Backing up the PS3 Hard Drive

[bhampton]

Hi,

I have a 60GB PS3 which has a 500GB hard drive installed.

I see I can get a 500Gb external hard drive from Walmart for $49 and I'm tempted to pick one up to back up my PS3 hard drive.

I have the notion that my 60GB PS3 could fail at any time. Then again... I haven't really found much "use" for the PS3 hard drive.

I don't know if the backup backs everything up (I think it does.)

But,.. the big question is ... Can I restore to a different PS3?...??

If my PS3 does the RLOD I may try to exchange it for another 60 or slim but would the backup be useful in that case?...

Thanks,

Brian

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Hi,

I have a 60GB PS3 which has a 500GB hard drive installed.

I see I can get a 500Gb external hard drive from Walmart for $49 and I'm tempted to pick one up to back up my PS3 hard drive.

I have the notion that my 60GB PS3 could fail at any time. Then again... I haven't really found much "use" for the PS3 hard drive.

I don't know if the backup backs everything up (I think it does.)

But,.. the big question is ... Can I restore to a different PS3?...??

If my PS3 does the RLOD I may try to exchange it for another 60 or slim but would the backup be useful in that case?...

Thanks,

Brian

Using an external HDD isn't as convenient for backup as you might think. All copyright-protected games saves and purchased DLC will not be restored from an HDD backup unless it is the same PS3 and same HDD inside it as was there when the backup was created.

Also, an external HDD backup can only be restored to the same internal HDD in the same PS3 as the backup was created from. The only way to guarantee a full transfer of data to another HDD or PS3 without having to download DLC and redo copyright-protected game save progress from scratch is to do a DATA TRANSFER directly between 2 separate PS3 consoles.

[truth411]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Using an external HDD isn't as convenient for backup as you might think. All copyright-protected games saves and purchased DLC will not be restored from an HDD backup unless it is the same PS3 and same HDD inside it as was there when the backup was created.
Also, an external HDD backup can only be restored to the same internal HDD in the same PS3 as the backup was created from. The only way to guarantee a full transfer of data to another HDD or PS3 without having to download DLC and redo copyright-protected game save progress from scratch is to do a DATA TRANSFER directly between 2 separate PS3 consoles.

That part isn't true, it just have to be the Same PS3, I have done it multiple times. But to the OP, I did 2 weeks ago what you need to do. I have a 60gb Phat Upgraded to 640GB, Bought a Slim upgraded the HDD to 640Gb and did a Data Transfer. ONly thing is you nee to use our external HDD connect it to a PC to download the Latest Firmware to it Before you can do the data Transfer.

[truth411]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-ga...ml#post5018899

Read Post #1130 on down. I was pretty much in the same position as you.

[Pelican170]

If you do a full backup on the external, you will save most things. i did it to mine and everything transferred. havent noticed anything that didnt...

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by truth411

That part isn't true, it just have to be the Same PS3, I have done it multiple times. But to the OP, I did 2 weeks ago what you need to do. I have a 60gb Phat Upgraded to 640GB, Bought a Slim upgraded the HDD to 640Gb and did a Data Transfer. ONly thing is you nee to use our external HDD connect it to a PC to download the Latest Firmware to it Before you can do the data Transfer.

Well, when I tried an external backup to a new internal HDD on the same PS3, it wouldn't let me restore any of my copyrighted game save data or any of my DLC. So, I don't know what you did differently.

[doctorD]

Won't a HDD duplicator copy everything from your old PS3 hard drive to a new bigger hard drive?

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by doctorD

Won't a HDD duplicator copy everything from your old PS3 hard drive to a new bigger hard drive?

The PS3 should recognize new hardware and keep copyright protected data from transfering over. That is why they created the DATA TRANSFER utility... to keep the content providers investments safe from pirating via sharing/copying.

[Icemage]

When restoring an external backup to:

The same machine
Regardless of what hard drive is in the unit when you do the restore, you will get everything restored; user accounts, DLC, copy protected saves, etc. The only thing that doesn't restore back are your trophies, but that's easily fixed by just syncing with PSN before the backup to save your current trophies, and syncing again after the restore to get them all back. This is the best way to do a hard drive upgrade; backup, replace the hard drive, restore, resync trophies, done.

Different PS3
The restore function will NOT restore your copy protected saves (some games have protected saves, others don't), nor your DLC licenses (so all DLC has to be re-activated on the new machine), and like above your trophies won't be restored and have to be manually re-synced.

If you're a PS+ subscriber you can get around the protected save problem by uploading your protected saves to Cloud Storage and pulling them back down after the restore.

[bhampton]

Hello again,

Thanks for all the information... the subject is at least a little tricky.

Seems I can back up game saves (except for the games that don't allow it) on a thumb drive and just sort of leave the rest.

If an when my PS3 fails I'll just re-download stuff I still care about. It's still going to be in my transaction history. (Except for stuff like Flow that was there and then dis-appeared.)

I wonder how much longer my 60GB PS3 will last. The one I bought on release day lasted almost 3 years and that was perfect because I bought a 3 year warranty so they exchanged it for me. Now, I'm about to 3 years on the second one but it's getting a lot more use by me and my kids these days.

-Brian

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Hello again,

Thanks for all the information... the subject is at least a little tricky.

Seems I can back up game saves (except for the games that don't allow it) on a thumb drive and just sort of leave the rest.

If an when my PS3 fails I'll just re-download stuff I still care about. It's still going to be in my transaction history. (Except for stuff like Flow that was there and then dis-appeared.)

Correct.

I wonder how much longer my 60GB PS3 will last. The one I bought on release day lasted almost 3 years and that was perfect because I bought a 3 year warranty so they exchanged it for me. Now, I'm about to 3 years on the second one but it's getting a lot more use by me and my kids these days.

-Brian

You might consider getting another PS3 if/when the price falls to ~200 (rumors abound that Sony may announce a hefty price drop at Gamescom next week). That way you can use the data transfer utility to the new unit (keeping all your saves / trophies / DLC intact), and just move the 60GB unit to another room where it won't see as much heavy use and won't be as likely to overheat and die on you.