Yes you can choose which game save data you want to backup, just go to Game on the XMB then choose game save data. Every game that you have played will be there, now just pick the games you want to save and copy the save data (press triangle on each file) to a flash drive. The rest of them can you can erase when you format. You will have to DL any content from the PS store which shouldn't be a problem because they allow 5 DL's of the same content you already purchased. Hope this helps.