I worked out me prob :D I was trying to use the SAVED DATA file directly and it wouldn't show up on the PS3. The SAVED DATA file needs to be in a PS3 file for the ps3 to read it :) Woot got me saves :) loving 250gigs :)

So once you add a new harddrive everything on the PS3 will be like new? what happens when you put in a new harddrive  is everything the same except you just have more GB or do you have to make a back up disk or something like that?

maybe a crazy question, but whats the best way to back-up the PS3? i want to upgrade my PS3, but don't want to lose all my good stuff i have saved on it... do i have to locate an external drive too?

Yes, you need to back up and then restore your disk. So you should also have a USB disk attached to backup onto (just borrow one for a day or two if you don't have one yourself).

And as other mentioned, be very careful/powerful with the screws. I managed to ruin two of them when I replaced my disk and had to drill them out in order to get the harness lose and ready to be attached to my new drive. I recommend an electric screwdriver if you have one.

^cheers

I just backed up my saves when I upgraded.

They aren't joking about those screws, though, they are VERY soft.

I rounded the inside of one screw when I was switching to a 160 GB, and had to get pretty creative to get it out.

Seriously though, be very careful with those screws.

You tried putting your laptop into your PS3?

I would not suggest using an external drive, as game saves and installs cant be saved externally.

Yep, be careful with the screws. Use a high quality perfect fit screwdriver.

Backing up? Use an external HDD via USB. Only thing you need to know here is that it needs to be formatted FAT32. Windows can only format FAT32 to 32GB. Just google "greater than 32gb FAT32". There is a free easy to use utility (EXE) that will allow you to format your external HDD on your PC greater than 32GB with FAT32.

The backup process took about 20mins for my half filled 40gb. Restore seemed to be a bit quicker, probably because the OEM 40gb is not exactly a high performer.

Anyway, it was a painless affair except for those damn screws. Obviously machine tightened at the factory. I replaced it with a 320gb. The only weird thing is that when I restored, 40GB was used instead of 20gb. Yes I know a 320gb HDD is not actually a true 320gb HDD since they count a GB as exactly 1bill bytes (it's actually 2^30 bytes) but I still lost 20gb somehow, and I did not allocate a petition for another O/S.

Because the PS3 allocates some hard drive for OS and such.

This is normal, i think with a 320, you will end up with about 296 or so GB.

Just dont do anything stupid that will void your warranty