First Post: 500gb time

This blog has been on backburner for a few months now because of 2 vital issues preventing me from using it:
1) A way to show exactly what I'm doing in games.
2) More games and space to play them in.
Luckily enough, thanks to the holidays, I was able to get both! I got a 500gb hard drive and Dazzle SD video recording software. Unfortunately, because I don't have all the cables, I don't have gameplay videos for my first post. Instead, I worked on my second gift for most of the day, installing the 500gb hard drive into my Playstation 3. The process is pretty long(I'm still finishing it up). The work went pretty much like this:

Step 1: Sort through the 59/60gb of console data and figure out what I can keep and what I can get rid of. As a lot of you guys know, not all the data can be copied to USB storage units because they are "copy protected." Also, I only have 2 storage units to work with, a 2gig and 16gig thumb-drive. The PS3 wanted 40gb of free space to backup all of my info, so I had to copy all the game saves it lets me, then delete them -> Delete the corresponding game data ->Delete MAG's game data to get me down to the 14gb I could fit onto the USB ->Backup all the "copy protected" files onto the USB.

Step 2: Swapping the Hard drives was a pain and a half because of a teeny blue screw that Sony practically bolted into the system.

I got this HDD from Best Buy with my GIFT CARDS from my girlfriend and her family, a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500gb/5400rpm SATA HDD.

Once you get over that freaking screw, the transfer is easy.

After popping it in, the PS3 will automatically ask you to format the HDD. Info like accounts and version are saved onto the PS3's internal memory, so I didn't need update anything.


Step 3: After it formats, we're basically on the home stretch to playing games again. Restoring the backup file off of the USB is a long, annoying process. Many people report freezing, and some even claim their HDD was destroyed. Luckily, I only had one freeze, and that was after pressing the -Okay- button. Restarting the Backup still worked (after letting it install for an hour...). Then I simply add the save files from the 2gb thumb drive.

Step 4: Finally we have to get back ALL the PSN content and game data that I deleted. Also, there is the trophy data that takes a loooong time to sync. My PSN account also claims that I have 159 downloads over the 2~3 years of having my PS3. Of course I don't need all of it, but I'll get back what I can.