How to Copy PS3 Games to a Hard Drive

By Jennifer Leighton

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Video game players may spend countless hours on each game, working to unlock new characters, new gameplay arenas, or upgrading their characters. If the PlayStation 3's internal hard drive were to crash, all this data would be lost. Additionally, some players may save so much game data that they need to erase this data to make room for new games on the PS3 hard drive. PlayStation 3 supports data backup to either a USB mass storage hard drive or other type of storage media.

Individual Games

Step 1

Access the PlayStation 3 main menu, leaving the game disc drive empty.

Step 2

Click "Games" in the horizontal Xross Media Bar (XMB) at the top of the screen.

Step 3

Place the storage device in the USB slot. According to the PS3 official website, a Memory Stick, SD Memory Card, CompactFlash or a USB mass storage device may be used to copy game data. Any disc media formats such as CD-ROM cannot be used.

Step 4

Scroll in the vertical XMB menu to highlight the game you wish to copy data for. Click that game, using the triangle button on the PS3 controller.

Step 5

Click "Copy" when the option appears on-screen. This will copy the selected game data onto your external hard drive.

All Games and Media (Full System Backup)

Step 1

Access the PlayStation 3 main menu, leaving the game disc drive empty.

Step 2

Insert the storage device into the USB slot.

Step 3

Click "System" in the horizontal Xross Media Bar (XMB) at the top of the screen.

Step 4

Select the "Settings" option, followed by "System Settings."

Step 5

Select "Backup Utility," followed by "Backup."

Step 6

Select the storage device you wish to use from the list that appears on-screen and click the triangle button on the controller to confirm. This will copy all of your game files and other PS3 saved media to the storage device.

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