Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Apollo Save Tool itself is free and open-source, and money never changes our technical advice. Full details: Disclaimer.

SD2Vita is a small adapter that sits in the Vita’s game-card slot and holds a microSD card, which the homebrew environment then mounts as your main storage (ux0:). It’s the standard way to give a Vita a real library — Sony’s own memory cards top out small and pricey.

Adapter Versions

• SD2Vita adapters exist in versions (v3, v5, v6 and clones). Later versions improved fit in the card slot; v5/v6-style adapters with the spring-free, slim shell are the common recommendation, and a properly-fitting adapter matters because a card that loses contact mid-write corrupts data.
• They cost very little — adapters are the classic AliExpress purchase. Buy two; they’re small, cheap, and the spare ends arguments about whether the adapter or the card is at fault.

Which microSD Card

• Capacity: 128GB holds a serious Vita+PSP+PS1 library; 256GB is the comfort pick if price per GB is sane. Larger works with the right setup but indexing slows.
• Speed class: UHS-I U1/A1 or better is plenty — the Vita’s card bus is the bottleneck, not your card.
• Brands: buy known brands (Samsung, SanDisk, Kingston, Lexar-class) from the brand’s own storefront or a major retailer — Amazon microSD listings (sold-by-Amazon or the brand store) or AliExpress official brand stores only.

The Fake-Card Problem (Read This)

Counterfeit microSD cards — relabelled small cards that report fake capacities — are endemic on marketplaces, and a Vita library is the worst place to meet one: the card “works” until real data passes the true capacity, then saves silently corrupt. Protect yourself:

• If the price for the capacity looks impossible, it is.
• Test a new card on PC with a full write-and-verify tool (H2testw / F3) before trusting it with saves.
• Keep your Apollo exports backed up per the 3-2-1 routine — a fake card discovered late then costs you nothing but the card.

Setup Pointers

The Vita homebrew environment mounts SD2Vita via a storage manager plugin; once mounted as ux0:, Apollo reads and writes its normal paths (ux0:data/apollo/). Our used Vita buying guide covers choosing the console itself, and the Vita install guide takes it from there.

Marketplace prices move daily; we link categories and official stores rather than quoting numbers that will be wrong tomorrow.

Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Apollo Save Tool itself is free and open-source, and money never changes our technical advice. Full details: Disclaimer.

External storage on PS4 splits into two jobs that are easy to confuse: extended storage for installed games (a PS4 system feature), and plain file storage for packages, save exports and backups — Apollo’s world. Here’s how to buy for both.

The Rules That Decide Your Purchase

• For installed games: the PS4 formats a USB 3.0 drive of 250GB–8TB as extended storage; it becomes console-locked and can’t double as a file shuttle.
• For Apollo workflows: exFAT/FAT32 file storage is what Apollo reads (packages in the root, saves under PS4/APOLLO etc.). Note Apollo can also scan saves on an external HDD attached to the console using its fake-USB mode — paths live under /data/fakeusb/ and scanning follows your current User ID.
• Conclusion most people land on: two drives — one formatted for games, one kept as the file/backup drive. They are cheap; confusion is expensive.

Picks by Use Case

• Game library expansion (2–4TB portable HDD): a bus-powered 2.5″ drive from the major storage brands. Capacity per dollar peaks here; speed differences between models barely matter on PS4. Start from Amazon’s PS4 external HDD listings.
• The Apollo file & backup drive (1–2TB): this one lives half its life plugged into your PC for the 3-2-1 backup routine. Prioritise a drive you’ll actually keep connected and synced to the cloud — the best backup drive is the one in the routine.
• SSD splurge: an external SSD speeds up PC-side library management and large copy jobs; on the console itself, gains are modest. Buy it for your desk workflow, not for the PS4’s sake.

Setup Habits

• Label which drive is which (physically — a sticker beats memory).
• Keep the game-formatted drive away from PC “would you like to format?” prompts.
• Check the folder map before blaming Apollo for missing saves: USB folder paths; detection issues: not seeing USB saves.

We link retailer categories rather than quoting prices, which drift daily.

Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Apollo Save Tool itself is free and open-source, and money never changes our technical advice. Full details: Disclaimer.

For Apollo workflows a USB drive is a working tool, not storage: packages go on it, saves come off it, daily. The specs that matter are boring — which is why cheap junk fails at them.

What Actually Matters

• Format: PS4 reads exFAT and FAT32 for save/package work; PS3 wants FAT32. A drive you’ll share between consoles should be formatted FAT32 (mind the 4GB file limit) or kept PS4-only in exFAT.
• USB 3.0 or better on the PC side — a 22MB .pkg is nothing, but a library of save exports adds up, and USB 2.0 sticks crawl.
• Size: 32–64GB is the sweet spot for a transfer drive. Bigger belongs in external storage territory.
• Connector sanity: a standard USB-A stick plugs into every PlayStation directly. Dual USB-C/A sticks are handy for modern laptops — just confirm the A end is full-size and sturdy.
• Endurance over speed claims: bargain no-name sticks corrupt silently; the failure mode is a “corrupted save” you blame on Apollo. Buy known flash (SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston-class) from real storefronts.

Our Picks by Role

• The everyday transfer stick (32–64GB, USB 3.x): the one that lives in the console. Amazon’s USB 3 flash drive listings or AliExpress for a second, sacrificial stick.
• The fast library stick (128GB, metal body): if you shuttle an entire save library between console and PC for the 3-2-1 backup routine, pay for sustained write speed, not peak-read marketing.

Working Habits That Save Saves

• Keep the Apollo folder tree (PS4/APOLLO, PS4/SAVEDATA) intact on the stick — Apollo scans exact paths (folder map).
• Eject properly on PC every time; exFAT hates surprise removals.
• When a transfer result looks wrong, re-copy and checksum the .pkg before troubleshooting the console (install failure guide).

Prices and stock on marketplaces change constantly, so we link categories, not momentary prices — check the listings for today’s numbers.

Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Apollo Save Tool itself is free and open-source, and money never changes our technical advice. Full details: Disclaimer.

For Apollo’s deepest toolkit — PFD re-signing, trophy tools, licence management — you want a PS3. Which PS3 matters more than its price.

CFW vs HEN: The Model Decides

• Full custom firmware (CFW) installs on all “fat” models and Slim models up to the CECH-25xx series (with a date-code caveat on late 25xx units — verify the specific unit’s minimum-version before assuming).
• Later Slims (CECH-30xx) and Super Slims (CECH-40xx/42xx/43xx) cannot take CFW; they use PS3HEN instead — which still runs Apollo fine (the install flow differs slightly: enable HEN each session).
• Reading the label: the CECH number is on the serial sticker. Sellers photograph it if you ask — and you should ask.

PS2 Backwards Compatibility

Only the launch-era fat models (CECHA/CECHB/CECHE/CECHC family) play PS2 discs, via hardware or hybrid emulation. They’re the oldest, hottest-running units — buy one only if PS2 disc play is specifically your goal, and budget for maintenance. For Apollo save work (including PS1/PS2 VMC management), any model does the job.

Pre-Purchase Checks

• It boots and reads a disc; the XMB is responsive.
• Fan noise: fat models that sound like a jet at idle need a repaste or a pass.
• Hard drive: any 2.5″ SATA drive works and upgrades are trivial — a small drive is a negotiation point, not a flaw.
• Controller: genuine DualShock 3s are increasingly faked; test buttons, sticks and pressure sensitivity. Spares show up on eBay — buy from photos of real units.
• Firmware version from Settings → System Settings → System Information (a screenshot, as with our PS4 guide): every PS3 firmware is workable today via CFW or HEN paths, but know what you’re getting.

Where to Buy

eBay used PS3 listings with model-number photos are the safest route; confirm the CECH code in messages before paying. Locally, insist on a power-on demo.

After It Arrives

Install CFW or enable HEN, then Apollo: PS3 install guide. Set up your licence backups early with the activation & licence guide — it’s the step everyone wishes they’d done before a drive swap.

Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Apollo Save Tool itself is free and open-source, and money never changes our technical advice. Full details: Disclaimer.

The PS Vita is the best retro-handheld deal in the Apollo ecosystem: one device runs Apollo for Vita, PSP and PS1 saves. Here’s how to buy a good one.

1000 vs 2000: The Real Differences

The Memory Card Trap — and SD2Vita

Sony’s proprietary Vita memory cards are small and expensive per gigabyte. The community standard fix is an SD2Vita adapter: a game-card-slot adapter that takes a normal microSD. Budget for the adapter plus a reputable microSD card from day one — our SD2Vita & microSD guide covers adapter versions and fake-card avoidance. Adapters are cheap on AliExpress; cards should come from a trustworthy seller.

Checks Before You Pay

• Screen: OLED units — check for burn-in on a white screen; both — check for yellowing and dead pixels.
• Sticks and buttons: drift test in a game or the browser; triggers and the rear touchpad respond.
• Battery: holds charge and charges normally; swollen battery = walk away.
• Homebrew state: a stock unit is fine (HENkaku/Enso-family setups are straightforward), and any firmware can be worked with in the current scene — but a unit already running a persistent setup saves you time if it’s healthy.
• Sellers on eBay with real photos of the actual unit beat stock-photo listings every time.

After It Arrives

Set up the homebrew environment, install VitaShell, then Apollo: Vita install guide — and dump your PSP FuseID early with Apollo’s tools so PSP save re-signing works first try (why FuseID matters).

Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Apollo Save Tool itself is free and open-source, and money never changes our technical advice. Full details: Disclaimer.

Apollo Save Tool needs a jailbroken PS4 — which means the console you buy decides everything. Jailbreaks are tied to the PS4’s system software version, and sellers get this wrong (innocently or otherwise) constantly. This guide is the verification routine. Two things to hold in mind: jailbreak ceilings move as new exploits release, so check the current scene state before fixing a maximum version in your head; and once a console updates past the exploitable range, there is no downgrade.

Step 1: The Screenshot Rule

Before paying anything, ask the seller for a photo of Settings → System → System Information showing the system software version, taken today, ideally with the console’s serial visible in a second photo. “It’s on low firmware” in a listing description is not verification. No screenshot, no deal — this single rule prevents nearly every bad purchase.

Step 2: Know What You’re Looking At

• Model: original PS4 (CUH-10xx/11xx/12xx), Slim (CUH-20xx/21xx/22xx), Pro (CUH-70xx/71xx/72xx). All can be jailbroken if the firmware cooperates; the Pro is the nicest Apollo/Retro machine, the Slim the quietest and coolest.
• Firmware: compare the screenshot’s version against the current jailbreakable range at the time you buy (milestone firmwares in recent scene history include the Lapse range up to 12.02 and the 12.50–12.52 range — verify the present state, as it evolves).
• Never let the seller “test it online” — connecting can trigger an update download. A console that auto-updated in transit is a paperweight for this purpose.

Step 3: Inspect the Hardware

• Disc drive reads a game (a dead drive limits physical-media use).
• Controller included and sticks don’t drift; a second controller is a bonus, and genuine DualShock 4s are getting scarce — see our notes on buying used PlayStation hardware for inspection habits that transfer.
• Fan noise under load and clean vents — overheating units get worse, not better.
• Storage: 500GB fills fast with PS4 + PS2 Classics libraries; 1TB or an upgradable drive is worth a small premium (see external storage picks).

Where to Buy

Used consoles are a marketplace game: eBay’s used PS4 listings give you buyer protection and seller history — filter for listings that state the firmware in a photo, and message the seller for the System Information screenshot before bidding. Local marketplaces work if you can inspect and power on the unit in person before money moves.

After It Arrives

1. Check the firmware yourself before connecting anything.
2. Block updates (your jailbreak setup’s standard precautions).
3. Jailbreak, then install Apollo: install guide. Background on the firmware numbers sellers quote: 12.02/12.52 explained.

Apollo by Platform

Apollo vs the Alternatives

Capability Matrix

How to Choose

Stock PS4 and money is fine → Save Wizard. Jailbroken anything → Apollo, free. PS3 saves on a PC desk → BSD still works, but Apollo does more on the console. And if a “tool” promises Apollo results without a jailbreak for free, it’s the one row this table will never have: it doesn’t exist (the honest landscape).

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Apollo vs Save Wizard · Free editors landscape · Comparisons

If Your PS4 Is Jailbroken: Apollo

Apollo Save Tool is the free option, full stop. Open-source (GPL-3.0), maintained, current at v2.4.0, running on the console itself: re-signing, cheat patches (including Save Wizard-format codes), trophy tools, Online Database. Installation is a package install on a jailbroken console — guide here.

If Your PS4 Is Stock: There Is No Free Editor

On a stock PS4, saves exported to USB are encrypted to your account and console keys that only Sony’s ecosystem and licensed tooling can reseal. The legitimate tool for that world is Save Wizard — a paid product at $59.99. Sites claiming a “free Save Wizard” or a cracked editor for stock consoles are distributing something else (usually malware-bait installers). The honest choice on a stock console is: pay for Save Wizard, or don’t edit saves.

The Rest of the Landscape

Adjacent, Legitimate Free Things

• The Online Database inside Apollo — community saves, free, re-sign and play (guide).
• PS4 save decryption on PC exists in the homebrew ecosystem for already-decrypted saves — useful for analysis, not a stock-console editor.
• On PS3, Apollo’s free toolkit genuinely replaced the PC classics — see Apollo vs Bruteforce.

Bottom Line

“Free” and “PS4 save editor” only coexist in one place: Apollo, on a jailbroken console. Everything else is either Save Wizard’s honest $59.99, a PS3 tool mislabelled, or a download you shouldn’t run.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Apollo vs Save Wizard · Comparison table · Buy a jailbreakable PS4

What Artemis Is

Artemis, by Dnawrkshp, is a PS3 runtime cheat system: it attaches to a running game and applies cheat codes (the NetCheat/Artemis code types) to memory while you play. Apollo’s About material credits it precisely: Apollo’s codebase descends from Dnawrkshp’s Artemis PS3 GUI, and the name pays tribute to it. (bucanero also maintains the ArtemisPS3 continuation today.)

What Apollo Is

Apollo is a save-file manager. It works on the data at rest, not on a running game:

• Re-sign saves (PFD re-signing), unlock copy-protected saves
• Apply cheat patches to save files (Save Wizard, BSD and Game Genie formats) — a one-time edit to the file, not live memory
• Manage trophies, licences, account activation
• Browse and download saves from the Online Database

Side by Side

Which Do You Want?

Want a save from another account to load, a downloaded 100% save adopted, or persistent edits baked into your save file? Apollo. Want codes acting on a live game session on PS3? That’s Artemis territory. Many long-time PS3 users keep both installed — they were never substitutes.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · Version history · PS3 hub · Apply cheat patches

What Each Tool Is

The Relationship Between Them

This isn’t a rivalry so much as a handoff. Apollo’s Patch Engine fully supports the Bruteforce Save Data patch format — the community’s BSD cheat definitions apply inside Apollo on the console. And on feature scope Apollo went further than the PC tool ever did: trophy re-signing and import/export, offline account activation and licence management, PS1/PS2 .PSV conversion, and an in-app Online Database.

When the PC Tool Still Makes Sense

• Your PS3 workflow already lives on the PC and your saves never touch the console between edits.
• You’re working through a large backlog of saves in a desktop file manager.
• Historical note: BSD is a community-maintained classic with no recent releases — treat downloads of it from random sites with the same checksum suspicion as any old binary.

Verdict

On-console convenience wins for most PS3 owners today: Apollo re-signs in place (guide), patches with BSD codes without the PC round-trip, and handles trophies and licences BSD never touched. BSD remains the respected ancestor whose patch library Apollo proudly speaks.

Related Guides

Download Apollo · PS3 hub · Re-sign PS3 saves · Apollo vs Artemis