Home >> Internet Games >> PlayStation 3

How to Backup Your PS3 Hard Drive to Upgrade

The PlayStation 3 console allows users to upgrade the hard drive with a larger one of their choice. While data such as your trophies and account information are saved onto the console itself, you will need to back up your movies, music and game data to an external hard drive before upgrading your PS3's hard drive. This can be accomplished using the Backup Utility feature of the PlayStation 3, which will back up all compatible content without you needing to manually copy each file over.

Things You'll Need

PlayStation 3 console
External hard drive with USB cable

Instructions

- 1
  Plug the USB cable from your external hard drive into a USB slot located on the front of your PlayStation 3. Use an external hard drive with enough free memory to house your PS3 hard drive's data. For example, if you are backing up a 60GB PS3 hard drive, make sure the external hard drive has at least 60GB of free space.
- 2
  Power on your PlayStation 3. The console will detect your external hard drive automatically.
- 3
  Use the PlayStation 3 controller to scroll to the left of the cross media bar until you reach the ̶0;Settings̶1; heading. Scroll down to ̶0;System Settings̶1; and press ̶0;X.̶1;
- 4
  Scroll down the ̶0;System Settings̶1; menu to ̶0;Backup Utility̶1; and press ̶0;X.̶1;
- 5
  Choose ̶0;Back Up̶1; from the menu and press ̶0;X̶1; to confirm the selection. Wait for the contents of your PlayStation 3 to be fully transferred onto the external hard drive. A download bar will keep you informed of the progress.
- 6
  Once the backup has completed, press ̶0;Circle̶1; to exit the Backup Utility menu and return to the media bar. Power off your PlayStation 3 and unplug the external hard drive from the console.

PlayStation 3