How To Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive With Backup & Restore, Step By Step Instructions - Part 1

So, you've been living with your PS3 Slim's original hard drive for some time and want to run a backup? Perhaps you'd even like to increase your hard disk size, add some additional USB ports, and install add-ons to give you memory card slots like the original launch 60GB Playstation 3 had? In the first of our three part series, "How To Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive With Backup & Restore, Step By Step Instructions" we're going to show you exactly how to backup your PS3 slim and begin the process to upgrade your PS3 to achieve its maximum potential.A PS3 Slim An external USB Drive that matches your PS3's internal drive capacityYour mileage as far as USB drive formats will vary, but many external USB drives either come pre-formatted in FAT32, come with software that will allow you to reformat the drive to FAT32, or you can download free utilities from your drive manufacturer or use utilities such as EASEUS Partition Manager or SwissKnife. Depending on your computer's operating system built-in utilities like Windows Disk Management or Disk Utility on the Mac will get you where you need to go. Since there are so many possible options and variations we're not going to direct you in any particular direction - once your external USB drive is formatted with FAT32 you are ready to begin.1) Power on your PS3 Slim.2) Plug in your FAT32 formatted external USB drive to one of the empty USB port on your Playstation3 Slim.3) On the XMB, choose Settings, System Settings, Backup Utility.4) Select Backup. Read the warning and select "Yes."5) Select your USB drive from the list and press the X button.6) Your backup will begin.7) Once your backup is completed, remove your external USB drive from your PS3 and put it in a safe place!nterested in seeing us upgrade our PS3 slim's drive to 750GB, add 8 USB ports, an SD card slot, MS Pro Duo slot, and more? Then head on over to "How To Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive With Backup & Restore, Step By Step Instructions - Part 2"View the original article here

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!