Clean up old files

Over time your PS3 will accumulate various files on its hard-drive, mostly from games that you have played but also videos or other media that you may have downloaded. Some games can even require gigabytes for installation!

These files don’t clean themselves up automatically so eventually your console can get cluttered and run out of room. Every now and again it’s worth doing a spring clean!

How much free space do I have?

  1. Go to the Settings menu in the XMB and choose System Settings[Screenshot]
  2. Scroll down to the bottom and choose System information[Screenshot]
  3. The Free space information will show how much space (GBs) is free and the total capacity of the PS3′s hard-disk[Screenshot]
  • XMB settings menu
  • System Settings menu
  • System Information showing ‘Free space’

Remove old game demos

Have you downloaded any game demos from Playstation Store that you don’t play any more?

  1. Go to the Game menu and find the demo you wish to delete[Screenshot]
  2. Press the Triangle button on your controller to show the options[Screenshot]
  3. If you want to see how big the demo file is, choose Information and check the Size field[Screenshot]
  4. Choose Delete from the options and choose Yes to confirm the deletion[Screenshot]
  • XMB Game menu
  • Game demo file’s options
  • Game demo file information
  • Confirm deletion of game demo

Delete game installation files

The “Game Data Utility” stores installation files and patches. Some Blu-ray games install content to the hard-drive. Do not delete anything from here unless you have finished with the associated game.

  1. Go to the Game menu and choose the Game Data Utility feature[Screenshot]
  2. Check for files of games you don’t have or play any more. Press the controller’s Triangle button to bring up the options[Screenshot]
  3. To see the size of the file, go into Information[Screenshot]
  4. To remove it, choose Delete and then Yes to confirm
  • Game menu showing Game Data Utility
  • Options for game installation file
  • Game installation info

Delete media (video/music/photos)

If you ever downloaded videos off the Playstation Store or copied across media like music or photos that you no longer need, you may want to remove them. Here’s an example where I delete a game trailer video:

  1. Go to the Video menu[Screenshot]
  2. Find the file you want to remove, press the controller’s Triangle button to bring up the options[Screenshot]
  3. Choose Delete. You can see the filesize of the video on the confirmation screen. Choose Yes to confirm[Screenshot]
  • Video menu in XMB
  • Video file options
  • Confirm deletion of video file

Comments

  1. shanon tipton • May 24th, 2009 at 1:56 am

    Hi, how would i go about deleting extra content(add ons). for example, i purchased the map pack for call of duty 4. and i would like to delete it. thx

    Reply

  2. KJ • June 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Hi! This may seem like a stupid question, but just starting out with the ps3…..If you’re downloading files online and the download stops partway through (due to connection failure), does the part thats been downloaded remain on the hard-drive of the ps3? Does that get overwritten if you then reconnect and download the file again, or is the partially-downloaded file left hanging around on the hard-drive? If so, is there a way to delete it? Hope someone can help, please!

    Reply

    • Sean Hamshar • April 27th, 2010 at 9:22 am

      Hi, my name is Sean I have had PS3′s for four years, trust me on this, your question is not stupid at all, Im not certain if it remains on the hard-drive, but what I know bout computers ( which PS3′s are pretty much ) I have to say I really think that the partial DL stays on there, I will research it cuz I wanna know 4 sure too!! anyways you can Friend request me on PSN
      my PSN Username:SeanHamshar, I will respond again after I research it

      Sean

      Reply

  3. CyberBob • September 20th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    How do I restrict someone from deleting a file?! Users aren’t password protected. I’ve bought/downloaded a game but don’t want little Jimmy deleting it (either by mistake or maliciously).

    Reply

  4. Mangah • October 26th, 2009 at 5:54 am

    Hello
    Regarding Deleting Demos. I had a demo and tried deleting it and got an error during delete. Now i have an icon of an unkown file in place of the demo and every time I try to delete this file I am unable to.
    Any ideas?

    Reply

  5. CC • December 21st, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    How do you delete multiple ones at once so it wont take as long to free up space?

    Reply

  6. duteboxx • December 29th, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    Is there someway to delete songs you dont want from the hd for rockband EG. all the free crap thay give ya!!!???

    Reply

  7. Jennifer • December 29th, 2009 at 11:36 pm

    I accidentally deleted my user. Is there anyway I can get it back..

    Reply

    • PSNUser:SeanHamshar • April 27th, 2010 at 9:31 am

      if your talking bout your PSN Username then just sign up again like you did but at the “Create new user” page (1 be4 you give any info) instead of clicking create new, there is another one on same page below the create new, click on it then type in your lost PSN E-mail Add. u used and your PW,

      if you are talking bout a regular User (A PS3 user) I accidently got my old 1 be4, I have heard you cant but I swear I did, I just put in the old name of the user, and all my trophies were still there & everything, if not then I recommend calling PS3 Cus. Support

      Reply

  8. ROBSTER • February 3rd, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    how do i get back my deleted files on PS3

    Reply

    • elusive187 • June 20th, 2010 at 4:03 am

      you can’t ROBSTER!!
      unless you have a apple mac ! and are willing to take out the HD from PS3 and put it into an external case and run it through an undelete program, on said apple mac !! and even then might NOT get back all the files you deleted.
      I havent tried to undelete anything but I have ran though a PS3 drive on Mac and all is in a different format that has a different extension that makes it pretty unreadable !

      Reply

  9. Alex • February 27th, 2010 at 4:42 pm

    i was looking at my fee space and saw i only had about 1.5 gigs left. after deleting my vids and pics, i saw it didnt do SQUAT. i then realized that i had created a UK account to see upcoming news faster and i was wondering if having another profile takes up any space? does it?

    Reply

  10. michael • May 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    Hi, I accidentally deleted my game data utility for MW2, and I had the map pack, and now I don’t. Please help

    Reply

  11. mary • June 21st, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    hey i have a couple of questions if u click on a demo and it starts to download and you cancel it why does it stay in the playstation store under downloads? does it take up space and if so how do i delete it? thanks

    Reply

    • Flame • June 22nd, 2010 at 6:55 am

      In the Playstation Store there is a “Download List” which just lists everything you’ve downloaded or bought from the store. Those files may no longer be actually on your PS3, but the list can be useful as a reference in the future.

      There is also the “Downloads” section under your PS3′s Network menu. This holds partially downloaded files. So yes they are consuming space on the hard-drive, but you can bring up the options on each file and delete it.

      Reply

  12. Miguel • July 8th, 2010 at 2:01 am

    Hey, i’ve done everything that this thing asks, and i’m still under a gigabyte of space on my PS3. I’ve made sure i have no media things such as audio or video, and deleted all the content i didn’t want. It says i got 737kb out of 77 gb. Please help! :D

    Reply

  13. Justin • August 3rd, 2010 at 3:57 pm

    Hi. How do I clear items off my download list once I’ve finished with them?

    Reply

  14. FBram • August 23rd, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    Hey Guys… Would you mind me translating your docs and posting in a forum (with proper credits and links to ps3explained)?

    Reply

  15. justin • August 23rd, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    like moron i formatted my hard drive not knowing the full extent of what it would erase.it erased my dowloaded and bought marvel vs capcom 2 and when i try to re buy it it has that symbol that says its purchased even though its deleted. Am i just screwed?

    Reply

    • Flame • August 23rd, 2010 at 6:02 pm

      Hi justin – you can download again anything you have purchased from the Playstation Store. Just go into the Store and choose one of the icons at the top of the screen called “View downloads” (I think).

      Reply

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