Okay, so I've got an older 80 GB PS3 that is starting to go south. The thing sounds like a jet engine, is proving to not haven enough space for me anymore. I was already resigned to just buying a new one, and keeping this one out of spite for what I've been told I'd get for a trade-in.

But, I just got an email from gamestop that they'll give $150 credit for PS3 trade-ins. With the new MW3 Bundle coming out tomorrow, it sounds like I'm going for that with the trade-in shaving off some.

So, my question is does anyone know how gamestop handles the data transfer? How do I get to transfer all my data from my current PS3 to the new one without having both of them at home? Is gamestop supposed to handle the transfer of data in this case or something?

I'm going to go in and ask myself, but thought some of you might have answers. Usually, I find gamestop employees are out of the loop on things they should know themselves.

They dont. They just send it back to a corporate headquarters and clean the drives. Sometimes they don't even do that and just resell it back the same day.

Find a FAT32 external hard drive larger than your PS3's and make a back up in system settings. After you finish, make sure to deactivate your account on the console your selling, otherwise you will lose a slot since now it is restricted to two.

That sounds like a pretty good deal. I have been contemplating upgrading as well, because my poor old 80 gb PS3 seems to be working a little bit slower each day. The downsides are that I despise gamestop and avoid it like the plague and of course no data transfer. Hmm. Do any other places have an offer like this?

The space isn't the real problem for me with my 80 gb, but it looks like it's death is imminent. The thing is really loud, it overheats and shuts down, and now has begun to freeze at the home screen when I boot it up and sign in.

Thanks cannon, I guess I'll spend this weekend looking into that and backing up every file and then trading it in.

@firecracker22 said:

The space isn't the real problem for me with my 80 gb, but it looks like it's death is imminent. The thing is really loud, it overheats and shuts down, and now has begun to freeze at the home screen when I boot it up and sign in.

Thanks cannon, I guess I'll spend this weekend looking into that and backing up every file and then trading it in.

Can't you just copy your saves to a flash drive? Why do you need the install data of all your games, do you still play all of them?

I don't really mind re-installing the games and DLC. I actually just now remembered doing all of that when it needed to be repaired by Sony for a burned out HDMI port. So copying the saves isn't what has me worried.

But, I was thinking it'd make transferring my accounts alot easier. That it sounds like the direct PS3 to PS3 transfer sounds like a breeze.

There are about four active accounts on the thing. Two of them, one is mine and the other is my brother's, has purchases and trophies. The others are regional accounts I have for demos overseas, and also have games I got for free when the PSN hack thing happened and Sony gave games away for free.

@cannonballBAM said:

They dont. They just send it back to a corporate headquarters and clean the drives. Sometimes they don't even do that and just resell it back the same day.

Find a FAT32 external hard drive larger than your PS3's and make a back up in system settings. After you finish, make sure to deactivate your account on the console your selling, otherwise you will lose a slot since now it is restricted to two.

Oh, okay. Now I understand what you meant about deactivating the account. I've never had my account active on any other PS3 than this one. But, now I get it.

Thanks for the heads up.

You could always get Plus+ membership and put all your game saves in cloud storage. Sometimes those game saves don't always store right in a flash drive. TRUST ME I went through 4 YLODs.

I actually have a Plus account, so yeah I'll definitely do that too. Thanks.

Wow, 4 YLODs? Damn. I must have gone through 5 or 6 RRODs with the 360. Never had the YLOD.