How To Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive With Backup & Restore, Step By Step Instructions - Part 3

With us so far? Excellent! You've backed up your PS3 hard drive as detailed in "How To Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive With Backup & Restore, Step By Step Instructions - Part 1" and installed your new A Western Digital 750GB, 9.5mm, 5400RPM, 2.5" notebook SATA-150 (1.5Gb/sec) hard drive along with the POWER A Media Expansion Bar for PS3 Slim as well as the TRON Legacy PS3 Slim Powerstation 400 - Clean Power & Charging Station for PS3 on, into, or around your PS3 Slim as detailed in Part 2. Now we detail the most crucial part - formatting your new drive, installing the Playstation Update file/OS, and restoring your data from the external USB drive backup we created in Part 1.

WARNING: We are not responsible for any lost data, damages, or errors which result in misconfiguration of your PS3 system. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK - IF YOU BORK YOUR PS3 WE CAN NOT HELP YOU. This "how to" probably doesn't even work and should be used by absolutely no one.

Everything from Part 1 and Part 2 of this guide 1) Download the PS3UPDAT.PUP file to a USB memory stick, memory card, or CD using the process outlined by Sony at http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/

2) Plug in a PS3 controller via USB cable to one of the unused USB ports on your PS3.

3) Power on your Playstation3 Slim.

4) Insert the USB memory stick, memory card, or CD with PS3UPDAT.PUP into one of the unsaid USB ports on your PS3.

5) Press the Start and Select buttons on your USB connected PS3 controller at the same time. (It may take up to 30 seconds for the PS3 to find the update file.)

6) Once your get the message that states "The system partition of the hard disk will be formatted" press and hold the Start and Select buttons again for five seconds.

7) A message will appear indicating that your new, 750GB PS3 hard drive is formatting. Once the format is complete, your PS3 will reboot.

8) Press the PS button when prompted. Agree to the licenses presented, select Accept and press the X button. The system update will now apply.

9) At this point your PS3's new hard drive has been formatted and the system OS has been installed. The initial setup wizard will guide you through setting up your PS3.

10) Select your language.

11) Select your Time Zone.

12) Set the time and date, or leave as is and configure your time and date settings via the Internet later.

13) When prompted for username, you can either rename the default username of "User 1" or leave it and rename to your desired username later. We recommend naming your username to something other than "User 1."

14) Configure your PS3 network settings, either "Wired" or "Wireless."

15) Once all your initial settings are configured and entered, your PS3 will reboot.

16) Your PS3 will boot up with a clean OS and newly formatted drive. Using the XMB, go to Settings - System Settings - System Information and confirm your new hard drive size.

17) Plug in the external USB drive you used to backup your PS3 in Part 1 to one of the unused USB ports on your Playstation 3 slim.

18) On the XMB, go to Settings - System Settings - Backup Utility and select Restore from the menu.

19) When prompted "Do you want to restore data that has been backed up?" select "Yes" and press X on the PS3 controller.

20) When prompted "Select the storage media that contains the backup data" choose the external USB drive listed, and press X on the PS3 controller.

21) When prompted "Select the backup data" choose the backup data listed with the date corresponding to the date you made your backup, and press X on the PS3 controller. Select "Yes" and press X on the PS3 controller when asked "Are you sure you want to restore?"

22) The Backup Utility will quick format your PS3 hard drive. When prompted press the PS button. Your backup data will be restored to your PS3 hard drive.

23) When the restore process finishes, press the X button when prompted to restart your PS3.

24) A message stating "Data for unregistered users was found and has been restored."

25) At this point you will see two users - "User 1" which has your backed up data, and the username you created previously.

26) Log in using "User 1" and check to make sure all your data has been restored correctly. At this point you can log out, delete the dummy username and rename "User 1" to a username of your choosing.

27) You're done!