My PS3 died last night.....flashing red light. Can I.....

[Sipster]

just put my hard drive into a new system or do I need to take other steps???

 

[zero2dash]

Anytime you plug a drive into a system it always makes you format it. Not sure if they've changed that with a system update or not, but I don't know if there's a way to just use an old drive in a new system without having to format it first. (obviously that's gonna kill all your saves)

 

[scojer]

There is a way. I think you have to have a jailbroken PS3 to put it into, but you could always "unbreak" it after you swap your HDD.
Link
Haven't tried it yet. My PS3 is dead, but I don't have $$$ for a new one.

 

[Outamyhead]

Not sure if that will allow you to restore any DLC or digital game downloads you may have purchased either, here is a link that talks about someone else that did a drive swap to a new system http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/General-Support/I-got-a-new-ps3-and-I-can-t-restore-the-data-from-my-old-one-on/m-p/37727885

And here is the link from that page that talks about remotely deactivating the busted PS3 http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/General-Discussions-General/How-To-Deactivate-PS3-PSP-via-PC/td-p/36478641.

 

[zaxour]

My advice would be to do the hair dryer trick to resuscitate it long enough to back up your data to an external drive. otherwise, you wont be able to plug in the drive without having to wipe it.