Will my PS3 be okay?

I have the old 40 gig, since like 2008. My friend was playing it, and he didn't know how to shut it off so he switched it off from the back switch (I wasn't in the room). A game wasn't running, it was just on the home screen. When I turned the PS3 back on, it said that it did not shut off properly and that it will check my hard drive to see if it's corrupted. It did the check, and it seems that everything is fine. I'm just wondering, am I safe now, or could this have an effect in the future? Thanks!

That shouldn't be any problem.  Mine did that once for some reason, that was over a year ago and it's been fine ever since.  The only problem it might cause is if the game is in the middle of saving and you turn the power off, you might get a corrupted save file. 

Yes the PS3 40Gigger will be fine. Your friend didn't know how to shut off a PS3 safely. No harm done. Those 40GB models are robust. Just never do that while a videogame is running. Next time show your friend how to turn off the PS3.

It did the check, and it seems that everything is fine. I'm just wondering, am I safe now, or could this have an effect in the future?rubber-chicken

Meh, I've gone through this dozens of times, nothing to worry about. It just automatically goes through that process even though there's almost never going to be anything wrong with your system, unless it was shut off like that while in the middle of saving a game.SoNin360

It should be no big deal, it's just an extra safety type feature.  It happened a lot when I had to turn off the system after it kept freezing when the internet wasn't working and it was trying to make a connection while trying to sign in at the same time.  It was kind of a mess of a situation, but the PS3 was fine.

I still have a phat ps3 and it runs just fine.

Sometimes it will also want to check and rebuild the desktop file too. Says it may take a while so, if you get this, don't panic.  It can take several hours but usually it will work afterwards. I get these things happen to my PS3 every couple of months. Something to do with cosmic rays and quantum mechanics I believe.

Check out Sony's PS3 Forum.  If you search, there is detailed instructions about what is going on with your PS3 and what to do if you end up still have a problem; advice about backing up and so on.

Who turns off his / her PS3 with the Power Button? o_O

I always chose "Shut Down System" (or whatever the option is called in english) from the very left in the XMB.

Far more comfortable so I don't need to get up from the couch to do so :P