Yeah, you've got to get Media Go to recognize the PSP. If you need detailed instructions of how to get Media Go talking with your PSP consult Google, but the basics are this:
- Start Media Go
- Plug in PSP via USB
- On the PSP go to Settings > USB Connection
- USB Mode should enable
- You will see a PSP option in Media Go like this if it is working:
Once Media Go recognizes the PSP click on PSP > Games from the drop down and all the games you have installed should be listed.
To back up a game to your PC all you have to do is right click it and add it to your library. It is really similar to working with an ipod and itunes. After adding a game to your library you should be able to click on Library > Games (in the left menu) and see the game you added.
This is where things get a little weird for me. I have a NAS (Network Attached Storage, essentially a tiny box of hard drives for storing loads of data). The short of it is this means that managing one giant library of all my games would be a pain. So instead I add a single game to my library, back it up to my NAS, and then clear out my library. Turning the library feature in Media Go into a staging area for moving games up or down from the PSP.
Here is the steps of what exactly I do. If you want the reasoning for this madness, or more details about particular steps, check out the paragraphs at the bottom.
- Add one game from PSP to Library. I'll be using Bermuda Triangle (seen above)
- Confirm only that one game is listed in Library > Games
- Right click on the game in library and select 'Explore Containing Folder'
- Move up the directory until you get to the 'Media Go' folder.
- This will probably have 2 folders inside of it, 'AutoBackup' and 'PSP'. PSP is the one we care about. AutoBackup contains your licenses and is also important, more on that below.
- Create a folder in the location you want to permanently backup the game.
- Rename the folder to the game name. In my example, 'Bermuda Triangle'
- Copy the PSP folder into the new 'Bermuda Triangle' folder.
- Go back into Media Go and delete the game from your Library. Choose Delete File from the pop up so it deletes it from the disk as well. (Make sure you are in your Library and not in PSP or else it will delete it from your PSP)
- If you want to confirm the back up worked you should be able to copy the PSP folder back into the Media Go folder.
- Flip back to the Media Go application and you should see the game show up in the Library. Just delete it again once you've confirmed.
I went through this process a few times with small games doing various experiments. I recommend doing the same to get more comfortable before doing 700+ MB games, just so a silly mistake doesn't force you to start over or redownload a massive game.
OK, that is a lot of stuff and probably kind of confusing so allow me to explain some things. You can do a select all and back up all your games to your library, and I am sure that is what most people do. That is fine. Since I am backing these up as more of a permanent storage I don't want it hanging around stealing a bunch of hard drive space, and I don't want to have to worry that if my computer crashes or my drive fails that I lost my entire digital library.
Backing up the entire library as 1 game was the most flexible way I found to be able to swap in and out a game over a network to different computers. I tried a bunch of stuff like forcing Media Go to use a network drive to manage its library and it just didn't work out. The way it is now, I go to my network, copy the PSP folder in Castlevania down to the Media Go folder. Click Add To > PSP in the application. Done. I am ready to Castlevania. It works for me, find whatever works for you.
LICENSES!
Media Go has a decently involved library file structure so I'll try and keep this as straight to the point as possible. In the Media Go folder where there are the AutoBackup and PSP folders, if you dig around in the AutoBackup folder you will find a bunch of weird license files. If Sony ever does kill all methods of authenticating your games as legit these files are going to be VERY important. In short this is what allows the PSP to decrypt the weird .PBP files you've been backing up and without them your backups are worthless. I make a separate backup of the entire folder every so often just to make sure I've grabbed any new licenses from new games. Don't forget them! (Also probably goes without saying but just to be sure, don't share your license files!)
That was a buttload of info, sorry if any of it was confusing and I am sure I screwed something up. If you are stuck or unsure on anything ask away and I'll clear up what I can.
edit: I guess I should add that now that I realize you can download directly from the store in Media Go my backup process will probably not include plugging in the PSP at all anymore. But I'm gonna have to do a bunch of tests first to make sure games, patches, DLC, saves, licenses, so on.. all plays nicely with swapping. I'll have to confirm that downloading a game from Media Go and backing it up is identical to downloading it on PSP or PS3.
edit2: nope, scratch that. You have to have the PSP plugged in to download the game. It will only let you download directly to the PSP, not into your library. Weird, oh well.
