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How to Back Up a PS3 Hard Drive

With the price of external hard drives dropping every year, many people have turned to them to back up their important data. Just as keeping a spare copy of your computer files can prevent a disaster, backing up the files on your PlayStation 3 will save you hours of replaying games should your console's drive crash. Sony included a feature in the system to create a full duplicate of the internal hard drive that you can later restore from.

Things You'll Need

USB hard drive

Instructions

- 1
  Format an external hard drive to use the FAT32 file system. The default file system in Windows, NTFS, will not work on the PS3, so most drives will require reformatting. Attach your drive to your PC, and open the "Computer" window from the "Start" menu. Right-click the external drive and choose "Format." Change the file system option to "FAT32" and click "Start." This process may take several hours.
- 2
  Disconnect the external drive from your PC and plug it in to one of the USB ports on the front of the PS3. Turn on the console and log in to your account.
- 3
  Scroll left on the menu to the "Settings" column and go down to "System Settings." Select "Backup Utility" and press the "X" button to start it.
- 4
  Press "X" to select "Back Up" and then select "Yes" and press "X" again to accept the warning that some copyright-protected videos may not transfer.
- 5
  Pick your external drive as the destination and press "X." The system will begin the process and show the estimated time until completion. When it finishes, press "O" to exit the utility and disconnect your external drive.
- 6
  Return to the "Backup Utility" if you ever need to restore data from your external drive, selecting the "Restore" option instead of "Back Up." Select the external drive and confirm to copy the data back to the internal drive.

PlayStation 3