Just upgraded PS3 Internal HD

[2gd4u]

Hi I Just upgraded the internal HD on my PS3.

How do I transfer:
1. All the game backups
2. Saved game data
3. Anything I am not thinking of.

Currently the original HD is not installed in the system.

I tried putting the Original HD in a USB enclosure, but I was unable to see the disk in Multiman. I was hoping this would be possible...

[PatrickBatman]

Well unfortunately you'll have to put the original internal back in FTP everything you want to your PC, then put the new internal in the PS3 and FTP from PC to new hard drive. You prolly should of got an external drive first before upgrading the internal but whatever.

[2gd4u]

Dammit!

Thanks for the speedy reply. Unfortunately I maxed the HDD's on all my computers since getting a Wii and PS3. I don't really have anywhere to put the data. FTP'ing all that data out and then back in again is going to take some time, is that really the only way?

[Darkman-PSG]

did you backup your hd?

[2gd4u]

did you backup your hd?

Nope. The old drive is not broken or anything. I just replaced it for a larger drive. All the data is still intact on the original disk.

What good would a backup have done me in this situation?

[PatrickBatman]

Well I have two internals the original one (60gb i think) the upgrade 500GB and an external drive 1TB. I still have games on the original (60GB) but since its so small i just reripped those games onto the new internal via multiman and have never used the original internal again. I guess you could swap them back and forth but that eventually would be more trouble than its worth.

Also assuming you own all these games you should have the original discs and you can back them up via multiman that way onto the new internal HD bypassing FTP and a step.

[Kayot]

Backup stores everything including User Profile. The only things it doesn't store is trophy's and the act file. Which you manually backup and restore every time you reboot the PS3 assuming you don't have PSN access.

[2gd4u]

Okay, I installed the old disk again. What folders do I want to back up exactly to get the fullest backup possible?

I want games and saved games. As I am on custom firmware, anything to do with PSN does not bother me.

Also the disk I back up to, Does it make a difference if it is formated to NTFS or FAT32?

[Kayot]

FAT32, since you should backup the system through the backup option in the system menu.

What I do is remove all my (Converted to) HD Games, Games, Movies, and Music. Since I use PS3 Media Server I don't usally have movies or music on my PS3.

Then I go into home/<not sure>/exdata and backup the act.dat file if you have any DLC that requires activation. If not, there shouldn't be an act.dat file here. If there is, grab it since the system backup doesn't back it up.

I don't bother with trophies, but you can back those up. I've never tried however and I'm not sure how it works.

Then with the system as light as you can get it, make the backup. My backup is ~500MB, though if I move the Disgaea data folder and extra files in exdata then format I could make it smaller. I'm not overly concerned with doing that however since 500MB isn't too big.

After that, do the drive swap, install the firmware (Slim only), restore the backup. From there on, it's back to doing whatever you want.

The backup saves game saves and game data. If you have game data from games that install it by default (White Knight Chronicles comes to mind) I suggest deleting it if it's not an update.

[LKJHGFDSA]

Just use the official back up/restore application.
It'll copy everything including non-official code.

It'll let you know if you have to reformat the HDD to NTFS or FAT32.