PS3: PS3 back up

[Pure Mongrel]

Ok, there is something slower than the PSN ... the back up utility on the PS3.

I started to back up my 40GB PS3 as I am going to upgrade the HDD. Now I have no music, movies or photos on this PS3. Just game saves, Game date and about 10 downloaded games.

I am using a 16GB USB stick as the back up device as I don't have that much to back up ... my PS3 is telling me it is going take over 9 hours to back up the HDD

That's just insane!

I know others of you have done the HDD upgrade ... did it take so long for you guys?

On a side note: Is there a way to transfer game data (not saves) from one PS3 to another? My son want to play Burnout online with me, but we just don't want to wait another 2 hours to update the other PS3. I could not find a way to do it

[Zaxvien]

Originally Posted by Pure Mongrel

I am using a 16GB USB stick as the back up device as I don't have that much to back up ... my PS3 is telling me it is going take over 9 hours to back up the HDD

That's awful.

This is clearly offtopic, but I have to upgrade the X360 hard drive very soon, like next week or something like that. Are there any known issues with this fast-as-lightning 40min X360 data transfer?

Then anyone heared any rumors if those are going to be cheaper in just near future or getting an upgrade to be larger? Like I seriously don't like playing with the cables all the time.

[YellowMegaMan]

Originally Posted by Pure Mongrel

I am using a 16GB USB stick as the back up device as I don't have that much to back up ... my PS3 is telling me it is going take over 9 hours to back up the HDD

I've done the HDD upgrade. My PS3 is (was ) a 60Gb, and it was pretty full. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but I did it in an evening, so it was much less than 9 hours.

My guess is that your PS3 is giving you a very bad first estimate.

I was using a USB external hard drive to do the backup, but I can't see how that would affect the times. Not to that extent anyway.

On a side note: Is there a way to transfer game data (not saves) from one PS3 to another? My son want to play Burnout online with me, but we just don't want to wait another 2 hours to update the other PS3. I could not find a way to do it

I can't think of any way to do this offhand. If the XMB doesn't give you the option of copying the data file to a USB drive, then I'd say it's not possible.

I've occasionally left my PS3 on overnight if a game needs to download a large update. I come back the next morning to find the game running and waiting for me. I'd prefer the PS3 to turn itself off, but the "power off when idle" option doesn't work with game updates, since it's not strictly "idle".

Sony still has a lot of work to do to get these operations up-to-scratch...

[Ancient_One]

You can copy the save files to an external drive then take them to the second machine to copy them back onto the second PS3.

I did it when I had 2 PS3 machines.

[Pure Mongrel]

Update: I went out an bought an external hard drive. Now the back up only took 30min (10gb back up). So not to bad in the end.

Now I am currently downloading the latest PS3 update as it now needs this to reinstall the PS3 software? Let you know how I go.

Update: Needed to download latest update from SONY website. Note: Save the update on your USB stick in the following folders /PS3/Update. This will save you a lot of swearing time

Total time from back up, to change of HDD, to data restore = 1.25 hours.

Now to play with my new 500GB HDD

[Pure Mongrel]

Originally Posted by Zaxvien

That's awful.

This is clearly offtopic, but I have to upgrade the X360 hard drive very soon, like next week or something like that. Are there any known issues with this fast-as-lightning 40min X360 data transfer?

Then anyone heared any rumors if those are going to be cheaper in just near future or getting an upgrade to be larger? Like I seriously don't like playing with the cables all the time.

When you buy the new HDD, cable comes with it. It is fast, but only a one shot deal. Once you have moved your files to the new HDD ... that's it. Very easy to do though.

No word on price drops for HDD that I have heard of.

[Zaxvien]

Originally Posted by Pure Mongrel

When you buy the new HDD, cable comes with it. It is fast, but only a one shot deal. Once you have moved your files to the new HDD ... that's it. Very easy to do though.

No word on price drops for HDD that I have heard of.

Thanks for info, so there is no pain in the process. I'm pretty sure they move to bigger HD-sizes soon, but lets see when.

Points for PS3 to have a free choice with a hard drive. 140€ for a 30€ hard disk is a bit, well, ... MS-priced.

[Pure Mongrel]

SONY need to be applauded for this feature. They obviously understood that space will be a premium as more music, video, games and (soon to be) TV programs are stored by the user.

They did not crap on about piracy issues (which was a thin vale byXBOX for the real reason, if you have to buy proprietary upgrades, the user will pay more) ... they just made the console better, easily upgradeable without compromising the console and removed region locks on games (taking away the only real legitimate reason for modding).

Just some notes regarding the upgrade I did on my PS3;

1) Unlike the guides I saw on the net, you must have a copy of the latest PS3 update on an external device, saved to /PS3/Update. After it installs this update, the restore prosses is as per the examples on YouTube.

2) Don't use the back up you created on another PS3, even if you have the same user accounts on it. I did and although it reinstall the user accounts, it did not transfer any game data. My 60GB PS3 is now empty and I need to download all purchases and updates again. (I am so looking forward to this ... the PSN is so fast! )

3) Once you have installed the new HDD, make sure it is attached to a TV that can handle all the resolution outputs the PS3 can do; in this case the lowest (default) setting. I had it attached to my computer monitor when I was working on it and my monitor stated the output signal was out of range when I turned the PS3 back on.

4) Make sure your PS3 controller is attached to your PS3 via USB cable as it no longer recognizes the controller once you install your new HDD.

5) Be very,very gentle with the screws on the HDD caddy. They are very soft and you will thread the screww heads if you are to forceful. Good news is though, little force is required to move the screws. Also make sure you use the right sized phillips head screw driver, this will reduce the risk of damage to the screws.

[Rog69]

At work I use a USB2 to IDE adaptor to backup hard drives with Acronis. The cable was dirt cheap, you can pick them up on ebay for less than £10 delivered and they will do full and laptop IDE drives and SATA all in one.
Basically you just connect the hard drive that you want to back up to one end of the lead and plug the other end into your PC and it shows up as an external hard drive, you can then copy the files to the PC or use imaging software like Acronis or Ghost to make a full image of the drive that you can then dump the image back onto the new drive using the same cable.
I have to do this all the time at work to back up drives running OS/2 that have no other options for backup, it should work just fine for imaging PS3 HD's too as software like Acronis will image any drive regardless of it's format.

[Pure Mongrel]

I have one of those as well Rog69 (Tried that first before I bought the external hard drive) and I tried to connect an IDE drive to the PS3 for back up. The PS3 did not see it.