Swapping HDD's in my PS3 - backup utility and other related Q's

Yemeth said:
I did not knew that, then they should not name it "backup utility" but "upgrade to a bigger HD in the same PS3 utility".

Gradthrawn, or someone else, can anyone confirm if the audio and video files are copied to the HD of a different PS3? Because if we use the PS3 as a multimedia device, then it would be nice if we have a functioning backup as in backup...

What are our alternatives then? Copy everything to an external HD?
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Non-DRMed A/V is restored to any system. DRMed content is only restored to the same system.

You can copy some content manually. Games/demo's, accounts, and settings cannot be transferred. DRMed content can be transferred to an activated PSP, possibly for temporary storage, to be transferred back. I haven't tested that out, but it should work. The backup utility really is the easiest. Although its dreadfully slow, and its possible to have a corrupt back-up and not know it until its too late.

The backup utility it does need work, but I'm glad its there. Just be sure to backup your save games manually (and separate from the utility backup) before replacing the HDD if the time invested in them means anything to you.
 
Thanks for answering, Gradthrawn!

What I do not understand, how can a backup be corrupt? Don't they use CRC and verify, I mean it is so awfully slow don't they verify it in that time, or is the PS3 calculating the meaning of life in that time?

When I upgraded to a bigger HD, the backup was really taking ages and I had deleted all install files etc. etc. (had only a few GB to backup).

I wish they would enable multiple file copy for the savegames, then I would backup them weekly or monthly to a memory stick, this way I'm too lazy to do it regulary.
 
I upgraded to a 500Gb HDD. The backup and restore took 12-15 minutes each although I handled most of the game saves myself.

I think the backup set is heavily encrypted and signed to prevent foul play. Multiple copy should indeed be available for all media types.
 
Yemeth said:
Thanks for answering, Gradthrawn!

What I do not understand, how can a backup be corrupt? Don't they use CRC and verify, I mean it is so awfully slow don't they verify it in that time, or is the PS3 calculating the meaning of life in that time?

When I upgraded to a bigger HD, the backup was really taking ages and I had deleted all install files etc. etc. (had only a few GB to backup).

I wish they would enable multiple file copy for the savegames, then I would backup them weekly or monthly to a memory stick, this way I'm too lazy to do it regulary.
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You're welcome.

I'm curious as to how a backup can become corrupt as well. In my case, the backup went just fine, but during the restore I was notified of it being corrupt (re-tried numerous times). Fatal flaw, IMO, but most don't seem to run into that problem.

In regards to saves, a while ago I bit the bullet and did a 1-by-1 copy of all of my game saves to a MS I had. Since then, I only need to copy over the updated game saves, which I try to do as I play. Works out pretty well. Just need that initial investment of time and patience.
 
I had an error yesterday while playing Motorstorm. No crash, but I decided to restart and then was prompted for an automatic file database fix. Now I have 8mb of corrupted data in my games list and I've lost all my custom album information (which I used to categorise my games into folders, like Racing, Shooter, PS Eye, etc.). Weird and a bit annoying, but otherwise everything works so no huge disasters.
 
Yemeth said:
I did not knew that, then they should not name it "backup utility" but "upgrade to a bigger HD in the same PS3 utility".
Click to expand...

It's a backup utility, not a ghost your image to a new system utility. If you actually want to just back up your files (that is to maintain duplicate copies to guard against loss), or to copy everything at once for a disk upgrade it does everything it was intended to do. But not everything is stored on the HDD and Sony doesn't want people copying all their DRM's games and a/v to friends' PS3s.
 
Trouble is, Sony need to offer a ghosting system for when PS3's are replaced, either by repairs or upgrades, or second systems. With only one likely option in the menus, "Backup Utility", users will expect it to do that when they need such services and be disappointed when it doesn't.
 
May not need to be so complicated. Just give us "Multiple Copy" for game saves. The Backup utility works fine as a backup tool.

Upgrading HDD is infrequent and the use cases may vary due to the backup HDD size. Just give us more control over what we want to copy, instead of trying to build a monster, or only leave us the option of individual file copy.
 
Has anyone ever tried removing the HDD and use an application like Acronis to create a disk image and then copy that image (with Acronis) to your new larger HDD?
 
Thought I'd dig up my old thread instead of making a new one because it's somewhat related.

So I decided to sell my 20GB PS3 and I used the backup feature, but now I found out that I should have deactivated my account before I sold it, as you're only allowed to share content on 5 machines. Well now that has me worried... I gave my account to my sister, and she had her first PS3 stolen (changed pw's immediately), so that means my account is active on 4 different PS3's (including the Slim that I will be buying). I don't think my sister downloaded any of the content that I purchased on her old PS3 (the one that was stolen) so my question is: when Sony says you're allowed to share content with 5 machines, does that mean you're only allowed to have an account active on 5 machines, or the content you purchase can only be downloaded 5 times? Or both?
 
You can play the title on up to 5 machines. You can download many times. At least I haven't hit the redownload limit yet. Needed to do it a few times because my kid deleted my account >_<
 
patsu said:
You can play the title on up to 5 machines. You can download many times. At least I haven't hit the redownload limit yet. Needed to do it a few times because my kid deleted my account >_<
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Ok, so you can download it several times, but essentially you can only have it install on 5 machines? What about the number of machines an account can be active on?
 
djskribbles said:
Ok, so you can download it several times, but essentially you can only have it install on 5 machines? What about the number of machines an account can be active on?
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That's where the number 5 comes from.
Btw you can deactivate an account on a particular PS3, so you can properly transfer your account including all licenses to another PS3, without losing anything -- without even counting down your number of simultaneous installations.
 
djskribbles said:
Ok, so you can download it several times, but essentially you can only have it install on 5 machines? What about the number of machines an account can be active on?
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I think five concurrently. Not sure, but it would make sense, matching on how many games you can have a game installed. There are a few games that require you to wait 24 hours before you can play a game on another system though I think.

All in all its pretty generous.
 
Be mindful that content from the Video Store can only be activated on 1 PS3. That goes for any content. So, if you downloaded anything from the PSN Video Store (free or paid) on the PS3 that you sold and didn't deactivate, you're going to have to call Sony Support.
 
Rolf N said:
That's where the number 5 comes from.
Btw you can deactivate an account on a particular PS3, so you can properly transfer your account including all licenses to another PS3, without losing anything -- without even counting down your number of simultaneous installations.
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That's the problem, I already sold it. I guess I could call the guy up and ask him if I can deactivate my account, but that would be awkward as I don't even know the guy. Worst case scenario, I guess I can tell my sister to deactivate my account on her PS3. If my new slim ever bricks, hopefully I can still somehow deactivate my account.

Arwin said:
I think five concurrently. Not sure, but it would make sense, matching on how many games you can have a game installed. There are a few games that require you to wait 24 hours before you can play a game on another system though I think.

All in all its pretty generous.
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Well the only content I buy from PSN is RB/GH songs and I've only downloaded them onto 2 machines at the moment (soon to be 3), but my account is active on 3 (soon to be 4). So by having my account active on 3 machines, does that mean the content is active on 3 machines (even though it was only downloaded on 2) meaning I only have 2 left?
Gradthrawn said:
Be mindful that content from the Video Store can only be activated on 1 PS3. That goes for any content. So, if you downloaded anything from the PSN Video Store (free or paid) on the PS3 that you sold and didn't deactivate, you're going to have to call Sony Support.
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I don't plan on purchasing any video content so that shouldn't be a problem.
 
Finally have to go the full on backup/transfer route. My 40gb PS3 (the one I use for Rock Band) has started crashing during BR use. During any games or movies. It's not within warranty. The good news I don't have any issues playing any PSN games.

Going to try and get everything transferred over to my 80gb. Pretty curious how much Sony is going to charge to replace the BR drive and if I'd have better luck taking it elsewhere?
 
Damn, thanks Patsu. That's what I was afraid of...

Maybe I'll just move it into another room and use it as a media device. I find it really hard to justify the cost of $150 to fix it when I can spend a little more and get a slim. Although this gen that would be my 4th PS3 and I'm on my 4th 360. Granted one of the PS3 was torched by lightning and I did have 2 360 RROD.

Just hoping I run into no issues re-downloading all my Rock Band songs.
 
I sold my launch unit a few months ago and the only things I've purchased from PSN were RB songs. When I got my slim, I had no problems re-downloading them; just go to Account Management -> Transaction History -> Download list (or something along those lines) and you'll see a list of everything you've downloaded from PSN. You can even re-download the transport key for RB1 songs if you've purchased that.
 
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