Changing the HDD on the PS3

[Olli]

I´m sure that there are already threads about that.
I know I can figure out by googling how to do that.

The question I have is:
Have there been any software related issues from Sony that make it more difficult?
I heard just recently that Sony disenganged the possibilities to install Linux, so I want to avoid to buy a HDD, installing it and then finding out that it doesn´t work anymore because Sony made some software changes that a HDD swap will not be recognized / accepted anymore.

Any information is appreciated !

[Olli]

Okay, regarding the HDD; it seems more complicated.
According different PS3 Forums, the HDD should have the following data:
- sector size should not exceed 512 kb
- Speed should not exceed 5400 RPM
- HDD should not use too much energy in order to stay cool
- maximum size is 750 GB
- HDD size should be 2,5'' but the heights should not be more then 9.5 mm

Any other things I need to take care of regarding the HDD ?

[Sephy]

Just buy a 2.5" laptop HDD. That's all you need. In the PS3 there is an option to backup everything on an external drive. That's what I did. Then swap them out (stupid easy) and it will format the new drive. Then restore the system backup you did.

Actually there used to be a thread that I think Zapata started and I also put my experience in there. I'll find it and post the link here.



EDIT: Here you go. All the pictures were hosted on Imageshack though so they don't work. Do you have a Fat PS3? If so I still have mine and can take pictures of where the HDD is if you need me to.

http://www.mischief.tv/forums/showthread.php?39122-How-To-Upgrade-your-PS3-HDD

[Sylon04]

Yeah it's really easy. Just make sure the drive is a 2.5" SATA drive for a laptop.

I'm not sure how it is on the Slim though.

[Olli]

Like I said, I got one of the first ones : Fat

Pics are not needed, there are plenty Tutorials to be found all over the place.
Obviously, there was a firmwareupdate that denied to format an unused HDD build into the PS3 (FW 3.41) but that was dropped again with another FW update (and besides that, there is a workaround available as well).

Besides that, Sean, there are differences for 2.5'' HDDs as I found out. In case the HDD exceeds a heights of 9.5 mm it won´t fit in the PS3 and you need to work out how to make it fit (there are youtube vids for that as well).

Honestly, in cases like that I love the internet !


EDIT: I´m currently reading a very amusing thread (from 2008) that says that there are no HDDs as big as 1TB and that it will never happen in a 2.5'' HDD either ..... Pretty funny

[Sephy]

Oh I didn't know they made different heights for the 2.5" drives. All of the ones I've seen are the same dimensions.


Anyways if you have any questions I know myself and a few others here are more than happy to help you out. :)

[Olli]

:-) Thanks guys !
I will check tomorrow for a HDD, not sure what size I´m gonna get and will see whats happening :-)

[Olli]

This is already pissing me off.
I just bought a 500 GB HDD to implant into my PS3.
Now I found out that none of my external drives are formated as FAT32 which means I have to somehow squeeze everything together in order to have my 320 GB external drive empty so I can format it to FAT32....
Thank god it only takes 5 hours .....
That means that I will not be able to save the data today and do the switch which pretty much kills my plans for this week...
Ohh well.. could be worse I guess....

[Olli]

it´s 11 pm and my external HDD is FINALLY ready to take a copy of the PS3 HDD .
It took 4 hours to get all the stored info to another HDD and another hour to get the 320 GB external HDD to finally format to FAT32
Now I´m saving my data.

Is it enough to save using the save function in the XMB System Menu ?
Is there anything else I need to save separate ?

Thanks again guys.
Tomorrow after work (and probably after getting summertires on the car) I will most likely open the PS3 and change the HDD unless anything else goes wrong.....

[Sylon04]

To put all your data onto your external HDD, you should go into the settings, then Back-Up data. It'll then transfer everything to your external HDD automatically. To speed up the process, before you begin the back-up, delete anything that you can re-download from the PSN store after the upgrade. The more shit you have on your PS3, the longer the back-up and restore is going to take.

[Sephy]

You made it FAT32 but made it like 40 gigs right? I don't think the PS3 reads any higher than that.

[Olli]

It does :-)
Full back up this morning 42 GB ( Even though I might run it again tonite just to make sure)
It just took forever to get the back up HDD empty and I was running the backup while I went to bed

My mood is much better now, it just sucked that it all took so long yesterday... Sooooo lets see how it goes tonite....

[Olli]

I´m done !
Well almost....
The new HDD is in
it still knows my accounts
the system works
and the backup is currently running.
That means that I´m about to have a 500GB PS3 and I´m happy that I could perform the task prior to the PSN being restored.
I must admit that I should have read the tutorial Sean was referring to as I was impatient (as always when I got new toys to play with) and I slightly fucked up 2 out of 4 screws that hold the HDD in the slider.
Besides that: Everything is good :-)
And I had the chance to dust the PS3 being surprised it wasn´t as dusty as I expected.
In about 2 hrs, the system is restored.

[Sylon04]

Nice!


I have to admit, upgrading the 4GB XB360 with the 250GB HDD was the definition of easy. There really wasnt anything to it, lol. But, thats the highest you can go. With the PS3 you can go much higher in storage space.

[Sephy]

Congrats! When I did it I deleted most things so it wouldn't take as long to do the backup. Well going back and re-downloading everything from the PSN store and reinstalling I think the time it takes evens out lol.

[Olli]

Yeah I was thinking about it and decided to just back up everything as I was going to bed anyways. Of course, now restoring everything is taking too long as I want to see if it fully works ie. try a game of GT5 :-)
But hell. it looks pretty well right now. it´s done in 54 minutes which is shortly before I leave to see fast 5
and it seems that its more quiet then before :-)

[Sylon04]

Patience young padawan. It'll be done soon enough.

[Olli]

Well, I´m not too sure honestly...
I went outside to get my summerwheels on and came back and it went from 39% 54 Minutes to 73% and 47 minutes....
Is that normal ?
The HDD light which I assume is the yellow one is flickering as it seems to be working I guess (not a steady rythm though)
Please tell me that it takes longer then forever !

I need to grab some food now and hope that its fine once I´m back.
Ohh and I need to drop of some mail for our IRS. My taxreturn papers have been done for 2009 and I´m getting back approx 5K USD or 3.2 K Euro :-)
But the money is already gone unfortunately.... :-(

[Olli]

I assume it is working as it switched to 74% but still 47 minutes. Maybe I was not looking correctly the first time....
I hope I was and that its working....
Hope it changes somehow once I´m back in half an hour....

[Sephy]

Don't look at the countdown timer. It's always wrong.

[Olli]

everything is fine it just finished - thank god !

[Sylon04]

Don't look at the countdown timer. It's always wrong.


Just like the timer on the GT5 data install. Nothing on the PS3 can tell time, lol.

[Olli]

You should have told me earlier, I got a near death experience when I saw the time stopped moving...