PS3 Save/Profile Data Corruption -- Very Detailed Info Inside

General Overview:
I was replaying a mission in the campaign, and quit in the middle of it to change some audio settings on my PS3 in the XMB. I paused the game in an area that most definitely was not auto-saving, and left it there for a few minutes to walk away from my console to do something else. I came back a few minutes later, game still paused, and used the PS button and selected Quit Game to get to the XMB. When I started BF4 back up, all my profile data was lost, including all options settings and most (but not all) of my completed single-player Assignments. This is the second time my data has been corrupted since launch, although I don't remember specifically what I was doing the first time it happened.

Also to note, I'm a PlaySation Plus member, and all my games are set up to automatically upload any new profile save data to my Online Storage folder between 4:00 AM CST and 6:00 AM CST every morning. This includes Battlefield 4.

Gameplay Details:
I was replaying the Tashgar mission on Hard. I had previously completed all Assignments, obtained all Collectibles, and acquired every weapon in the campaign, and I was playing again to get the Infiltrator Trophy (Get 10 adrenaline kills in the Tashgar mission in the Campaign). I obtained that Trophy at 12:16 PM CST while in the area where you're first able to drive the AA vehicle and kept playing through the mission for about ten more minutes. I made my way to the park area (the area where you can first obtain the M249 weapon), and after fighting some guys for a bit, it was at this point I decided to pause the game and eventually exit to the main menu. I paused the game well after the auto-save occurs upon entrance to this area, and about three minutes later proceeded to use the PS button to select Quit Game and exit to the XMB.

Technical Details:
What normally occurs on selecting Quit Game is that you get a black screen that says Please Wait for maybe five seconds or so, then another few seconds of a black screen while the system loads into the XMB. This time, however, the black screen after the Please Wait message lasted for about 15 seconds, then the PS3 console itself performed a quick triple-beep—something that typically occurs when you hold the power button to force a shutdown after a game freeze. This occurred by simply selecting Quit Game from the menu you get by holding the PS button.

At this point, instead of loading directly to the XMB in the usual quick fashiion from a game exit, the loading that occurred was the same as the kind you get when you turn the PS3 on from a standby state. This distracted me from what I had originally exited the game to do in the first place, so I immediately loaded Battlefield 4 back up again (disc in tray). Before it got to the main menu, I had to adjust the screen space like you usually do the first time you load the game up. At the main menu, I was greeted with all the usual Premium member first-time info messages, again the same as the first load. All of the Options settings were back to default. Upon checking the Awards for Campaign Assignments, all were incomplete except for Tombstone Actual, Fang of the Underworld, Final Duty, and A Trapped Wolf Will (the one that requires completing Tashgar). This is basically exactly how the Options and Assignments were after the first data corruption occurred about three to four weeks ago, although I don't remember the exact details.

Next Steps:
I went back into the Options menu and changed the sensitivity setting to see if I could exit the game and reload it with the settings saved. I exited straight to the XMB via the PS button Quit Game option, reloaded the game, and found that the sensitivity setting I altered was in fact saved (this differs from the first corruption event three to four weeks ago, where upon loading into the game after the screen adjustment prompt, I received an error message that said "Error code 80030001", and the game wouldn't save any settings). All previously mentioned Options and Assignments are still back to default/incomplete at this point.

I again exited back to the XMB using the PS button Quit Game option. I checked my Battlefield 4 saved data profile under the Saved Data Utility location of the XMB. It was there, and listed as being modified/created at the time I adjusted that sensitivity setting, However, under that data profile was a strange file that appeared to be some sort of fragment. It was the exact same size as the Battlefield 4 data profile (707 KB), but had a picture of simple broken square, and was titled _UAS_2013113018450000970249 (I assume that first part of numbers is the date). I pressed Triangle to view the information for more details. I've included links to pictures taken of these screens at the bottom of this post, but I'll list the information here as well. That screen contained the information as followed:

• Title -
• Sub-Title -
• Uploaded 11/30/2013 12:45 PM
• Size 707 KB
• Lock -
• Details A0006
             Profile Save Data

At this point, I deleted both the corrupted file and Battlefield 4 file. as well as the game data file under Game Data Utility to be safe. I then booted the PS3 into Safe Mode and performed a Restore File System action, where the prompts did inform me immediately before performing the restore that data on my HDD was, in fact, corrupted. After this process completed, I went back into my Saved Data Utility folder, accessed my Online Storage folder, selected the Battlefield 4 file (uploaded to online storage at 5:24 AM CST earlier this morning), and copied it back into my Saved Game Utility folder on my HDD.

I then loaded Battlefield 4, and after downloading the requisite patches and reinstalling the game data files, I found that all my Options, Assignments, and other settings were all restored to the state before the corruption occurred. In other words, I fixed the problem and everything is back to the way it's supposed to be.

System Specs:
3rd Generation 80 GB Model
System Software - Version 4.5
46 GB Free Space

Reference Photos:
http://i.imgur.com/HB1IkfB.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6pzoBNy.jpg

In Closing:
This isn't the first time this problem has occurred, and there are many other players out there having this same issue, sometimes multiple times. I know DICE is aware of this problem, and I offer this information hoping that it will assist in finding a solution. I dodged a bullet by having a saved file in my online storage folder, but not everyone will be so lucky, especially if their files are updated after the corruption occurs.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

(EDIT: Fixed the really weird formatting that occured when posting.)