAVE WORKED FOR!!! It worked for me, and i am positive it will work for you.

Materials needed:

1. A SATA 2.5" HDD Enclosure
2. USB cable for the enclosure
   (Which should be included in the enclosure, but if its not, then you need one)
3. A PC/MAC (NOTE: I used a laptop running Windows 7)
4. A USB Drive with the Latest Update in (NOTE: I was not running any CFW , i used the latest firmware (OFW 4.11))
5. A Copy of "HDD Regenerator 2011" software (FULL VERSION)
6. The PS3 (working) that you used to initially format your HDD

Guide on how to Fix "Cannot Start. Correct hard disk not found" error, other HDD Problems, and the PS3 Restore Loop (3 in 1 Guide ):

Before beginning this process please assess which route you are going to take:

ROUTE #1 : "I do not care about my data (game saves etc.) and i am ok if it gets deleted" then go for the Restore PS3 System (NOTE: This will format your HDD and erase everything)

ROUTE #2 : "I don't think that my HDD is that faulty, maybe a HDD restoration would fix it and salvage all of my game saves" (NOTE: HDD restoration is not the same as the "Restore PS3 System route"!)

ROUTE #3 : "I want to save my data (all that hard work and stuff)" (NOTE: This route is probably why you are reading this guide!)

ALL ROUTES START HERE:

PS3 PART:

1.) Access the PS3 Recovery Menu

How to Access Playstation Recovery Menu

• Turn off Playstation®3.
• Hold The power button down; The system will turn on and turn off once again.
• Once the System has been shutdown, re-press you finger until you hear 2 consecutive beeps
• When you hear the 2 beeps take finger off power button.
• You will be promted to plug in your controller via usb and then hit the PS button
• The Recovery menu will pop up.

NOTE: Most people think that they CAN'T ACCESS the Recovery Menu on their PS3 and that the error would just go back repeatedly. Make sure to have a controller connected to your PS3, after hearing the 2nd beep press the PS Button repeatedly. It should stop blinking and 1 light should only appear on your controller. Look at the screen, and voila! you're in the Recovery Menu.

2.) In the Recovery menu, Choose Option #3 Restore File System. It will ask you to insert your USB (with the firmware update inside it).
For ROUTE #2 and ROUTE #3 only: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CHOOSE OPTION #5 RESTORE PS3 SYSTEM

For ROUTE #1: Instead of Option #3 choose Option #5 Restore PS3 System. The PS3 will reformat your HDD erasing EVERYTHING. Your HDD will be like new then just follow the prompt (just like when you first started using the PS3).
-THIS ENDS ROUTE #1-

For ROUTE #2 and ROUTE #3 read further:

3.) Follow the steps and you'll end up with "the hard disk's file system is corrupted and will be restored" prompt, Press "OK"

ROUTE #2: If this fixes your hardrive problems then you are done!. Just follow the prompts to get back the XMB. Make sure to BACK EVERYTHING UP!
- THIS ENDS ROUTE #2-

ROUTE #3: Now if this part repeats or loops (meaning it goes back to the error prompt and asks you to redo the prompt again), access the Recovery Menu again.

4.) In the Recovery menu, this time, choose Option #2 Restore Default Settings. (NOTE: This WILL DELETE your Inbox Messages and Playlists, nothing big so don't worry). Again the "the hard disk's file system is corrupted and will be restored" prompt will reappear again. You can press "OK" again ( i did this about 10+ times, you don't have to do it a lot of times, once or twice will do)
(NOTE: When you try to access Option #4 "Rebuild Database" in the Recovery Menu sometimes it will say "The hard disk cannot be accessed". This happened to me so i moved on and properly turned off my PS3 system and removed the power cable.)

PC/MAC PART:

Before starting this part i recommend switching "SATA OPERATIONS" from AHCI to ATA in your BIOS SETUP Menu

5.) When your PS3 system is finally turned off and the power cable is removed, Carefully take out your HDD from your PS3(NOTE: I have a 160 GB FAT model, The Slim model might have a different HDD location). If you do not know how to then please use google (not trying to be mean) or ask someone who knows how to, but a simple google search would do. (NOTE: Taking out your HDD will not Void any warranty)

6.) Carefully remove the HDD from the caddy tray (the metal casing used to insert the HDD inside the PS3). Insert the HDD into the HDD Enclosure. Screw the sides so that the HDD would not move around the enclosure.

7.) Insert the USB, that is connected to the HDD enclosure , to your PC/MAC.

6.) Run the full version of HDD Regenerator. (NOTE: I used Windows 7 and it allowed me to do the repairing without booting a CD/USB) When you get to this screen:

You can either choose Option #1 to pre-scan the HDD revealing the Bad sectors, then choosing Option #2 to repair it OR skip Option #1 altogether and Scan and Repair it using only Option #2 (NOTE: I pre-scanned it then chose Option #2, but if you want to save time choose only #2).

8.) You will get this screen:

OR

The top image is when the software finds a bad sector, the next one is if it repaired it. (NOTE: I initially was not able to repair my HDD BECAUSE i did not do any of the "PS3 Part" stated about, you must follow it before this software can repair your HDD. )
This was my result:


9.) If it is repaired, then you repaired your HDD!!! but the guide is not over yet so read carefully

10.) When the software is done scanning and repairing make sure to quit/exit the program first then Safely remove the USB (There should be a "Safely Remove Devices" button on the Windows 7 toolbar)

11.) Carefully take out your HDD from the enclosure, then carefully insert it again to the PS3 slot. Screw it, then put the side cover back on the PS3 (FAT model only i think)

12.) Power on your PS3, then it should say the "the hard disk's file system is corrupted and will be restored" prompt (you might feel discourage at this point because of the restore loop BUT DONT!).

13.)With the controller connected to the PS3 via the USB, Press "OK". Let it restore, BUT BEFORE IT FINISHES, remove the USB cable that is connecting the controller to the PS3 and keep pressing the PS Button (All of the Red lights should blink, THEN it will change to only 1 single red light)

14.) Voila! Its back up and running!!! (i saw the PS3 Dream Believe logo)

15.) It is going to prompt you for the Date/Time/Internet Connection etc. (NOTE: I forgot if it asked me for the USB DRIVE update since i was jumping for joy all over my house, but if it did then just follow the prompt)

16.) Your accounts will have an asterisks(*) beside them and you'll have to sign in (Existing User)

17.) LAST AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, BACK EVERYTHING UP!!!
-THIS ENDS ROUTE #3-

Other Stuff that i Tried before Succeeding:

Scanned HDD with HD TUNE:


Tried to used SpinRite but would not let me

Sorry for the bad quality pic

POST-Repair Concerns/Questions:
Q: I tried to back up my save files using a USB but the XMB would not allow me to copy it to the USB drive, only to a Playstation Plus Folder
A: This is because the developers of the game chose to copyright/protect the saves, meaning you would not be able to copy it from your ps3 to a usb. You could only transfer that to the "Playstation Plus Folder" or online Cloud drive (Whichever one you want to call it) if you are a Playstation Plus member. Your save files would be save to Sony's servers

Q: Ok so lets say i become a member of Playstation Plus, what will happen to the game saves a copied to the online cloud drive if my subscription EXPIRES?
A: I have search for this answer also. According to here (not an official source, but you can google this question for more info), you would not be able to access your save data on sony's cloud servers UNLESS you re-subscribe to Playstation Plus. The Save data will be available for only "six months" and if you do not re-subscribe within that time period then all of your saves that is on Sony's serves will be deleted.

Q: Help! where are the copy-righted save files that i copied to the online storage? I am trying to copy it to a new PS3/HDD but i could not find them
A: From what i have researched, it will take 24 hours before the saves that you copied to Sony's online servers to appear. Make sure that you are using the same account that you used to copy the saves to the online server.

-will add more as they come-

[playerkp420]

That is cool you've fixed it and recovered your data. I have been watching this thread from the start. I thought for sure you were gonna end up having to format the drive to fix it.

Good job. I'll have to keep this page bookmarked, in case I ever need to recover data from my ps3 hdd.

[Katnip]

Originally Posted by playerkp420 That is cool you've fixed it and recovered your data. I have been watching this thread from the start. I thought for sure you were gonna end up having to format the drive to fix it. Good job. I'll have to keep this page bookmarked, in case I ever need to recover data from my ps3 hdd.

Thank you very much. It took literally blood,sweat and tears to get this to work.

Moral Lesson: BACK UP EVERYTHING and DO NOT EVER GIVE UP ON TRYING!

Thanks to everyone who participated/lurked/bookmarked, and everyone on PS3HAX. I hope this guide can help someone in the future just like it helped me.