Copying PS3 save files.

[MadCatz900]

Hey, my PS3 broke and im wondering if there is a way to get the save files off the hard drive onto my pc, im not sure if a pc can see the files if you just plug the hard drive in, any help is appreciated.

 

[Hawkeye22]

The ps3 uses a proprietary format which your pc can't read.

If you plan on purchasing a replacement ps3, then just stick the drive in the new ps3 and boot with it. If you have friends with ps3's, you can temporarily swap the drives, copy your saves off of it or make a backup of the drive, then put the original drive back in. I'm not 100% sure the drive will work in another system, but can't hurt to try.

I use the ps3's backup utiltiy to make full system backups monthly. It's probably overkill, but can't hurt.

 

[MadCatz900]

The ps3 uses a proprietary format which your pc can't read.

If you plan on purchasing a replacement ps3, then just stick the drive in the new ps3 and boot with it. If you have friends with ps3's, you can temporarily swap the drives, copy your saves off of it or make a backup of the drive, then put the original drive back in. I'm not 100% sure the drive will work in another system, but can't hurt to try.

I use the ps3's backup utiltiy to make full system backups monthly. It's probably overkill, but can't hurt.

When you throw in a new(different) hard drive doesnt the ps3 format it without asking you first? i didnt think you could swap drives without the ps3 formatting them first. Cheers.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Unless they changed something in the firmware, I don't think so, unless the drive is blank. I upgraded my original 80gig drive with a 250gig drive. After restoring my backup of the 80g drive to the 250g drive I was still able to put the original drive back in with no problem. This was ~ 3 years ago.

The only problem you may run into is that certain versions of the ps3 store part of the firmware in cmos/memory of some type and the rest on disk. If the two parts aren't the same version number I'm not sure what it will do.

 

[MadCatz900]

Unless they changed something in the firmware, I don't think so, unless the drive is blank. I upgraded my original 80gig drive with a 250gig drive. After restoring my backup of the 80g drive to the 250g drive I was still able to put the original drive back in with no problem. This was ~ 3 years ago.

I will try that anyway thanks for your help.

 

[MadCatz900]

Best answer selected by MadCatz900.

 

[ulysses35]

I wouldnt put the old drive in a new machine - the new PS3 will ask you to format the drive. I dont know how or why but the console will only ready a HDD that has been written to by the same console before.

I too upgraded my /HDD andyes you can swap between the standard HDD and upgraded unit, but you cannot read data from one PS3 on a different machine. This probably to stop you copying / sharing games you have purchased,

 

[egilbe]

The ps3 uses a proprietary format which your pc can't read.

If you plan on purchasing a replacement ps3, then just stick the drive in the new ps3 and boot with it. If you have friends with ps3's, you can temporarily swap the drives, copy your saves off of it or make a backup of the drive, then put the original drive back in. I'm not 100% sure the drive will work in another system, but can't hurt to try.

I use the ps3's backup utiltiy to make full system backups monthly. It's probably overkill, but can't hurt.

This is all wrong. You can't swap drives between PS3's. It's impossible without formatting. Thank you Sony! Sony HDD are formatted in fat32. You should be able to read it with a linux, but I haven't gotten to that point yet with my PS3's...yes, two of them.

 

[MadCatz900]

Thanks for the replies guys

 

[Hawkeye22]

This is all wrong. You can't swap drives between PS3's. It's impossible without formatting. Thank you Sony! Sony HDD are formatted in fat32. You should be able to read it with a linux, but I haven't gotten to that point yet with my PS3's...yes, two of them.

Only external drives are formatted to fat32. The internal drive is a proprietary format. Windows can read fat32, no need for linux.