USBUtil solves this by formatting PS2 games into a specific file structure that homebrew applications on the PS3 can read from an external USB drive.
USBUtil is a Windows-based utility originally created to overcome the file size limitations of the FAT32 file system Usbutil Ps3
By 2016, and prepNTFS allowed PS3s to read NTFS drives directly. No more splitting files. Then Irisman and ManaGunZ added built-in ISO mounting and file management. The need for a PC-side tool like USBUtil dropped sharply. USBUtil solves this by formatting PS2 games into
Under the “PS3” tab, you can inject game folders directly. This is rarely used today (multiman does it better), but it remains useful if your PS3 is bricked and you need to prepare a drive on a PC only. Then Irisman and ManaGunZ added built-in ISO mounting
You transferred a 20GB PS3 game folder from your PC to an external drive using a shoddy USB cable. Halfway through, the transfer failed. Now, the PS3 shows the game but freezes when you try to launch it. The drive has orphaned files and cross-linked clusters. Usbutil PS3 can scan and repair the disk structure.