Backup PS2 Classic Saves on Playstation 3

 You can easily backup PS2 Classic saves from your Playstation 3 to a flash drive.

What You Will Need

Other than your computer and your Playstation 3, you'll need a flash drive with enough empty space left on it for your saves. The PS3 displays an error message if the drive fills during backup. Individual PS2 Classic saves are around 16 MB (megabytes) in size (I only have one PS2 Classic game, so I can't currently confirm this).

The Playstation 3 can read flash drives in FAT and FAT32 format. The PS3 currently does not support NTFS devices.

Backup Method 1: Individual Saves

 From PS3 to Flash Drive

Make sure that your system is on.

1. Plug-in your flash drive
2. Go to the Game menu on the PS3 menu
3. Using a controller, scroll-up in the Game menu until 'Saved Data Utility (PS2)' is highlighted
4. Press X, then highlight the game that you want to backup
5. Press Triangle and select the 'Copy' option with X
6. Follow the on-screen prompts
7. Remove the flash drive from the PS3

After you select 'Copy,' you might see the following message appear on-screen:

Connect storage media at the save destination.

If you see this message, and your flash drive is plugged-in, try plugging it in again because it might not be in all of the way. 

From Flash Drive to PS3

Make sure that your system is on.

1. Plug-in your flash drive
2. Go to the games menu on the PS3 menu (the header just says 'Game' and shows a controller)
3. Using a controller, scroll-up in the Game menu until 'Saved Data Utility (PS2)' is highlighted
4. Press X, highlight the device (should be at the top), and press X again
5. Highlight the game that you want to backup
6. Press Triangle and select the 'Copy' option with X
7. Follow the on-screen prompts
8. Remove the flash drive from the PS3

Backup Method 2: Backup Utility

If you want to backup all of your PS3 save games (and not just the PS2 Classics ones), you will want to use Backup Utility. From the PS3 menu, go to 'Settings' > 'System Settings' -> 'Backup Utility.'

Where Are My Saves?

The backup process creates a folder named 'PS3' in the root of your flash drive. Your PS2 Classic saves are located at:

PS3\EXPORT\PS2SD\[Game]

[Game] is a placeholder for the 'internal name' of a game. For example, saves for the US version of Fire Pro Wrestling returns are in 'PS3\EXPORT\PS2SD\NPUD21702'.