How to Backup Your PS3 Hard Drive

Written by: Andrew E • Edited by: Aaron R.
Updated Nov 16, 2009 • Related Guides: Usb Flash Drive | External Hard Drives | Hard Drive

When backing up your PS3 hard drive, there are some things that you need to consider and plan for. PS3 backup doesn't take a lot of time and it can save you some major headaches in the future, learn what you need to know here.

Backing Up Data

Over the life of your system, there may be a time when it is necessary to back up your PS3 hard drive upgrade (hard drives don't always last forever). Perhaps you want to backup PS3 games, or just your normal data so you can replace your hard drive.

Maybe you plan on sending in your PS3 for repairs, or it could just be the 200 hours you spent completing those latest PS3 games to 100%. No matter what your reason is, a PS3 backup can be done fairly easily if you know what you are doing.

Before you start, there is one big choice you have to make about what device to use when doing a PS3 backup for your data. You have two options: use an external hard drive or a flash drive.

Using an External PS3 Hard Drive Upgrade

External Hard Drive (Source: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=8 )

click to enlarge

An external PS3 hard drive upgrade will allow you to back up your entire PS3 ([Settings]>[System Settings]>[Backup Utility]>Back Up), but if you don't have one already it is a large extra investment for something that you will only do once. If you do decide to go this route, the external hard drive will need to be formatted to the Fat32 file system. You can use your computer to format your external hard drive, but it will wipe any existing data you have on the drive.

However, if your external hard drive size is over 32 GB, you will need to use a third-party program to format it to Fat32. To make it simple, you are going to want to start with an external hard drive that is formatted correctly to ensure that your PS3 backup works the first time.

Using a Flash Drive for PS3 Backup

Flash drives are cheap to buy and more useful on a daily basis, but you will not be able to move over any themes, setting preferences,

click to enlarge

or sign-in information during a PS3 backup. You also have to copy over files manually and may find yourself going between your PS3 and PC to offload files multiple times if you decide to move your movies or music collection. Do not forget to back up your PS3 games saves, as they contain all the blood, sweat, and tears that you probably do not want to have to relive. Neither PS3 backup option you choose will allow you to copy your game downloads, so those will have to be re-added.

After everything is said and done, you can now rest easier knowing that your data is backed up for your Playstation 3.

What Next?

If you are backing up your data to make a PS3 hard drive upgrade, here is a guide about how to replace the PS3 hard drive. No matter which way you choose to go when doing a PS3 backup, there is a lot you really can do to backup PS3 games that you don't want to lose. Just make sure that you are comfortable doing it or that you have someone help you that knows how to do a PS3 backup the right way or you run the risk of losing all of those PS3 games that you just beat.

Puddlehopper2 Nov 24, 2011 1:45 PM

RE: How to Backup Your PS3 Hard Drive

use a programme called swiss knife it is free ware and formatted my 320 gig wd external happily :) i found it on cnet

junior Aug 8, 2011 4:08 PM

restoring

why when i turn on my ps3 it always restore an take a long time

junior Aug 8, 2011 4:04 PM

why my ps3 take so long to down load

Marc Apr 20, 2011 11:59 PM

copying game downloads

you can copy your game dowloads and save yourself allot of trouble with formatting an external HD if you know how.

i just cloned my ps3 60GB HD to a 250GB hd and when i tested it all of my game dl's were there

Tony Hart Mar 30, 2011 4:47 PM

HGow do I know my data is saved?

So i formatted my 500gig external to a FAT32 system type. I ran the backup utility. I went to check where the data should be saved and I can see the folders that were created, but it says there are 0kb in each folder... what did i do wrong? How can I check to make sure my data is there?

richard1976 Mar 28, 2011 8:05 PM

transfering a dead ps3 to a new one

I have had a 250 gig ps3 fat version not slim do the red screen of death. the mother board went.
i bought a cheap used one that has a 60 gig hard drive.... i tried to put in the old 250 and it wouldnt boot up saying i needed to update the software. so i did. is there any way of taking the info from the 250 to the new one.... this way i can put in a 500 gig hard drive and use the 250 as a back up for my ps3 and xbox?

miguel Mar 11, 2011 8:12 PM

FAT32

If your external HDD is formatted to FAT32 bur your PS3 doesn't read it, the reason may be your external HDD (like my WD Passport Essential 500GB) isn't getting enough power from the USB socket in your PS3. To solve this, I used an USB hub that is externally powered (to a wall power socket for example).

andrew Feb 19, 2011 9:05 PM

ps3 save data transfer

i just recently bought a ps3 320 gig move system slim model. my old ps3 the bigger model has died out on me i saved my game data to an external 500gig hard drive. my old ps3 originally came with 40gig of memory but i upgraded it to 320 and my new one is 320 as well also i am trying 2 transfer my game save data on my external hard drive from my old ps3 to my new one but yet i get my pictures,videos,and music but not my log in information or my game save data i have over 68 ps3 games and i wld hate to start my save data all over again can someone please help me i really could use it because right now i am at a standstill

john Feb 13, 2011 11:33 PM

my ps3

my ps3 has started to bleep when turned on and a single yellow light flashes on and then turns itself off, though it still works I'm asuming this is the disk drive starting to go but my friend's ps3 gave him no warning the first time this happened to him it never worked again. Anyway thanks for the help going to buy myself an external back tomoroow!!

bob Feb 1, 2011 1:07 PM

help

yes, my ps3 stop working,how can i get the menory from my harddrive on to a new ps3 harddrive if the old one is out of the console.

mcroboy Jan 12, 2011 11:40 AM

can i still play online??

when i backup my ps3 can i still play online or not because i have lend a game of my neighbor to play a little time with it on my ps3 so i want to backup it on my ps3 so can i still play online please somebody can tell me??

Nezza Dec 18, 2010 9:50 AM

RE: how long will it take

Just did a back up of my 80gb PS3 which had just 4gb free. It took about 2 hours and needed about 37gb of space on the external HDD. Haven't restored yet but I believe that takes slightly less time.

gr8 Dec 16, 2010 12:36 AM

how long will it take

does anybody know, how long a backup of a 80gb hdd will approx. last?

IT Guy Dec 13, 2010 12:13 PM

Greater than 32 Gigs

You have to format the drive as FAT32 in order for the PS3 to read it (PS3 can't read the most common format NTFS).

Anyway, most built-in tools to format drives in the FAT32 file system cap the size of the drive at 32 GB's (the theoretical limit of FAT32).

You'll need special software to format a drive bigger than 32 GB...so yes if you have an 80 GB hard drive full of data you'll need an 80 GB external hard drive with a FAT32 partition...the rub is you'll need to download a third-party program to format a drive that big in FAT32.

Adam Nov 25, 2010 1:40 PM

Fat32 format

i'm sorry, i'm confused about the need to change the format to fat32 if the external hardrive is bigger than 32 gigs. i only have 2 gigs left on my current 80GB ps3 and i'm planning to buy a bigger internal harddrive within the next week and swap them out, and to do so i ofcourse have to do the data backup on an external hardrive first. right now i've used up 72/74 gigs, so of course i would need an external hard drive bigger than 32 gigs if i want everything transferred. i was thinking about getting the I/O Magic 250GB 3.5" External Hard Drive since it's rather cheap and could transfer all of the data i need it to, but it's over 32 gigs and honestly by the time i get it i would have no idea how to configure it to a different format. can somebody inform me on how to do so and why it even needs to be in that kind of format?? thanks so much.

Kaizensan Nov 19, 2010 8:02 PM

FAT32 Format >32G

Download the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool from link below to format your as FAT32 above 32g or another external drive to desired format:

http://en.kioskea.net/telecharger/telecharger-127-hp-usb-disk-storage-format-tool

Do NOT use the "Quick Format" option as it will not allow full use of the formated partition.

I always receive an error message about not being able to make the drive bootable yet still get the full drive formatted and available.

Ensure no other applications automatically attempt to access the drive, as the tool may be hampered.

dean Nov 11, 2010 11:58 AM

PS3 backup

can someone please tell me if i can put my online cod profile onto my new ps3?? using this backup?

Glen Nov 6, 2010 5:15 PM

Backing up multiple users

I am new at this but i was wondering if the ps3 back up will back up data for all the users on the ps3

please help ,

oh and is a limit to what drive i can use coz i was thinking 1tb

Brian Sep 29, 2010 10:42 PM

fat32

So I have windows vista, and according to various sites I need windows 95 and 98. So here are my questions:

Why do I need FAT32?
Isn't there a more up to date version I can use?
Is it possible to download FAT32?
I need over 56 GB for back up, is there anyway to break up the downloads to put them into flashdrives?

I'm not the greatest techno geek there is so I'm not really able to follow everything about doing this can I please have some more details for doing this?

Jay Aug 30, 2010 7:17 PM

YLOD, Ps3 died

How can I get another PS3 to read the drive and let me use the programs and data there. I swapped it into another unit, but was told certain tracks had to be formatted. So I got nothing. ?????

Monty Aug 26, 2010 11:03 PM

RE: How to Back up your Hard drive--

i have problems while doing the back up itself.
i used a 120 external hdd to back up my 80gb ps3 but while backing up half way it says back up could not be completed help!1

optimus Aug 23, 2010 7:54 AM

my ps3 is overheating and i can't get my pictures back.

my ps3 is overheating, i fix it with the heat gun trick but it works for 10 min and beep beep beep again...can i get a new motherboard for my ps3,and if it works,can i use the same hard drive?i got pictures of my dad and he just pass away :.( can somebody help me

Jason Harris Jul 30, 2010 7:06 PM

my biggest beef with backup...

is that it won't allow you to back up to a network device. this is just not acceptable. for me to have to take an external to the PS3, back it up there, then transfer it off onto my backup server is a major PITA.

i'm not asking for rsync functionality on the PS3 (though that would ROCK), just the ability to schedule network backups to my backup server once a week or so. meh.

Jason Harris Jul 30, 2010 7:03 PM

How to format it on Linux

If you know your way around Linux, this worked for me and allows the PS3 to see all 120 gig of my external.

As root (or sudo if you want, whatever):

fdisk /dev/sdxx (xx = device)
set the partition type to W95 FAT32
create the partition, exit
type partprobe (to allow the system to re-detect the new partition information)
type mkfs.vfat /dev/sdx1 (x = device)

once it is done formatting, plug it up into the PS3. works. this was done on ubuntu 10.04, directions may vary based on your distribution. but yea, as long as you set the partition flag to W95 FAT32 and format it as vfat the PS3 will see it fine, as will any Windows systems.

Justin Jul 29, 2010 12:20 PM

but how do u up date the ps3 slim because i have call of duty mordern warfare 2 and it wont let go online but it says to update can u tell me how?

noel Jul 25, 2010 11:09 PM

PS3 Backup

i dont get it

david Jun 12, 2010 8:32 AM

RE: THEDUDE

LOL

Joe Apr 27, 2010 12:08 AM

complete backup in 10 steps?

directed to LinuxGeek - tried your method and not getting anywhere, ps3 dead, really want to get game save data off it. anyone else have any luck trying this?

it's a 40g hardrive from 2007 if that makes any difference, player model was CECHG01

Karine Hawkins Apr 23, 2010 11:37 AM

External Hard Drive

Can I transfer the games from the PS3 hard drive to an external hard drive?

justin Mar 21, 2010 2:43 PM

help me

can i back up my ps3 games and trophies to a flash drive or to a external hard drive

justin Mar 21, 2010 2:27 PM

can i back up my games on my ps3 to a flash drive or a external hard drive

brian Feb 19, 2010 10:20 PM

ps3 harddrive

if i bought a new hard drive for my ps3 and a sata external hard drive case for it and i back up my ps3 to it and then take it out of the case and put it into my ps3. would that work

Christopher Feb 12, 2010 12:37 PM

Saving Trophies etc

You can back up your trophies etc but it has to be done online via your Playstation Network account. If you want to save trophy information, it is recommended that you create a PlayStation Network account and save the information on the PlayStation Network server. To back up your trophy information on the PlayStation Network server, select (Game) > (Trophy Collection), press the triangle button, and then select [Sync with Server] from the options menu. As for backing up copyrighted material Sony darn well should let you back it up as you've PAID to download that content. As far as I understand things, you can re-download the content up to 5 times so that provides you with plenty of gaming life on your PS3.

Flemming Feb 10, 2010 8:07 AM

No Backup

I have the external drive in FAT32 and use it for music/video/picture. But the PS3 will not backup to the drive. Why?

THEDUDE Jan 27, 2010 12:35 AM

If you don't know how to copy files to a flash drive go jump off a bridge.

Ed Jan 21, 2010 9:06 AM

It doesn't say anywhere the actual process of copying the files to the flash drive... totally bunk dude

Chris Jan 17, 2010 3:16 AM

HDD

I got the 1st gen 60 gb ps3 but it crashed and is there a way that i can retrieve the memory on my ps3 hdd i lost precious moments(pics), and would like to get them back.

LinuxGeek Jan 13, 2010 1:36 PM

Complete Backup in 10 easy steps

Despite what Sony says, you can do a complete backup of a PS3 hard drive in 10 easy steps.

1. Power Down your PS3
2. Open the HD cover on the left hand side of the PS3.
3. Using a phillips head screw driver, remove the single blue screw.
4. Grip the wire tab, and slide the drive forward, then pull it out.
5. You will find a Standard SATA laptop drive.
6. Using a USB2.0 IDE/SATA cable, connect the drive to your computer.
7. Using ANY Linux live CD, boot your computer into linux.
8. From a terminal window SU to root level.
9. Type DD if=/dev/sdX of=PS3Backup.iso (where X is the drive letter)
10. Wait about 10 minutes... and Poof, you have a ISO backup of your ENTIRE PS3 hard drive.

BTW let's see you do that under windows....

Red Baron Jan 4, 2010 1:11 PM

I need help

Unfortunately you cannot use the CDM to format your 1TB disk to FAT32. You'll get the "The volume is too big for FAT32" message after waiting an age. I have the same challenge and the quickest way is to use the free software SwissKnife. It does a quick format to FAT32 but make sure you have the right drive (I disconnected my other external USB drive to ensure I didn't reformat it by mistake). I am now successfully backing up my PS3 on my new 1TB USB FAT32 drive.

Charley Dec 15, 2009 11:22 PM

dear bink:

one word: punctuation.

Bo Dec 11, 2009 12:43 PM

ps3 drive backup

Sony corp. says you are not right!
Trophies and any copyright protected material will not be copied(saved, or backed up)

What do you say to them??

Darren Oct 19, 2009 4:32 AM

Not Everyone Is Poor Like You Eric :P

Qoute: Jon Eric Brantner
Don't have to have a third party software to format to FAT32
All you have to do is do it from a command prompt in XP....

CMD

type in format /FS:FAT32 X:
where X is the drive letter - this will allow you to format the hard drive to FAT32 without using third party software....

What About All Using Vista And Windows 7 - Unlike that 10 Year Old Os Your Using :P

X Sep 30, 2009 11:35 PM

Does it back up dital games that you bought

Does this back up save digital games that you bought on the store?

bink Sep 30, 2009 1:57 AM

well this is my problem I got a new ps3 the slim well i want to get all my info and my friends list but I dont know how to do the fat 32 does it matter is my external hard drive is a 1tb and is the like a youtube thing that i could watch that tells me step by step to do the fat32 because i want to do it right and save everything and my friends too and bring it to my new ps3 if you could help that so sweet lol well thats for reading

Jon Eric Brantner Sep 14, 2009 1:43 PM

Don't have to have a third party software to format to FAT32

All you have to do is do it from a command prompt in XP....

CMD

type in format /FS:FAT32 X:
where X is the drive letter - this will allow you to format the hard drive to FAT32 without using third party software....

How to Backup Your PS3 Hard Drive

Backing Up Data

Using an External PS3 Hard Drive Upgrade

Using a Flash Drive for PS3 Backup

What Next?

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