Replacing PS3 hard drive ?

kingkarl

kingkarl

kingkarl

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Joined
3 Nov 2002
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151
Hi Folks

As anyone got a guide to replacing the hard drive in the PS3 is it difficult to do ?
What is the max size that works correctly and which drive to you recommend ?

Thanks:confused:
 
Erm, read the sticky?

Edit: I'd go for the 250gb Western Digital Scorpio Blue if I was doing it.:)
 
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I think any drive is fine as long as it's a SATA 5400rpm 2.5" drive.

I think I remember reading about people using 7200rpm drives but you shouldn't use one as they generate too much heat - might be wrong on this so feel free to correct me if you know better.
 
I stuck a 320GB 5400 WD Scorpio in mine today and it was literally in and out with little fuss, the biggest pain was the over tightened screws which could have very easily cross threaded as they were taken out.
 
Meths said:
I think any drive is fine as long as it's a SATA 5400rpm 2.5" drive.

I think I remember reading about people using 7200rpm drives but you shouldn't use one as they generate too much heat - might be wrong on this so feel free to correct me if you know better.
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A lot of tests have generally proven that to be nothing more than an old wives tale really...

The difference in heat generated between a 7.2k and a 5.4k drive isn't that drastically different to create a problem for the PS3.

A fair few people on here run them with no problems at all.

That said, the advantages of running a 7.2k drive over a regular 5.4k lappy drive is incredibly small when you're looking at the speed compared to the difference in speed inside a PC/Lappy. So most people still tend to stick to the slower drives.

Heck if you've got the cash and don't mind the (much) longer installation times grab an SSD :cool:

Installing a HDD into the PS3 is a piece of cake, unscrew the side of the PS3. Unscrew the HDD, slide to one side and pull out. Push a new one in its place, slide it back in, screw in place. Replace the cover. Screw on the cover. Jobs done!

If you've got a spare external HDD or a USB pen or something, make sure you backup all your save games, videos, demos (etc) onto that first and you can then to a restore onto the new HDD.
 
nikebee said:
That said, the advantages of running a 7.2k drive over a regular 5.4k lappy drive is incredibly small when you're looking at the speed compared to the difference in speed inside a PC/Lappy. So most people still tend to stick to the slower drives.
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+1.

I went for a 5400RPM 320GB drive, never looked back. :)
 
Keep meaning to replace the HDD in my 20Gb, but i never get around to it as i dont really use much space how it is.
 
f1racer said:
Sorry if this has been answered anywhere, but what is the largest Gb HDD you can fit in a PS3?


TIA
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Not a size limit as far as I'm aware. The biggest 2.5" SATA drives which are readily available on the net are 320GB although there are bigger ones due out very soon.

You can actually mod the drive bay in the PS3 to connect a 3.5" drive via eSata so you could go up to 1TB if you wanted to, but this does mean having an external HDD caddie sitting next to the PS3 which also requires it's own power supply.
 
orderoftheflame said:
I've got a Fujitsu one, but different people have stuck different manufacturers drives in.

I'm sure the only problem you'll have will be the crazy tight screws! ;)
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Will I have to reinstall the latest firmware etc,and redo things like my network settings,video and sound setup for instance
 
I don't think so, but I did mine when very soon after I bought the console so I'm not 100% sure.

I'm pretty sure stuff like that isn't stored on the HDD.

The only thing I did was back up the game saves I had onto a memory stick just by copying them.
 
msmalls74 said:
All that stuff is held in the internal flash memory of the PS3 no need re download the system software.
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That is true for the older PS3's but when switching my 80GB to a 320GB I had to load up firmware via cd-rom before it could format the drive.

I believe that on newer PS3's they are storing everything on the hard drive, not sure why though, there must be a reason for it?
 
Joebob said:
You can actually mod the drive bay in the PS3 to connect a 3.5" drive via eSata so you could go up to 1TB if you wanted to...
Click to expand...

1.5TB as of a few weeks ago. Make you wonder how big they'll get before they just can't fit any more space onto a platter.

Agr3sive said:
I believe that on newer PS3's they are storing everything on the hard drive, not sure why though, there must be a reason for it?
Click to expand...

Maybe the newer firmware is starting to take up more space than Sony originally planned when they were designing the PS3, and because of that the flash chip in the PS3 just doesn't have enough room for the newer stuff.

Just a guess though.
 
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