Question about Swapping Hard Drives on Slim Models

just swap the drives... now if you wanted to keep everything from your broke system... (which you could do if you have less than 160 of data stored on the 320gb broke ps3... and assuming it can power up and just not play discs like you said)

data transfer utility from broke 320 to working 160. Then backup the 160 to an external hard drive (if available). Swap out the 160, put the 320 in and then restore the backup from the external to the 320...

Nope. Welcomes to Sony HDD security. The PS3 will reformat any new HDD that is placed into the system, with new defined as any HDD not in the system immediately prior to the switch.

So if your old one is bootable and sustainable without over heating as you say there are a few options..

1. If you don't have much info on the console just back up the important stuff to USB drive Photos, Game Saves, Music, ect. If your old console can stay on longer consider I would try to make a full HDD backup (but this takes a few hours). You could immediately take out the 160 and put it in an external enclosure. Then using the 160 as a backup HDD, make a backup from your 320. Swap the 320 to the new machine, and then restore from the 160. The danger there is that if the backup didn't go as planned, then you have already lost the info by reformatting the 320. It's much safer if you just get a backup HDD to bounce between the machines.

*Don't forget the cloud saving system with PS+ (I haven't even used it yet)

2. Again, if able to stay on with power, one could always use the Data Transfer Utility to essentially copy the HDD intact to the 160. But that would still leave you with the issue of upgrading to the 320 later and needing another HDD to back up to.

*Note - there are threads here dedicated to these issues. Search for replacing HDDs.

Correct provided they are not Copy Protected. Some games are and you would only be able to move those saves by way of the cloud or data transfer. Those will not carry over via a complete HDD backup believe it or not.

Yes you can redownload almost anything. I think singstar downloads are stuck on one PS3 so you would have to call Sony, but those that call on issues like that get it resolved fairly quickly. The only advice here I would give you is before you dump the old PS3, one you've made all your backups of things, go in and deactivate the account from that PS3 and the network. You are only allowed 5 PS3's tied to one account and once you trash or sell a system, you can't deactivate from it. Just an FYI.

Nope you are SOL. Once you start the HDD swap process, the data on the prior HDD while still there, is completely in accessible. Only make a HDD swap when you are truly sure you're not going back. Now if you backed up the 160 before the swap, you could always replace the 160 and restore the backup back to it. A lot of work, but you should still have the info.

If you own a PS3, you owe it to yourself to get an external HDD and make monthly backups - for that just in case moment.

The one save I lost through the years was KZ2 - I completed everything and when I moved to the Slim - that save couldn't go (copy protected). Of course 1 week later the data transfer utility appeared via FW (which would have allowed me to keep it), but by then it was too late the save was lost. I put hours into that Elite run and would love to have it...but it was not to be. Now the cloud saves are the best thing ever.

Related question: I have a 160 GB HDD I was using in an old 40GB PS3 that YLOD'd last summer. I immediately bought a 120GB slim to replace it. If I want to use the 160GB in the new slim do I just pop it in and it will completely reformat it (I don't need to reformat on a PC). Before I do that I will of course do the full system backup of the 120 GB on another external HDD to restore once the 160 GB is in the slim.

correct, ps3 formats the disk for you... and the bigger the disk the LONGER it takes to format... it felt like forever for it to format my 250gb disk.

I hear you. 4.5 hours to back up my 120 GB as we speak. Almost makes me want to run out and get at least a 500GB instead of messing with this 160GB stop gap drive.

Does any one know if the back up/restore utility also restores copy protected saves on the same system? When I upgraded my 40GB, I don't think I had any copy protected saves at the time.

None exist.

Most or all copy protected saves will get backup and restored to the same console.

As for the full backup speed, 200GB of data on PS3 hard drive takes about 8 hours to backup to an external USB hard drive. I have tried 7200 RPM internal PS3 and external USB hard drives but always take about the same time because of USB2 bottleneck.

Problem with having a 500GB internal PS3 hard drive is the full backup will take 2/3 of a day to complete if the hard drive is full. Unless you are willing to pay for PS+ just for Cloud Storage to backup a few copy protected saves, it's not practical to have too large hard drive if you do want to do full backup just for a few copy protected saves. What Sony needs to do is add selective file backup and restore to PS3 OS. But I don't think Sony will do it because they prefer us to pay for PS+ Cloud Storage. Cloud Storage also has restriction on having to wait for about a day (forgot what actual wait time is) if you plan to restore copy protected saves. It's so Sony because even we are willing to pay for PS+ Cloud Storage, they still want to enforce restriction on copy protected saves.

For myself, I prefer stay with 250GB or 320GB internal PS3 hard drive so that backup time will be around 8-10 hours. If I have to delete enough files off PS3 hard drive to reduce the full backup time, then it defeat the purpose to having a large hard drive. I store music, movies and pictures on external USB hard drive so that I can have less data on the internal PS3 hard drive.

Custom Firmware already has a way to disable the internal PS3 hard drive encryption so that you can freely copy the copy protected save files without having to jump through multiple hoops as restricted by Sony. And able to move the PS3 internal hard drive between different consoles with the data intact.

it does, in my experience it copies everything on the drive, and I usually do my backing up overnight because it takes so damn long

I did a restore from my external hdd a couple months ago after installing a 320GB drive. Everything I had in the music and video tabs restored fine. Under games, the only thing restored were regular PS3 game saves. The one protected save I had, The Saboteur, did not get restored. No game data was saved so everything had to be re-installed, re-patched, and add on content re-downloaded. Virtual memory card with PS1 and PS2 saves did not restore. My PSN games and minis did not restore and had to be re-downloaded. About half of my themes ended up corrupted.

Unless you have a ton of music and photos the system backup/restore is a useless feature. A memory card/USB stick for your game saves is really all you need, with protected saves just being a gamble.

So if I upgrade the drive using backup/restore, and it turns out my copy protected saves didn't transfer, can I put the original 120 GB drive back in, or will the system reformat it, causing me to lose everything?

this , You should have Zero issues going the exact same PS3, but Cloud saving with PS+ will just ensure you don't lose a thing.

I'm confused by your response whether putting the same HDD back in it's original unit will cause a reformat. Or restoring my backup to a new HDD in the same PS3 will cause me to lose copy protected saves.

At any rate, I guess I could hold off until the free PS+ month starts just to be on the safe side.

Backing up and restoring to the SAME Ps3 SHOULD not result in the loss of copy-protected saves. The issue is the SHOULD. If there is an error either in making the backup or restoring the backup, the issue is that you already swapped the drives to find that out and now there is no going back. So yes PS+ ensures that even with error, you have a fail safe.

HELP!! i have just got the YLOD on my ps3, i have 3 ps3 systems at the moment a 80gb 60gb & 120gb, i was just wondering if it was possible to do a back up on the 80gb system (as it does not stay on long enough to do a data transfer) then place that HDD in the 60gb system, do the restore on the 80gb HDD then do a data transfer to the 120gb & resume playing all of saved data

Hard drive you do full backup cannot be restored to other console. (Even that doesn't guarantee a successful full hard drive restore back to the original console). You also cannot move the PS3 hard drive to another console with the data intact.

Unless you can get your YLOD PS3 up running long enough to do Data Migration to another PS3, you have lost all your data. Also, if you can get it up long enough, Data Migration will also erase the target PS3 hard drive and then erase your source PS3 hard drive after it completed the data migration.

Or, if you can get your YLOD PS3 up running for a short while and enable PS+, use the Cloud Storage to transfer your copy protected save files assuming they will fit onto 150MB Cloud Storage capacity. Then, wait 24 hours restriction before you are allowed to restore the copy protected save files from the Cloud Storage.

You can ask Sony why they insisted saving data off PS3 hard drive so difficult.

Sorry for the really late reply. Although by now, I would have thought someone would have answered you or you would have already figured it out. I honestly can't recall if when you swap directly from slim models if the OS is there. I think it is. But you will find out soon enough. Just have a USB thumb drive handy in case you do need it

The OS is not stored on the console on the slim models, so you MUST have a copy of the OS either on a USB thumb drive or external hard drive. Only the PS3s with BC have the OS stored on the console itself.

Nails.

Piers.

Super Models.

Exotic Cars.

I think that covers it.

Back to people being helpful with actual information on backing everything up. I recommend getting a giant external drive so you can keep backups.

Well, I do know from experience the nails aren't in the HDD as tight in the slims as they were in the phats, so piers shouldn't be necessary, even if you are really rich and living in a New York hi-rise.

You should at least give references for your posts.

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2* A true AVS Classic
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While digging for info (using the search bar - oh the irony) on HDD upgrades today....I found the one where KingShorty and I we're school yard bullies. lol.

Ahhh, thanks

Cheers Vortex 3D, i thought that would be the case, damn sony, oh well back to the hair dryer & fan trick, hopefully it'll work long enough this time