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Mac to Sony PSP: How to Download Photos?

Dave, I just got a new Sony PSP and really want to download some of my favorite pictures from my Mac onto the unit. Is that possible, and if so, what do I need to do on the PSP and Mac to get it to work?


Dave's Answer:

It's surprisingly easy to download pictures from you Mac to your new Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), actually!

The key is that you need a USB cable: I bought one as part of a connectivity kit for about $15 - but even Radio Shack would have the specific cable you'd need as it's a standard "5 pin mini-B connector" USB cable (take your PSP in with you, though, so the salesperson can see the connector, which is on the top edge of the unit).

Once you have the cable, connect the cable to the PSP unit, connect the other end of the cable into your Macintosh (I hook mine up to an open USB port on my keyboard, actually, which works fine), then turn on the PSP.

Now, and here's the most important step that people hiccup on, go to the PSP and press the HOME button (tiny half-moon on the lower left corner of the screen). Use your Left or Right arrow buttons to move along the options shown here and get to the Settings option. On the image shown below, Settings is the little toolbox:

Sony PSP Home Screen Display

Once you're on the settings option, use the Up or Down button to find "USB Connection" (it's between "Network Update" and "Video Settings"). Select it with the X button (the circular button on the right of the screen with the "O" inside it).

Now on the PSP you'll just see "USB Mode", not too exciting, but on your Macintosh, you'll now see a new device appear on the desktop called Untitled. That's your PSP!

Double click on it and you'll see two files called "MEMSTICK.IND" and "MSTK_PRO.IND" (they're your Memory Stick Duo) and two folders, "MP_ROOT" and "PSP". Double click on the PSP folder and you'll see:

Sony PSP mounted via USB on Mac desktop

Cool, eh? To add pictures, finally, or any images, simply drag and drop your JPEG format graphics (those are files with filename suffixes of "JPG" or "JPEG", typically) into the PHOTO folder. As many as your Memory Stick Duo has space for.

When you're done, eject the PSP from your Mac system by right-clicking on the "Untitled" device on your desktop and choosing Eject "Untitled".

Go to the PSP itself now and again use the circle button to quit USB Mode, then the Right arrow to move from Settings to Photo. You'll have a single entry there called "Memory Stick" (which will also tell you how much space is still free, if any).

Push the X button (round button on the right controller with an "X" in the middle) and you'll see a list of your newly downloaded photographs, hopefully with tiny thumbnails. Scroll down to the picture of your choice and again push the X button and, voila! You should be viewing your photograph on your Sony PSP.

I hope that helps you decipher the workings of the PSP and how to use it with the Macintosh. I'll be adding more step-by-step how to tutorials here about working with the Sony PSP for both Windows and Mac folk in the next few weeks, so do stay tuned!

(and if anyone has tips on how to get good PSP screenshots, I'd love to hear about it!)


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Reader Comments To Date: 66

mike samolis said, on July 26, 2005 9:55 PM:

i have a windows xp and i need help downloading photos to my psp. when i attach my usb cable to my psp and i hit usb connection the G drive shows up and i dont know what to do from there can u please help?

kieran said, on September 7, 2005 1:43 PM:

i cant set waalpappers cause there is no themes menu
in setting how do i fix it

Dave Taylor said, on September 8, 2005 12:34 AM:

Kieran, while Sony announced that the 2.0 firmware release would include the ability for you to set your own wallpaper, it turns out that it's there, but labeled "DO NOT USE". Rather disappointing. You can, however, change your theme from the Settings menu to pick a different color if you're so inclined.

Robbie said, on January 20, 2006 10:15 AM:

i have windows ME and i want to download pictures to my sony psp but when i plug my psp in to the pc it does not find it as new hardware. What do i do?

Dave Taylor said, on January 20, 2006 10:18 AM:

As far as I know, Robbie, Windows ME is not a supported operating system with the Sony PSP, so I don't know how you can get it to work.

Robbie said, on January 20, 2006 10:29 AM:

i also have a windows 2000 what do i do to download photos?

jason jeffcote said, on January 20, 2006 9:36 PM:

dave i have a big problem donloading onto my psp it wont seem to go and i would also like it if you made a instruction manual that is for windows

Jonathan O'Connor said, on January 20, 2006 11:36 PM:

i hve the same problom as mike what do i do?

KASHIF said, on February 3, 2006 10:20 PM:

I JUST GOT MY SONY PSP FOR X-MAS AND I WANT TO KNOW HOW I DOWNLOAD PICTURES FROM MY WINDOWS COMPUTER TO MY NEW PSP. IF IT IS POSSIBLE CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO DO THIS

aron said, on March 17, 2006 12:16 PM:

how do i get my pictures on my psp to use as a wallpaper. i use a windows pc

Dave Taylor said, on March 18, 2006 10:02 PM:
Noelle said, on March 19, 2006 11:25 AM:

i did all of that stuff, but when i when to the photos folder and clicked on memory stick, it said that their were zero images in it? HElP!!!!!

Peter Jones said, on April 8, 2006 8:25 PM:

How about answering the question concrning downloading to PSP from Windows?

Dave Taylor said, on April 8, 2006 8:36 PM:

Peter, I have lots of articles on that. Please see:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/about_psp_windows.html

keresa said, on June 25, 2006 8:19 PM:

how do i look at pictures from adisk.

Julio said, on October 3, 2006 5:26 PM:

i have windows ME and i want to download pictures to my sony psp but when i plug my psp in to the pc it does not find it as new hardware. What do i do?

Niall said, on January 18, 2007 1:01 PM:

I have a Apple Macbook and a Sony PSP (white). I read the tutorial on how to connect it and put files on it, but when I open the folder PSP from the PSP on my desktop it only has two folders SAVEDATA and SYSTEM. Can you please help me with this.

Matt said, on February 19, 2007 5:23 AM:

Hi Dave, When I plugged my psp into the mac and activated the usb etc. I then double clicked on the psp folder like you said. BUT the folders in your screen grab, game, photo, music etc. doesnt show up. Can you help?

Darren said, on February 20, 2007 5:09 PM:

Im having problems putting photos from my windows computer to my psp. When I plug in the usb cable the psp shows the photos on there but I cant get them to come up on the psp itself. The "photos" folder says no images. Can you please help. Thanks.

Olivia said, on March 4, 2007 8:18 AM:

i have a mac, and followed your instruction - bt when i click on the PSP folder have only SYSTEM and SAVED DATA no folders for photos or videos... do you know how I put videos and pictures on? Thankyou

Nadine Leydon said, on March 11, 2007 5:26 AM:

I did it a few times but its usless . I have mac and i created the folders but nothing happening .

shak said, on March 17, 2007 4:38 PM:


i have a mac and followed your instructions but when i click on the psp folder have only system and savedata no folders for anything and can not download anything please help DAVE.

Jacc said, on April 11, 2007 5:28 PM:

when i opened my untitled folder all there was for the folders were DCIM and MISC. I couldn't find any PSP folder at all. What happened?

David said, on April 11, 2007 9:50 PM:

Hey dose anyone know how to put mac on psp..please help me!if you know how to put mac on psp can you guys tell me please..if you have messeger her is me email ''garcia_rivera94@hotmail.com''ok thnx :)

taylot said, on April 11, 2007 11:11 PM:

i have an apple macbook and i did every thing it said but my computer never saw the psp

Dave Taylor said, on April 12, 2007 12:05 PM:

David, there's no way to "put Mac" on a Sony PSP, sorry to say. The PSP isn't a full-blown computer and even if it was, you can only run the Mac operating system (Mac OS X) on Apple-brand computers...

Taylot, sounds like you have a memory card formatted for a digital camera if you're seeing a DCIM folder. Try having the PSP reformat the card itself:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_format_my_sony_psp_memory_stick.html

Good luck!

$F.BABY$ said, on April 14, 2007 2:02 PM:

if you only have the folders system and savedata open one them

jose said, on April 25, 2007 4:38 PM:

yeah well my comdoes not want to show the thing called untitled so can you please help me

chase said, on April 27, 2007 10:25 AM:

this is not working and Im not happy about it Iv been trying this for over an gour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

james said, on May 6, 2007 1:39 PM:

i have a psp but i don't know how to get music photos or videos i have ubs conection

katy said, on May 11, 2007 3:29 PM:

i found the info you have given a real real great help thx alot from a new psp owner

Julian said, on July 8, 2007 12:45 PM:

Hi Dave, I just found this site about 2-3 days ago and i was wondering how to get pictures from my windows xp onto my sony psp.
1st. I plugged in my usb cables onto my psp and computer, I then went to usb conection and pressed "x" then it said usb mode.
2nd. I went to start-my computer-removable disk "f" and made a folder named "psp" and inside that folder i put "photos".
3rd. I then went on a random yahoo site and searched "cows" in images.
4th. I copied a picture of 2 cows milking a naked guy in the wrong spot and pasted it into "photos"
5th. I pressed "o" on the psp and unplugged the usb cable.
6th. I went to photos and nothing was there,but the picture was still in the computer.
7th. PLZ HELP. IM ONLY 12!!!!sorry if i click twice for posting....

Cat said, on July 14, 2007 12:23 PM:

I followed the instructions very carefully but it still didn't work.
then i realized that yours said (G:) but mine says (F:)
what does that mean?

Brian said, on July 27, 2007 10:29 PM:

Just to point out the "Do Not Use" thing on the wallpaper is not them telling you not to use it. It is the default setting telling you that it is not using the wallpaper. Turn it to "use" and then the problem is solved.

ron Fostey said, on October 21, 2007 7:28 PM:

I have a canon EOS 5D and Canon wifi transfers pictures straight to the computer a MAC Book Pro,What progam or software i need to see pictures right away so i can delete or save pics.

lisa said, on October 24, 2007 11:22 AM:

I have a Sony cyber shot. I can view my pics from the memory stick 128mb Lexar but it wont download to me comp. HELP!

Muhammad said, on December 24, 2007 8:13 AM:

Hi Dave.I have a Mac mini and plugged the USB to connect it to my PSP Slim.However,when I went to Desktop,I did not see any folder that says Untitled. One of the steps you gave was also a problem for me.When I pressed Format Memory Stick,the console said that I had to delete all data from my memory stick.Is there a problem with my Mac and why does the PSP need to delete the data in the memory stick?

BOYINHOODS said, on December 26, 2007 7:42 PM:

THIS WORKS GENOUS NOW I CAN ADD PHOTOS THANKS SOOO MUCH THIS REALLY HEALPS

jonathan said, on December 27, 2007 12:13 PM:

i just got a psp, and i opened up the folder, except my screen doesnt show videos, pictures, or music. all it shows is savedata. how do i get the others?is there something wrong with my computer?

Gooch said, on December 30, 2007 10:45 AM:

i did that but it said (unknown Device) Please Help

muazzam khan said, on January 1, 2008 6:23 AM:

i also have the same problem and i have readed your instruction and it doesent happened and i was not having the photos and games folder i maked it and a pasted te pictures but it still did not comed in my sony psp

RhhETRO ChhiiK said, on February 14, 2008 10:25 AM:

I HAVE A DELL BUhhT iiTS WiINDOWS XP. MY PICS WONT SHOW ON MY PSP BUT THEY SHOW THAT THEY ARE IN THE PICTURES FOLDER ON MY PSP ON THE COMPUTER

WAT DO I DO??

Christie said, on March 27, 2008 11:21 AM:

Hey! I just got a PSP and I'm trying to figure out how to put music, photos, etc. with my iBook (running 3.9) but I'm having the same problem as Jonathan (couple posts above) I see it on my desktop as "No Name" double click and then it shows one folder "PSP" double click again and it shows two folders "SAVEDATA" and "SYSTEM". In the "System" folder it contains another folder entitled "Browser" with my internet history an bookmarks...In the "Savedata" folder there are 8 folders with various names that are letters and numbers. How do I get it to work? Thanks.

merr said, on March 30, 2008 10:11 PM:

My Psp slim was showing up on my Mac desktop for some time now and working Great for months but just yesterday I don't know why but my mac G5 is telling me "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"I check my computer using disk utility programs and my computer is fine. could there something wrong with my 4G memory stick or PSP Slim.
PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!! I'm going crazy trying to find out why this isn't work on my computer any more.

junior said, on April 24, 2008 7:46 PM:

for all mac users to get music, and photos transfered to your psp you have to reformat you memory stick then open your untitled on your mac, then drag your music and photos to the folder you want to put it in, but when you reformat your memory card it will erase all saved data so you might want to back it up

tom said, on May 11, 2008 1:37 AM:

i bougrght a 1 gb memory card the good 1 and i got a disk so that save data and things came up but looked rlly cool ty u helped

Jason said, on May 31, 2008 6:51 AM:

Do i need a memory card to download pictures on to my PSP

Gary Oic said, on June 6, 2008 12:44 PM:

after i do all this, it ways the files are curopted when i go to play it.

Phoebe said, on June 10, 2008 6:22 PM:

Hey im having a problem with my PSP hooking up with my MAC.
i did everything your supposed to but when its finally all hooked up the PSP never shows up on my computer.
help me figure this out please.

Thanks!
(:

SANDMAN said, on June 26, 2008 2:44 PM:

thanks you helped alot without that i would never have fond out

tracey said, on September 8, 2008 2:52 AM:

you are the bomb dave, your information was spot.
Thanks for your help my son was over the moon with the photos now loaded

fraol said, on October 4, 2008 9:03 AM:

i have a problem with downloading psp games.the problem is that after i download it says the data is corupted can you help me to solve this.if you can plz contact me witch my email adress or my skype name fraol live in holland

bobby said, on October 4, 2008 10:09 PM:

dat dont work for me cause i aint got macintosh how do i download from an ast bravo

jarrll said, on November 30, 2008 2:02 PM:

help me dave taylor to get imesh off my psp cause i cant find it and delete it

kasey said, on December 15, 2008 12:26 PM:

hello.
i am wounder doing i need a mac computer to be able to download pictures and vidoes? I am thinking about getting a psp for christmas. how many psp`s are there and what are the differents.Can i acully get on the internet and google search or is the internet for just downloading things. Are there more high speed ones out now because my freind has one but it only has games not music or internet?

it would be great if you could e-mail me back
thanks,
kasey

Liam said, on January 18, 2009 8:02 PM:

silly!! i do exacty the same and it dosent word

michael said, on January 20, 2009 8:14 PM:

Hello Dave,
I just baught my son a psp and we cannot figure out how to download pictures from my toshiba laptop to the psp can you please help me

Thank you very much
Michael

robert bartosh said, on March 2, 2009 12:33 AM:

Hi,Just wanted to ask I have a (iBOOK G4)will a (Radio Shack)usb cable work the same way? Thx R.Bartosh

shamar said, on April 26, 2009 2:28 PM:

download videos on psp this is it.

susan said, on November 12, 2009 12:06 PM:

how can i download pics from my canon powershot 30 it says a bunch of stuff about needing software can i get this off their website help

IRISH PREETAM said, on December 6, 2009 12:00 AM:

i did have lot to say. as i have psp but i did not know how to transfer picture from my pc to psp?

trey said, on January 2, 2010 10:49 PM:

sorry but the instructions did not work for my mac when i clicked on the psp folder it only has one folder named save data

erik said, on February 11, 2010 4:19 AM:

hey my folders don't look like that! it has savedata and system. But thatss about it. I think its has somthing to do with the USB since it has 8GB. Please help!

Felipino88 said, on March 23, 2010 3:29 PM:

DOWNLOADING FILES FROM MAC TO PSP

Go to this link and follow instructions, it really works:
http://www.macintouch.com/playstation.html

K.M. Campbell said, on July 22, 2010 12:44 PM:


Surprisingly easy? You're joking, of course. In any case, I don't have 'a new Sony PSP' or whatever. I wanted to transfer photos from my mac iBook G4 to my HP PSC 1500 copier - in simple terms. K.

Elliot said, on February 22, 2012 6:01 AM:

How do I download photos from my sony camara to my mac, stick does not fit into the mac

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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