PS3 HDD backup question

[Lady Lilith]

I've been thinking about how long it took me to backup and restore my original 120GB PS3 HDD, and now I'll have to backup/restore a 500GB drive, in order to install a 1TB drive. My question is, is backing up my drive and restoring it even necessary if I have everything on a USB stick (music, various non-locked saves), and the cloud (copy protected saves)? I know all my PSN/PS1/PS2 games are tied to my account, so I have no fear of losing those...though not having to download anything was nice when I restored earlier, although it probably wouldn't be so bad now that I have a much faster router...

I can't think of much of anything that won't be available if I choose not to restore, aside from my friends list, which I can easily re-add everybody I have. Backing it up might not be a terrible idea, yes, but I just am not looking forward to what will probably end up being leaving my PS3 on all night (the original plan was to start to backup/restore at 10-11AM tomorrow, giving it 12 hours and then some before I go to bed, but given what I read in another thread, it will probably take around 15-20 hours, and I'd rather not leave it on all night. I suppose I could also backup tomorrow and restore Sunday)

Basically...is there any risk of opting to not backup/restore my current PS3 HDD and installing everything on my new 1TB drive fresh?

[Parker]

Really the only reason I would even back up my HDD is so I don't have to re-download all my PSN games, and so I don't have to install my games to the HDD again. If you have fast internet it might not be a big deal to re-download games but for me waiting the 15-20 hours to back up and then again to restore is way less time than having to download everything again. Hell GT5 alone would take all day to download everything again. Also, I believe your friends list is tied to your account so you won't have to re-add everybody even if you just install the 1TB drive fresh.

Parker

[Wandererster]

Even though you bought a new HDD, there's always a chance that your new one may suddenly become a paperweight. So having a backup will always come in handy when the situation arises.

[A12]

As long as you have all the Data you want to keep stored somewhere else safely, pop in the new drive.

Personally, I would at least do a full backup.

[broy300]

I can see both sides of the discussion. If I had to do it over again, I would still do the backup. Does not mean you have to use it, but at least you have an option in case things go to hell.

[PSXtreme_]

A back up is never a bad option.

[Lady Lilith]

Well, I decided to just back it up, and surprisingly enough, it's only going to take about 11 more hours (I just started like an hour ago)...which is weird, because it's backing up around 375GB, when it took 12-15 hours backing up only 100GB before. Guess it's because I backed it up before, and some of that data is still unchanged. I know it works that way on PCs too.

Edit-Nevermind, I just remembered I backed my 120GB HDD to a 500GB drive instead of a TB external.

Edited June 9, 2012 by gamerm1337

[Lady Lilith]

Yeah...even though the backup itself didn't take as long as I thought, the restore's taking like, an entire 24 hours. I started it at 2am last night, and it's still got 4 hours left.

[Lady Lilith]

Well, the restore seems to be stuck at 84%. Anyone know if I leave the PS3 on for the remaining time it says (3.5 hours), and then cancel, if it'll still restore properly? I seem to remember something like this happening when I restored my old (120GB drive) to my 500GB drive (which is now the drive I'm trying to restore from)

Edit-I guess it's not stuck...just going VERY slow. It's 86% now at 1:45am. At any rate, I'm hoping this is done by the time I get up in the morning.