Hardware Failure / Hard Drive, Need to get Data back @ HELP.

So a few months back I got the Yellow Light of Death on my out-of-warranty 60GBs, and when I was about to send it to Sony I was told they don't give you your original PS3, but a refurbished one, which I wouldn't really mind if it weren't because I had some really great memories caught on the PS Eye and I really don't want those files to be lost, so I ended up not sending them.

Only recently I went to a local game store that "Repaired" consoles, they told me they couldn't fix the Yellow Light problem, but that there were ways to keep the data, one of them to switch the hard drive that I have to another PS3 and get the files back from there, we tried with a PS3 on the store and apparently I needed to "format" the HD for it to work, which wasn't really the point, so we figured it was because of the fact that that PS3 had the latest system software and my HD didn't, I would have lost of hope of anybody having a PS3 with an old version but my friend does, he's got 2.53, I'm pretty sure I had something newer than that, we tried switching the HDs but we still got that we had to format it.

Now my question is, is there anywhere I can find all PS3 update files so we can try with each one until it works? Or, is it even possible to make it work just by switching the HDs (He doesn't care about having to delete all of his files for it to work)? Or, is there any other way I can try? I heard something about connecting to a laptop, but I figured that wouldn't work since the files are on PSEye format, but I'm really not sure. Please help me with this, I really need those files.

This is going to sound weird, but I swear on my experience as a tech this works (sometimes).If it's a harddrive failure (not sure, honestly. Mostly troubleshoot PCs for a living, but honestly the PS3 is rather close), trying tossing it in the freezer for a couple hours. Sometimes this will buy you enough time to scavenge important information off the drive. It's worked for me in the past.

Slight disclaimer, though. If this does indeed work, it means your drive is screwed. The drive willfail again, shortly after brining it out, actually. It will need to be replaced. Period. But this might buy you enough time to get what you need for the replacement drive.

This is going to sound weird, but I swear on my experience as a tech this works (sometimes).If it's a harddrive failure (not sure, honestly. Mostly troubleshoot PCs for a living, but honestly the PS3 is rather close), trying tossing it in the freezer for a couple hours. Sometimes this will buy you enough time to scavenge important information off the drive. It's worked for me in the past.

Slight disclaimer, though. If this does indeed work, it means your drive is screwed. The drive willfail again, shortly after brining it out, actually. It will need to be replaced. Period. But this might buy you enough time to get what you need for the replacement drive.

elemental_drago