If you have a hacked PS Vita though (learn how to hack yours in this entry, there are some serious benefits to it), things get even more complicated, since you can’t update your firmware to access the PSN. This potentially leaves some Vita owners stuck with the games they had on their systems before the official firmware was updated. However, there is good news. With qCMA and a bit of work, you can back up the games on your hacked PS Vita and delete them from your device to make room for new ones, which in turn you can transfer to your Vita via your PS3 following the steps on our previous entry on this topic.
Don’t Back Up to Your PS3
With the process that follows, we’ll show you how to back up the games on your hacked PS Vita. These you can back up and store on a local hard drive, be it in your computer or even on an external drive. This is highly preferable to having these backups on your PS3, since connecting a hacked Vita to a PS3 for transferring games, while doable, requires a bit of extra work.
Information on Games and Saves
Now, before proceeding, let’s take a look at Content Manager on your Vita to know how much space both your games and save data are taking on your device. Important Note: The games that you have installed on your Vita via the hack (PSP, PS1 or emulator games) will not show listed in Content Manager (but they do take space). Usually, I tend to leave the save data of my games on my Vita, but since we’re trying to regain as much space as possible, we’ll also show you how to back up save files so you can safely delete them from your device. With all that behind us, let’s get to the steps to back up the games on your hacked PS Vita.
Games Downloaded from the PSN Store
You might have noticed by looking at Content Manager that native Vita games don’t have separate save files. That means that when it comes to a native Vita game, you will have to back up the whole thing since the saves are located inside the game files themselves.
Native Vita Games
Step 1: Connect your PS Vita to your computer via its USB cable using the qCMA app. Note: If you are having problems connecting, turn off the Wi-Fi on your PS Vita, then turn your device off. After that turn it back on and re-enable Wi-Fi. Step 2: Once you are connected, under Copy Content, select PS Vita System > PC and then Applications. Step 3: Next, under Applications, select PS Vita. Step 4: Then select the games you want to back up and copy them to your computer. Once the backup is done, you can safely delete the games from your PS Vita. Now, in the future, if you want to transfer the game back to your PS Vita, just connect it to your computer via qCMA again and repeat the steps shown above, except that this time, select PC > PS Vita System when prompted.
PSP and PS1 Games
Contrary to native Vita games, PSP and PS1 games handle their save data separately, which means that when you back up a PSP or PS1 game, you have to back up the game itself and its save data as well. The process is almost exactly the same though. Simply repeat the steps above except for Step 2. Instead, under Applications, select PSP/Other. Then continue by selecting your game and copying it to your computer as outlined previously. Now, to back up the Save files of your games, make sure you are connected to your computer via qCMA. Step 5: Next, under Save Data, select the type relevant to your game. Then select its data from the list and copy it to your computer. Once done, you can safely delete both the PSP game and its save files from your PS Vita. To transfer any of these games and their save files back to your PS Vita, just repeat the process above. However, remember to transfer both a game and its save files back to your Vita. Otherwise, you will have to start playing your game from scratch.
PlayStation Games Only Playable on Your Hacked PS Vita
These games include PSP and PS1 games, as well as their save files, which we showed you how to transfer to your hacked PS Vita in this entry. These games are not ‘viewable’ through the traditional PS Vita interface. In fact, you can only see them when you run a hack on your PS Vita, like TN-V. So you don’t need to actually back up these games, since you must have copies of them elsewhere that you can easily transfer to your hacked PS Vita using the FTP transfer method shown in another entry. Important Note: To play some PS1 and PSP games on your hacked PS Vita, you need game backups in the form of EBOOT or ISO files. Be warned though, these and any other emulators out there exist for game owners to be able to play backups of games they own and not to foster piracy, which is illegal. However, you are able to view these games’ save files on the normal Vita interface, so these you can back up/restore using the method shown above.
Back Up to an External Drive
One of the best things about backing up your games and saves using the method above, is that you don’t have to keep the games on your computer. You can easily back up everything to an external drive and only connect it to your computer whenever you perform a transfer. To do this, all you have to do is change the location of the games’ backups on qCMA. Open the app on your computer, head to its Settings and under Applications / Backups, select the folder on your external drive where you want your game and save backups to go (don’t forget to have your external drive connected for this, of course). One thing to note though – when storing your backups on an external drive, make sure to use the Refresh Database option on qCMA every time you connect your drive. And that’s about it. Now you can enjoy every game on your hacked PS Vita without worrying about memory storage. Have fun!
