My 60g PS3 is a about two weeks past a year old. NO extended warranty, but I knew when I called Sony that being a week or two wouldn't be an issue. Sure enough they are covering it as a repair under warranty. Downside is I get a "new" probably refurb machine that no longer has all the data I had on mine. :( Too bad they don't just send out a BD drive and let us replace it on our own.

JUst a heads up. If your PS3 BD drive craps out and Sony doesn't cover you under warranty because it is over a year old, it costs 149.00 to repair. I am guessing the price they quoted is for the BD drive to be replaced.



Although there are several games that I haven't finished, I am not too concerned about having to restart them.

I have several questions:

1.) The games that I downloaded and paid for on the PSN, like Flow and Pain, how do I get them back?

2.) If I get a backup hard drive, can I back up saved games and data before I have to send it back to Sony?
Best and only way to connect an HDD to the PS3 is USB I guess. What is the best or preferred drive and size?

3.) I was thinking about buying a new 80g PS3 and giving the 60 refurb to my son. I wanted one for him anyway so we can lan, MP online, etc.
Who has the best price and or bells and whistles to go along with it. What are the best deals as in price, extra movies or what have you. I already own Motorstorm, so that is not a thrill to get it "free" with the 80g. Who has the best return policy with the least hassles? I know some retail only allow 14 days to return.

4.)Not all that important, but I am curious. What would cause the BD drive to fail? Does the laser crap out? What if it is as simple as dust or something on the lens? Can't we clean them if it is dust or debris on the lens?

5.) Sony said they will send me a different machine and it has a ninety day warranty . Mine worked excellent and was virtually silent. If the new one is noisy can I send it back? I am guessing I can based on the warranty, but I am more curious if it is a hassle?

I might have more questions as the thread moves along with responses.

Thanks,

Hugh

Hughmc,

Do you know what the advantage would be if you actually traded the 60gig in for an 80 gig paid the difference and get a 2 year replacement plan? You mentioned you would only get a 90 day warranty on the refurb so was wondering the advantage for long term wise. If you go with the trade in just trade the copy of Motorstorm along with the 60gig.

I would expect the purchases you paid for are linked to your account so hopefully all it takes is re-downloading your purchases.

Try a cleaner too. Every drive on the market collects dust and possible it can cause the type of issues you are having. Recommend if that fixes the issue to clean it on a regular basis, once every few weeks.

Thanks for getting back mboojiga. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut a couple of weeks ago when I was boasting how I am lucky with electronics and rarely if ever do I have anything fail. Two weeks later my PS3 BD craps out, my HTPC has virus' that virtually took over the HDD and I can't use it, and I pulled the end out of my 30ft HDMI Blue Jeans cable, 90.00. :( Several words to myself, STFU! especially when things are going well. I am thankfull that although annoying in the greater scheme of life this tech crap is relatively unimportant compared to real life issues.

I still think the PS3 is a great machine and it seems the fail rate is 2% or less so, onto what you mentioned.

Where or how do you mean to trade in the 60g? To Sony itself or like a Gamestop? I am not without faults, but I wouldn't want to "dump" a broken unit on some unsuspecting person or store.

The online purchases are linked to my PSN account so hopefully no worries. It goes by account more so than by machine I am guessing?


I am surprised Sony didn't mention cleaning the BD Drive. I was thinking I could even swap out the BD drive since I thought the PS3 was meant to be more user friendly even with hardware issues or changes. I think I might have one of those lens cleaners for cds floating around somewhere. Found it and tried, but it seems the drive isn't recognizing any disk.

Where or how do you mean to trade in the 60g? To Sony itself or like a Gamestop

Gamestop is what came to mind.

Well to avoid the dump concern go ahead on through with the process and then possibly consider trading in the replacement model for an 80 gig.

The online purchases are linked to my PSN account so hopefully no worries. It goes by account more so than by machine I am guessing?

Figured as much as it is similar than the 360 accounts for retrieving purchases.

Either way you have options. Just a matter of choosing what route you want to go with it. I would get the replacement hold off on giving it to the son, trade it along with your current copy of Motorstorm and go for the 80gig model(if the trade in is worth it) and look into a replacement plan for gamestop or if Sony offers a extended warranty with the new models for the peace of mind.

Are the specs on the 80g, besides the HDD itself, the same? Same chipset (90nm), etc? I know it does SACD which I enjoy and the 40g doesn't. I am not too worried about BC since I personally never play my PS2 games, although my son does on occasion.

Are the specs on the 80g, besides the HDD itself, the same? Same chipset (90nm), etc? I know it does SACD which I enjoy and the 40g doesn't. I am not too worried about BC since I personally never play my PS2 games, although my son does on occasion.

I have the 80 gig and as far as backwards capability I don't play any PS2 games but I doubt you will run in issues of playback with the amount of games it does support. I believe it is the same chipset but was there ever a worry with these models to begin with? Basicially in the grand scheme of things you are not losing anything with the 80gig you are gaining addition usb and HDD space as far as upgrade goes.

I have the 80 gig and as far as backwards capability I don't play any PS2 games but I doubt you will run in issues of playback with the amount of games it does support. I believe it is the same chipset but was there ever a worry with these models to begin with? Basicially in the grand scheme of things you are not losing anything with the 80gig you are gaining addition usb and HDD space as far as upgrade goes.

I ran into a problem which made me glad I have a 60 gig system. God of War has all kinds of weird digital static instead of music in the cut sequences on my friends 80 gig and no problems at all on my 60. Looking it up on the Sony backwards compatible chart, I saw that it was an expected drawback for that game. Sucks, that and God of War II are the only 2 PS2 games I still play.

I ran into a problem which made me glad I have a 60 gig system. God of War has all kinds of weird digital static instead of music in the cut sequences on my friends 80 gig and no problems at all on my 60. Looking it up on the Sony backwards compatible chart, I saw that it was an expected drawback for that game. Sucks, that and God of War II are the only 2 PS2 games I still play.

I stand corrected o nthe compatability issues. Sucks for one of the best series for the PS2

I have several questions:

1.) The games that I downloaded and paid for on the PSN, like Flow and Pain, how do I get them back?

2.) If I get a backup hard drive, can I back up saved games and data before I have to send it back to Sony?
Best and only way to connect an HDD to the PS3 is USB I guess. What is the best or preferred drive and size?


1.You can download them again from the PSN . You have 5 downloads available to you for any game you purchase. Im not sure about Warhawk. I know you can download it 5 times, but I dont know if that game is linked to the PS3. I dont think it is.

2. Yes if you do this you will back up the games on the HD and not have to download the entire game again. (just a key code for some games) BE WARNED the backup utility does not back up the game saves. You have to do that separately. A USB Hd works just fine. I use the WD passport 120Gig, to back up my PS3 and my Home Desk top. Plus it comes in handy to keep MP3's Pics and movies on, and allows nothing but games and game saves for the internal PS3 drive.
Looks like time for me to do another backup on mine.

warhawk is re-downloadable... only if you download and install it with the same PSN account it was originally purchased under. Even then, it will only play on that PSN account.