Technical Help

[Cristari]

Hi there,

I have a old PS3 80GB (CECHK03) model that has a HD with under 10GB of space left on it, it's all downloaded games, no music no films just game data, I have a Samsung 500GB 5400rpm Laptop HD Model HM500J I'd Like to use unformatted and sitting ready to be used.

I need a way of moving the data from the original HDD to the replacement without having to redownload everything again.

I have red up on how to back-up and transfer to the new HD but I do not have access to a Flash drive big enough!

Any assistance would be appreciated.

TY in advance.

[TTDegs · Accepted solution]

unfortunately, you're stuffed, sorry!

The ONLY way to get your data from one HDD to another is to have an external drive big enough to do a backup to in between.

In theory, you could do it via a 2nd PS3 - but you would then need to have a 2nd HDD to put into that, to transfer to and from.

an external usb HDD does the trick nicely

[Cristari]

Meh this isn't what I want to hear!

My System info on my PS3 shows Free Space 14 GB / 74 GB, I know not all of this is game software, I do have a lot of downloaded games however including some older PS1 & more recent PS3 titles bought from the PSN store and downloaded to my PS3 that I'd rather not download again.

There must be a way to back up the system info itself to a smaller flash device which will then allow you to install and format the newer HD allowing you to transfer the old data from the old HD using a external HD casing & connection rather than havinng to back up EVERYTHING to an external HD then transfer it to the new one! All that gives you is two useless HD's that you will never need again!

Thats just plain stipid who would design a system like that?

Please someone tell me there is an easier way!

[Iyonix]

No, you need an external HDD if using the backup route. You could borrow one from a friend.

You could backup your saves to the PS+ online storage, re-download the games and copy back the saves. This avoids the need for an external HDD but you stated you didn't want to re-download everything so you may not want to do this.

In either case you will probably still need a USB memory stick for the firmware.

[Cristari]

That's pointless I'd be better saving games to the PSN cloud, Selling my 80GB PS3 and buying a 500GB PS3!

So basically if I have anything over the size of a resonably prices Flash Drive I'm screwed or I have to buy 2 HD's just to transfer the data over to a new, bigger HD. 

What a waste of time and Cash!

[Cristari]

I am soo annoyed right now I can not explaim my frustration at SONY, the PS3, The Back up Facility and the replacing of the stupid Hard Drive system on it!!!

After spending money on an External Hard Drive to Back up my data to, Formatting it to Fat32, Backing up my data I attempted to put the replacement HDD in the PS3 only to be met with Errors asking for the latest Firmware Update to be on the drive connected. After finding the Firmware downloading the 3.66 .PUP file to the external drive I try again and again using all the folders on the hard drive only to be met with the same stupid error, I then Purchase a 4GB flash Drive and transfer the PUP to that and STILL GET THE SAME DAMN ERROR.

I give up!

This is not a simple process, there is no easy way to do this and it sure as hell isn't fast! 4:30 JUST TO BACK UP MY HARD DRIVE! *****!!!!

I'm not technically incompotant, I work for Tech support to Virgin Media Broadband this whole process is either broke or just plane stupidly difficult!

[fi8767]

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Cristari wrote:

 After finding the Firmware downloading the 3.66 .PUP file to the external drive I try again and again using all the folders on the hard drive only to be met with the same stupid error, I then Purchase a 4GB flash Drive and transfer the PUP to that and STILL GET THE SAME DAMN ERROR.

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The Storage device must be organised in a very specific way to allow the ps3 to recognise the update file.

Be sure to save the update data as noted below. If the data is not saved in the correct way, the PS3™ system will not recognize the update data. The folder names must be in all uppercase letters.

Using a PC, create a folder named “PS3” on the storage media or USB device. Within the PS3 folder, create a folder named “UPDATE”.

Download the update data and save it in the UPDATE folder 

[Cristari]

Yup that's what I was doing but as I found out this morning to my disgust is that I had not spelled a UPDATE correctly.

Anyway all done now, my PS3 has a brand new 500GB HDD, I may reformat the old 80GB one and use it for keeping films or music on or something.

The whole process excluding my mistake would have taken me a good 6 hrs to perform not as easy and not as simple as it is supposed to be.

1) Find a Replacement HHD (5400rpm 8MB cache 2.5 Laptop drive)

2) Find a Drive large enough to Back up your existing PS3 Drive (Can be anything but a External HDD will suffice)

3) Format Both Drives to FAT32 (if this means the drives are over 32GB use EASEUS Partition Master, Use Google to find it it is free to use and can Format any HDD to FAT32 over 32GB without partitioning it)

4) Using the Backup utility in the PS3 Back Up the data from the original HDD to your Backup Drive, this may take some time depending on the size of drive in the PS3 your backing up My 80GB dive took 4:30 to back up.

5) Once you have the Backup done create an "UPDATE" folder under the "PS3" in the Backup Drive and download and copy the appropriate .PUP PS3 Update file to this directory, you can download that from the Official EU or US website, again Google is your friend.

6) Put the New HDD in the PS3, attach Backup drive to PS3 using USB port and turn on, follow instructions on screen and everything should go smoothly, Set up the new HDD with standard info as you wish as this will all be erased anyway.

7) once you have a working PS3 again run the Restore facility from the Backup command in the PS3 menu and let the PS3 restore from your Backup file on the backup HDD (This will again take some time to do depending on the size of data in the Backup drive 1:30 for me in this instance!)

8) Once you have done that your PS3 should be restored back to normal but with a lot more room on your HDD.

Note not all data will transfer certain locked files (save files) may not transfer properly.