So you’ve got a stack of you Original PSP Games and you don’t have place for UMDs in your pocket. What do you do? With the release of Dark Alex’s Custom firmwares, you don’t have to bring all your bulky UMDs wherever you and your PSP go. The power of having backups is in your hands. So how do we backup our UMDs? How do we convert them to PSP ISOs? How do we dump your UMD into an ISO image? How do we convert UMD into ISO?

That’s what I’m here to share with you guys. Read along and in a few minutes you’ll be backing up our UMDs in no sweat.

Requirements:

1. A PSP with custom firmware 3.52 M33 (or higher) or 3.71 M33 (or higher)
2. UMD - Universal Media Disc
3. USB Cable

Instructions:

1. Be sure you have the VSH menu enabled. To enable the VshMenu, shutdown your PSP and restart it while holding the R button. it will bring you to the recovery mode. Go to configuration -> Use VshMenu and enable it. Once enabled, you may exit the recovery mode.
2. You will be taken to the XMB. For 3.71 M33 PSPs, press SELECT to bring up the VshMenu. For 3.52 M33 PSPs, press the HOME button to bring up the VshMenu.
3. On the VshMenu, go to USB Device and toggle the values by using the left and right directional buttons until it the value is UMD Disc. Exit the VshMenu.
4. Now connect your PSP to the computer using a USB Cable. On your XMB Go to Settings>USB Connection then the drive will pop up and you’ll see your ISO file from your UMD. Copy it onto your computer and rename the file to the title of the game. That’s it! Now you have backed up your PSP game from the UMD. You may now copy the ISO file to your memory stick and leave your UMDs at home. Easy as eating pie.

I hope you’ve learned something new. Well the next thing I’ll write about is how to compress your PSP Roms and ISOs.

As I promised Fat Of The Land and a lot more other people around the net, I’ll be writing a guide on the installation of 3.52 M33-4 custom firmware for the PSP. If you’re wondering what in the world 3.52 M33-4 is, it’s a custom firmware built by russian hackers that enables you to play homebrew and also enjoy the features of the official 3.52 sony firmware.

Before we begin with the process, here are a few simple things to do first.

Check your existing PSP Firmware.

On your XMB (Cross Media Bar), go to Settings > System Settings > System Information. Press circle or x (it depends on what PSP version you have) to view your existing firmware. If you have a 1.5 or any custom OE/SE firmware, you are in luck. You can proceed to the next step, otherwise, you must downgrade your PSP first. I suggest you use Pandora’s battery for the downgrade.

Obtain a USB Cable

If you don’t know what a USB cable is, I assure you won’t be successful with the installation. A USB cable is a connectivity tool between your PC/Mac and PSP.

Download the 3.52 M33-4 Installer Package

I packed all the files into a RAR file so you won’t have any trouble locating the files around the net. After downloading the file, unpack it using WinRAR. I’ve separated each step into separate folders so everything will be organized.

Download the 3.52 M33-4 installer pack.

Check Your Battery

I suggest you must have more than 75% battery to avoid bricking. And also plugin the adaptor.

If you have correctly followed the few simple steps above, then we are ready to go on to the installation process.

Warning: I have succesedfully installed 3.52 M33 on 3 PSPs already but there is a slight chance of bricking your PSP, only if you won’t follow the instructions step by step. Don’t worry if you brick your PSP, you can always use Pandora’s battery.

3.52 M33-4 Installation Procedures

1. If you have are running on an OE or SE custom firmware, SKIP this step and proceed to STEP 2. Connect your PSP to your computer. Open the STEP 1 folder and copy kxploitpatcher and kxploitpatcher% folders to ms0:/PSP/GAME/. Disconnect your PSP from your computer and then on the XMB go to GAME > Memory Stick > KXploit Permanent Patcher. Run it. Once done, delete the kxploitpatcher and kxploitpatcher% folder from your ms0:/PSP/GAME/ folder. Proceed to next step.
2. Connect your PSP to your computer. Open STEP 2 folder then copy the M33CREATOR folder to your “ms0:/PSP/GAME” (for 1.50 Firmwares) or “ms0:/PSP/GAME150″ (for SE/OE Firmwares). Disconnect your PSP from your computer then on the XMB menu go to GAMES > Memory Stick and execute 3.52 M33 CREATOR. For noobs, the screen will normally go black so don’t panic. Once the process is finished it will automatically go back to the XMB.On your XMB, go again to GAMES > Memory Stick on your PSP, and execute 3.52 M33UPDATE. You’ll have to press X at your own risk to agree to the installation. Don’t you turn off your PSP until the process is complete or you’ll end up bricking it. When finished, you’ll have to press X again and reboot your PSP manually. Reboot by turning of your PSP and then turning it on again.You’ll then have a 3.52 M33 PSP. You can now delete the M33CREATOR folder form your “ms0:/PSP/GAME” folder on your PSP.
3. Open STEP 3 folder and then copy M33Update4 folder to mso:/PSP/GAME150. On your XMB menu go to GAMES > Memory Stick then execute the update. After the update you will be back on the XMB and you now have 3.52 M33-4 PSP. Delete the M33Update4 folder from mso:/PSP/GAME150. From the STEP 3 folder, copy the seplugins folder to the root of your memory stick.
4. Turn off your PSP then turn it on again while pressing the R button. This will take you to the recovery menu. Go to Plugins and enable popsloader by pressing x. After enabling it, go to back and then exit.
5. Enjoy your PSP 3.52 M33-4!

You have PSP 3.52 M33-4, now what? Get those cool homebrew apps! You can either stick with this firmware for some time or upgrade it to 3.71 M33. I had mine installed with 3.71 M33 already and I say it’s really cool. There are new features like changing themes from XMB and a new kind of Video search.

Special credits go to Dark_Alex (he is the M33 team) M33 team, the Russian Hackers who created this neat piece of software. Please do check out his website for the latest updates.

UPDATE: After installing this firmware, you’ll probably be wanting to install 3.71 M33. So here’s the 4 Easy steps on installing 3.71 M33 on your PSP.