Playstation 3 Hard Drive Question

Disc Jockey · March 2011

My PS3 bit the dust last night and I don't have of my game saves backed up. I think the hard drive is still good, so my question is this: When I get a new ps3, can I just swap the old drive in place of the new one? That would allow me to put the game saves on a usb stick. Then I can put the original drive back in and transfer the saves off the memory stick.

If this is not feasible, can I get an external enclosure for the old hdd and transfer the saves via usb?

Then I just have to figure out wether to get the 160gb-Fallout 3 bundle or the 320gb move bundle.

cheddar · March 2011

Not sure about all your questions, especially what will work if you just put an old drive in a new machine. (Something makes me think it's not that simple, though. Probably something to pair it with an individual machine. But I don't know for sure.) But I do know I've taken old HDD's out and had to reformat them to get them to work as an external drive with an enclosure.

And about the replacement, DO NOT base it on the HDD size. It's just too easy to swap in a generic SATA laptop drive as a replacement when you first get it. If you can work a screw driver and can follow really easy instructions off of youtube, for around 50 bucks, you can have 500GB+ storage. I would get the cheapest or best bundle (without considering the hard drive) and just upgrade the HDD, especially if you plan on doing a lot of downloading/local media storage.

cheddar · March 2011

And if you like light gun games, arcade style sword and shield etc. Definitely think about getting the move.

Disc Jockey · March 2011

cheddar wrote: »

Not sure about all your questions, especially what will work if you just put an old drive in a new machine. (Something makes me think it's not that simple, though. Probably something to pair it with an individual machine. But I don't know for sure.) But I do know I've taken old HDD's out and had to reformat them to get them to work as an external drive with an enclosure.

And about the replacement, DO NOT base it on the HDD size. It's just too easy to swap in a generic SATA laptop drive as a replacement when you first get it. If you can work a screw driver and can follow really easy instructions off of youtube, for around 50 bucks, you can have 500GB+ storage. I would get the cheapest or best bundle (without considering the hard drive) and just upgrade the HDD, especially if you plan on doing a lot of downloading/local media storage.

Ouch, so if I have to reformat the HDD before I could use it in an enclosure my saves are gone anyway. That's a lot of hours on GT5 to get back. I'm diligent about backing up my PCs and laptops, just never thought about doing it for the ps3 for some reason.

I don't care much about HDD size as I really don't put much on it but thanks for the tip. I'm leaning towards the move bundle and pick up KZ3 at a later date. Or maybe I'll just buy jfalil2's "almost functional" ps3.

cheddar · March 2011

Could be some way to do it that I'm not aware of. I know the ps3 has some sort of backup utility. That would seem to require you to get it back up and running before saving a backup though. And straight to the enclosure, it couldn't be read by my PC. I remember I tried to plug it in to my ps3 too.

ballen823 · March 2011

You might be in trouble if you care about the saves - you won't be able to just slap the HD into a new PS3 as it will have to be reformatted. I believe they just patched GT5 so that the save isn't copy protected anymore, so you might be in luck there if you can have someone get your system up and running.

Best bet is to either watch a Youtube video and try out some of the methods yourself (depending on what your issue is), or bring it to someone who advertises on Craigslist. You can pay them to get it up and running so that you can get your saves off, or if you don't care about the PS3, you could probably make a deal with them that if they get it up and running and you can get your saves off of it (and delete your info), then they can have the PS3.

Fongolio · March 2011

There are some PS3 forums that may be able to answer your questions. Good luck.

Disc Jockey · March 2011

Fongolio wrote: »

There are some PS3 forums that may be able to answer your questions. Good luck.

true, but I can't access them from work :frown:

Disc Jockey · March 2011

ballen823 wrote: »

You might be in trouble if you care about the saves - you won't be able to just slap the HD into a new PS3 as it will have to be reformatted. I believe they just patched GT5 so that the save isn't copy protected anymore, so you might be in luck there if you can have someone get your system up and running.

Best bet is to either watch a Youtube video and try out some of the methods yourself (depending on what your issue is), or bring it to someone who advertises on Craigslist. You can pay them to get it up and running so that you can get your saves off, or if you don't care about the PS3, you could probably make a deal with them that if they get it up and running and you can get your saves off of it (and delete your info), then they can have the PS3.

I hadn't heard that the copy protection was removed. If that's the case, I'm sure I can find a save file to download. I don't really care if it's "my" save file but I had completed just about everything except for the A Spec endurance races and I didn't want to put that much time back into the game just to flesh out the selection of cars in my garage for 2P Arcade battles.

I've got the flashing red light and don't have a heat gun so I wasn't able to try the recommended fix myself. I may check out Craigslist list and see if someone will do it free if I turn over the ps3 to them, thanks.

Playstation 3 Hard Drive Question

Comments