Upgrading PS3 HDD

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Sydwayz

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Hello PS3 Gamers

A friend of mine has a PS3 40GB and wanted to buy the new 500GB PS3 Superslim as he has run out of space. I suggested upgrading his current PS3 instead although I know almost nothing of the process apart from what I have read online.

I have checked out a few online tutorials on the matter and I know that he needs to get a 2.5" notebook HDD that is 9.5mm or thinner, so 1TB drives seem to be out of the question for now. Any suggestions on what make/model HDD to get? The cheapest 500GB HDD I have found so far is from Mitabyte for R650 http://www.mitabyte.co.za/pHD25SAT500/Toshiba-500GB-SATA-25-Notebook-Hard-Drive.aspx

Would this be suitable? Are there any better options

I also considered using an external HDD as an alternative as external HDDs seem to be more affordable but I don't think using customer firmware would be a good idea. Is there anything else I need to consider?
 
Apparently any standard 2.5" SATA drive will work (provided it fits in the bay of course). An external drive is probably not a good idea as sometimes they use funny proprietary connections, etc. and opening them will void the warranty anyway. But yes, buying a new, very overpriced console just because your hard drive is full is a bit silly. Not to mention, the old "fat" PS3's were a lot more capable, a lot of functionality has been ripped out of the Slim and Superslim. For example the ability to run custom firmware (and thus 3rd party programs or even Linux), and support for PS2 games.

The upgrade is pretty straightforward to do. If my dad managed it, anyone can do it.
 
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Any 2.5" drive will fit. Stick it in & format :)
Of course, you'll need to make a backup of the old content first with the backup utility, then restore it.
With CFW it's a LOT trickier to upgrade the internal, but that's what I ended up doing a few months ago. I upgraded from a 80GB to a 7200RPM 500GB Seagate drive.

Toshiba should work fine, my original internal was Toshiba
 
Thanks for the replies. Mitabyte quoted me R599 for a 500GB, but will only have stock next week. I'm sure a 5400rpm SATA drive would be fine. I wasn't going to rip the drive out of the casing :), the CFW allows you to run backs from an external drive (but thats too much work :erm:).

How good are the Hitachi drives?
 
The_Unnamed said:
I think that difference is all in your head unfortunately.
Click to expand...

At least in Skyrim it was a noticeable difference - have not noticed it anywhere else though. The cost of the drive was more or less the same compared to a regular drive - so it was worth trying it out.
 
S_p_i_k_e_s said:
Has anyone tried installing a seagate momentus thin in the PS3?
Click to expand...

Might work if the connectors are in the same position as a standard drive. Although you won't notice any performance difference between one of those & a standard drive. I swopped my old 80GB with a 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200.4 Series & it runs perfectly.
 
Just be careful with most of the 2.5" 1TB drives.
Most of their sizes are slightly bigger than the standard 2.5" drives, so they won't fit.
 
Are you having any problems with PSN+ game downloads? I've downloaded Batman, Infamous, Vanquish and GOW Beta, and none of them want to install on the machine.
 
Sydwayz said:
Hello PS3 Gamers

A friend of mine has a PS3 40GB and wanted to buy the new 500GB PS3 Superslim as he has run out of space. I suggested upgrading his current PS3 instead although I know almost nothing of the process apart from what I have read online.

I have checked out a few online tutorials on the matter and I know that he needs to get a 2.5" notebook HDD that is 9.5mm or thinner, so 1TB drives seem to be out of the question for now. Any suggestions on what make/model HDD to get? The cheapest 500GB HDD I have found so far is from Mitabyte for R650 http://www.mitabyte.co.za/pHD25SAT500/Toshiba-500GB-SATA-25-Notebook-Hard-Drive.aspx

Would this be suitable? Are there any better options

I also considered using an external HDD as an alternative as external HDDs seem to be more affordable but I don't think using customer firmware would be a good idea. Is there anything else I need to consider?
Click to expand...

Aquadyne said:
Just be careful with most of the 2.5" 1TB drives.
Most of their sizes are slightly bigger than the standard 2.5" drives, so they won't fit.
Click to expand...

For the not so brave. 12mm 1TB drive installation on PS3 phat is very possible.

[video=youtube;6IgLMpzPk18]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IgLMpzPk18[/video]


Also for the slim:

Read the thread below. I also read that the 12mm would fit if you leave out the caddy(tray) or do a small mod but again you have to open your PS3 chassis thus voiding you warranty.

Read more: http://www.ps3news.com/forums/ps3-h...-55-fw-help-122960-post413357.html#post413357

Slim PS3 can fit 12mm drives while Fat ones only 9mm thick drives.

PS3 can use 1TB Internal HDD while 2TB can be recognized through USB.
Click to expand...
 
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PS3 1TB Hard Drive Upgrade - COMPLETE Software and Hardware Walk through

A bit long but worth watching before you upgrade

[video=youtube;NcSBjGYnPB4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcSBjGYnPB4[/video]
 
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