[Edit: Finally managed to get a backup-and-restore to work; details, conveniently, at the top of page 2] TL,DR: It's nice that Sony makes it easy to put an off-the-shelf drive in the PS3, but ...

From the recovery menu, the user may Restore Default settings, Restore File System, Rebuild Database, Restore the PlayStation 3's System and Update the system. Turn off your PlayStation 3 so you ...