long post!
Well, ive been having PS3 troubles for a while, my 40 gig had a bad laser, sony fixed it free. Got it back, same ps3, but now it overheats and fan goes into crazy mode non-stop after 10 minutes. Sony sends me a different refurb, this one overheats 3 minutes within turning on, full blast mode fan. Sony sends me a different refurb, this one is super quiet, and i have it on for a while and finished Uncharted in one shot on Crushing (took 9 hours). Next day, the ps3 overheats while playing any disc based game. Sony sends me yet another box for another refurb swap. I got tired of it, and bought a slim.
I had a 320 gig in the ps3, with all the PSN/PS1 games i own (which is all of them). I plugged in a FAT32 hard drive, and did a system backup. Took 3 hours. It finished and said successful. Great, since i didnt want to re-download 100+ gigs over psn again. I then turn on my slim for the first time, upgraded it from 2.76 to 2.80. After that i transfer the gameshare accounts to the slim, confirm they activate, then turn system off. I then take out the 320 gig from my old PS3 and put it into my slim. I turned it on, and it comes up with a CANNOT FORMAT screen, and says i need the newest ps3 firmware on a flash drive and to re-do the update. Whatever, i download the update, put it on a flash drive into /PS3/UPDATE and then follow the on screen prompts. It re-installed 2.80 and then formats the drive this time. I then check and all the gameshare accounts are missing. I re-install them and they were still activated on the machine, so nothing to worry about. I then go to System Settings, Backup, Restore. It then formats the HDD again, reboots, and says restoring. And it only takes 2 minutes tops. Then it says all info restored for the following accounts, and it lists my main account + gameshare accounts. Dumbfounded, i check and of course, not a single game is there. I re-do the process 4 times, same thing.
I gave up and just re-que'd up everything. Another 100+ gigs of downloading, plus time wasted running them one by one and doing all the updates per game, which can take as long if not longer then downloading the games themselves. Then i have to put all my retail games back in, do the mandatory/optional installs + updates on those. Frackin a.
Other then this debacle, i love the slim. It makes a very small whirl sound and runs flawlessly. After so many defective PS3s, this thing is like a knight in shining armor to me. I truly hope this is the last Ps3 i'll ever have to do this downloading again with.
p.s. - The lights for the front are awesome, especially when the system turns off, the white lights fade out in a really classy way. Also, its super light.