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View Full Version : How to wipe a PS3 Clean for a gift?



Thorpesaurous
12-11-2013, 01:40 PM
This past year I gave away my original generation PS3 to my cousin. We were talking The Last of Us, and he didn't have a system anymore. I told him I had an extra after buying a 500 Gig slim last Christmas mostly because I was running out of space on the old one, and it was getting a little wonky.

So he gets the thing, and it never occurred to me that I had a bunch of content on there. Old DLC I had gotten, Downloadalbe games I had gotten really into for a while, my PSN account even. And game save data too.

Now in his case I don't really mind. I gave him my account password and he was able to check out some of the downloadable games.

This year I'm picking up a PS4 sometime soon. Probably after Christmas, trying to get a deal. And I just finished GTAV, and don't really intend to play anything else. I had considered trading it in, as it plus my games would probably buy a good chunk of my PS4. But I've been in the holiday spirit and decided to find a kid to give it to.

My friends' kids are all 6-8, which to me is just a little too young, especially to appreciate the game collection I'm including. But it occurred to me that I have a friend at work with a kid who's 11. It's perfect for him.

My question is now knowing from my cousin, does anyone know how to wipe a PS3 clean to give it away? I found a system restore, which signed out everything, but the content is still there. Obviously there's someway to do it, because stores are selling used systems with no content.

niko
12-11-2013, 02:50 PM
Deactivate the machine from your PSN account. Then reformat the hard drive. That's it.

Rose
12-11-2013, 03:22 PM
What Niko said should work.

Thorpesaurous
12-11-2013, 03:44 PM
Thanks.

Looks like it's just under the system restore command I was using last night. I'll try it tonight.

$LakerGold
12-11-2013, 11:06 PM
Yep.

You're a great friend Thorpe.

clipse026
12-11-2013, 11:07 PM
Thanks.

Looks like it's just under the system restore command I was using last night. I'll try it tonight.
Be aware that it takes forever. I did the same thing recently to sell my 120gb slim to a friend. It literally took about 12 hours.

Thorpesaurous
12-12-2013, 03:42 PM
Be aware that it takes forever. I did the same thing recently to sell my 120gb slim to a friend. It literally took about 12 hours.


You aint kidding. Clock said 28 hours when I started it last night. Which would put me around midnight tonight. We'll see where it's at when I get home from work.

Thorpesaurous
12-13-2013, 01:33 PM
It was done when I got home from work, so it was at least 7 hours faster than it said it would be, but still it took a long time.