There is a menu to rebuild your database and reinstall the firmware.
It will allow you to reset back to the factory settings. I suggest backing up your hard drive first though.
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2265/ps3_how_to_factory_hard_reset/
That's good info to know... but where do you find this menu?
I looked through the
official system software manual as well as the
official PS3 Knowledge Center and so far I can't seem to find any reference to this "full format" menu referred to in that tech tip link.
There isn't even a mention about it in the instructions and explanations about the
initial setup procedure.
The closest related topic I could find was:
But this refers to the
Format Utility, which will not defrag the drive, but rather will reformat it. Thus deleting everything off it, which I suppose will in effect defrag it as long as you use the
Backup Utility to copy all the data from the HDD to an external drive and then restore the data after reformatting the drive.
The other thing that I'm not sure I understand about how to do a hard reset as discussed in that link you posted, is that it mentioned three beeps?
I have used a similar procedure
(power switch off -> power switch on - > hold down power button until it beeps) in cases where I have taken the PS3 to someone's house and they don't have a display with HDMI. All this does is reset the
Video Output Settings back to the standard settings.
So if I understand correctly, if I were to continue to keep my finger on the power button, I would hear two additional beeps?
Are there other power button reset options besides those two?
One more thing, unless I'm mistaken, by simply selecting the
Restore Default Settings, it will do the same thing as powering down the PS3 and then keeping your finger on the power button until you hear 3 beeps... as it too will restore all the default settings and take you back through the intial setup procedure.
The message that says about re-building the database is not really an issue.
I had it after playing the Killzone 2 demo, and apparently it is like the PS3 defragging the hard drive (source - Sony forums and various other forums)
I've always wondered if there was a way to defrag the internal hard drive without having to backup all the data and reformat it, but I have also heard speculation that the PS3 will defrag automatically, but I have no confirmation of this. Do you have links to those sources you mentioned (Sony forums and various other forums) that confirm that the rebuilding of the data base is the way to defrag a PS3's drive?