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PlayStation 3 YLoD experiences/advice (1 Viewer)

Morgan Jolley

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My PS3 just died this past week after nearly 6 years of use. I'm very happy with what I got for my money. I knew this day would come and (unfortunately) did not prepare for it by backing up my PS1/2 saves that were on the HDD or move my PS3 saves onto the PS+ cloud.

Anyone have any experience with the YLoD? I know that the data on the HDD is useless in another console so I need to get this one working if I want to keep any of the game saves. I can re-download games/videos/etc. with my PSN ID on a new console, along with cloud saves, but that's all. I have some data in the cloud but not all.

I tried the hairdryer trick and it didn't work (though I was overly cautious so as not to melt the plastic on the vents) and I'm debating between doing a fix by myself or going to a pro, then looking into buying a new console. I'll miss the backward compatibility, but I can also probably live without it just fine. Should I be able to not void the warranty seal, I've read that Sony will give me a replacement PS3 slim (I have the old fatty) for something like $120 but I'd only consider that route if I can salvage my data, too.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Sony will not guarantee your data if you send it in to them. When my 60 GB died I sent it in but had them replace it with a refurbed 120GB. That eventually died and I sent it in again, and that time they either sent me back the same console or the same HDD, because it still had at least some of my data on it. That said, it was not YLoD -- I'm pretty sure it was just a bad laser, which would've been cheaper to get fixed locally. Had it been YLoD, chances are they would've just dumped it and sent back another refurb.

If you have a YLoD 60GB and want to save your data, your only option if you can't fix it yourself is to find someone local to fix it.
 

Morgan Jolley

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I had made a backup a year and a half or so ago when I upgraded my 80GB to a 500GB, so the backup should still exist and have my save data on it. However, there are some recent-ish games that I played that don't have the backup that are on the 500GB drive. I removed the 500GB, put the 80GB back in, and will send that to them. The rep on the phone said that he has heard of some people getting the HDD to work in the new console (though the encryption is on a per-console basis and may format the drive instead) but that its very unlikely to happen here.

Honestly...there are more important things in life than recovering my save data. Also, I uploaded some stuff to the PS+ cloud storage in the past, but not everything. From now on, EVERYTHING goes on the cloud. And I found that you can download PS3 game save data and pretty easily get it on the console, so if I don't feel like playing through, say, Bioshock Infinite again then I can just download a completed game save.
 

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