Backstory:
Well I just signed up here to share my experience, I hope it can help others out as much as it did me. My console froze every once in a while, ultimately ending up with the corrupted save file. I scoured the web for an answer but no avail. So I started a fresh save game & slowly started picking back up, this time backing up onto a USB drive frequently. Trying to fix the constant freezing, I removed the GT game data (1.08) and kicked back to the game before patches. Oddly enough it has been pretty stable, although I miss a ton of features.... one being the ability to backup a save file, they are locked! The idea crossed my mind to use Comgenie's Awesome Filemanager to manually backup the files, after all it's just a file structure. I poked around on the internal ps3 hdd & came across the save file store. Even though its locked, Comgenie gives you full control of it. After a few times I got use to how the folder structure was & how there was a randomly named folder, most games start with 3 letters, BCU/BLU then 5 numbers. Investigating that obscure folder resulted in finding the same save file structure & names as my GT5 game folder, BINGO. First I backed up my regular GT5 data, then just copied over the GT5 file, that did NOT work. Next I changed the name of good GT save & renamed the corrupted file in its place. Copied it back over to the PS3 and it worked!
Requirements (that I know of):
-Must not have deleted the "unknown" file from your saved game utility in XMB
-Comgenie's Awesome Filemanager (implying Jailbroken/Custom Firmware)
-Get familiar with Awesome Filemanagers controls, left side copies to the right side - right side copies to the left side
-USB drive
-Backup your save data before doing anything. Use this at your own risk, it worked for me. I do not want to be responsible for you overwriting your save data with garbage
Steps:
Open Awesome Filemanager
on the left side find your savedata folder (Mine was located in dev_hdd0/home/00000002)
make sure your USB drive is plugged in, use the d-pad to switch the right side and open dev_usb00# <- # depends on which port you used
d-pad back to the left side, make sure that is highlighted yellow!! (the files your working with) and use O to copy the whole savedata folder to the USB
Plug your USB into your computer and browse the directory, disregard any "PS3" folder, that is where PS3 would backup your data if you used XMB and not Awesome File Manager. Make sure hidden files are shown, you should see the savedata folder, go into it. Now find your GT5 save; mine was named BCUS98114-GAME, check inside your folder to verify there is a GT5.0 file. Here would be a good time to copy the GT5 save to another location on your computer, you will need to backup the entire folder, not just the contents. Copy that folder name to the clipboard & rename that folder to something like currentGT5save. In my case BCUS98114-GAME to currentGT5save
Hunt down that "unknown" save, try to find a folder that looks more like gibberish than the others. Mine was called _UAS_2009010711505700724842 (I believe most of that is the date/time, yes my system date is off). Feel free to open the folder and check for a GT5.0 file, you can also double check to see if the KB size is larger than your previous folder. Rename the _UAS_gibberish & paste the exact name of your GT5 folder we copied to the clipboard
So now on your USB you should have a folder with your corrupt GT5 data but named the same as what your PS3 thinks is the default GT5 save. Bring you USB back to the PS3 and open up Awesome Filemanager
On the left side, go back to where you found your savedata folder before (Mine was located in dev_hdd0/home/00000002), this time go into the savedata folder. Press <Select> to enter Awesome Filemanagers Advanced mode. Press right on the d-pad to highlight the right side & open your dev_usb00#, open the savedata folder, and select your GT5 save game folder were imitating. Use O to copy back to the PS3. This overwrites the data GT5 was working on and puts the missing files back in their place
Boot up GT5 & test
If anything goes wrong, backtrack and get the save file you backed up to your computer back on the USB. Or rename the currentGT5save we made to what GT5 expects it to be. Then copy that back to the PS3 HDD
I do not know if there are levels of corruption beyond repair, but still worth a shot if you loose a lot of progress.
Well I just signed up here to share my experience, I hope it can help others out as much as it did me. My console froze every once in a while, ultimately ending up with the corrupted save file. I scoured the web for an answer but no avail. So I started a fresh save game & slowly started picking back up, this time backing up onto a USB drive frequently. Trying to fix the constant freezing, I removed the GT game data (1.08) and kicked back to the game before patches. Oddly enough it has been pretty stable, although I miss a ton of features.... one being the ability to backup a save file, they are locked! The idea crossed my mind to use Comgenie's Awesome Filemanager to manually backup the files, after all it's just a file structure. I poked around on the internal ps3 hdd & came across the save file store. Even though its locked, Comgenie gives you full control of it. After a few times I got use to how the folder structure was & how there was a randomly named folder, most games start with 3 letters, BCU/BLU then 5 numbers. Investigating that obscure folder resulted in finding the same save file structure & names as my GT5 game folder, BINGO. First I backed up my regular GT5 data, then just copied over the GT5 file, that did NOT work. Next I changed the name of good GT save & renamed the corrupted file in its place. Copied it back over to the PS3 and it worked!
Requirements (that I know of):
-Must not have deleted the "unknown" file from your saved game utility in XMB
-Comgenie's Awesome Filemanager (implying Jailbroken/Custom Firmware)
-Get familiar with Awesome Filemanagers controls, left side copies to the right side - right side copies to the left side
-USB drive
-Backup your save data before doing anything. Use this at your own risk, it worked for me. I do not want to be responsible for you overwriting your save data with garbage
Steps:
Open Awesome Filemanager
on the left side find your savedata folder (Mine was located in dev_hdd0/home/00000002)
make sure your USB drive is plugged in, use the d-pad to switch the right side and open dev_usb00# <- # depends on which port you used
d-pad back to the left side, make sure that is highlighted yellow!! (the files your working with) and use O to copy the whole savedata folder to the USB
Plug your USB into your computer and browse the directory, disregard any "PS3" folder, that is where PS3 would backup your data if you used XMB and not Awesome File Manager. Make sure hidden files are shown, you should see the savedata folder, go into it. Now find your GT5 save; mine was named BCUS98114-GAME, check inside your folder to verify there is a GT5.0 file. Here would be a good time to copy the GT5 save to another location on your computer, you will need to backup the entire folder, not just the contents. Copy that folder name to the clipboard & rename that folder to something like currentGT5save. In my case BCUS98114-GAME to currentGT5save
Hunt down that "unknown" save, try to find a folder that looks more like gibberish than the others. Mine was called _UAS_2009010711505700724842 (I believe most of that is the date/time, yes my system date is off). Feel free to open the folder and check for a GT5.0 file, you can also double check to see if the KB size is larger than your previous folder. Rename the _UAS_gibberish & paste the exact name of your GT5 folder we copied to the clipboard
So now on your USB you should have a folder with your corrupt GT5 data but named the same as what your PS3 thinks is the default GT5 save. Bring you USB back to the PS3 and open up Awesome Filemanager
On the left side, go back to where you found your savedata folder before (Mine was located in dev_hdd0/home/00000002), this time go into the savedata folder. Press <Select> to enter Awesome Filemanagers Advanced mode. Press right on the d-pad to highlight the right side & open your dev_usb00#, open the savedata folder, and select your GT5 save game folder were imitating. Use O to copy back to the PS3. This overwrites the data GT5 was working on and puts the missing files back in their place
Boot up GT5 & test
If anything goes wrong, backtrack and get the save file you backed up to your computer back on the USB. Or rename the currentGT5save we made to what GT5 expects it to be. Then copy that back to the PS3 HDD
I do not know if there are levels of corruption beyond repair, but still worth a shot if you loose a lot of progress.
