Need help choosing the right HDD

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Kryz11

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NoxNoctisUmbra
Hey guys,
I have the 60 gig version PS3.
It reads 55 gigs MAX but currently I have about 15 gigs left of free space.
GT5 is coming out next year with GT tv, (i need about 20 gigs just for that game I'm thinking)
Also new games like MGS4, Home, Little big planet, Resistance 2 ETC... I'm a Big gamer.
To make some extra space, I deleted about 20 movies that I had, and I think by end of the year My 15 gigs will go in no time..

I found this Article, I wonder if I can get something Faster and maybe bit bigger, If not maybe I'll stick with the one from the article. I know they say its 2-4 seconds in Difference, But I move a lot of Music, Pictures and Movies from Flash to HDD so Every second counts :)

I watch videos on how to install the HDD, so I think I can handle that, I just need some help in choosing a fast and big one. Money should be no issue here and My brother is member of NEWEGG so I think best prices are there...
All I need is to choose the right one for my PS3 and I am a bit scared I might get something TOO fast or power hungry and mess up PS3's power supply or anything like that.
Thanks

-Nox
 
I would get the slower drive just to keep the system cooler.

edit: I think just about any drive should work. Hard drives don't use much power.
Take a look through these.
 
The fact that they used two drives of a different capacity throws off that RPM test completely. A 160GB drive has data packed twice as densely as an 80GB (I assume that is what they are comparing to), so the hard drive heads do not have to seek as much to find what its looking for.

Come to think of it, there is probably a different number of platters between the two, but the same principle still applies. I don't think that matters for write speeds as much as RPM does, but for access time (which is where you are going to notice any difference) it definitely does.

My $.02: Buy whatever capacity you are looking for at whatever price you feel comfortable with (stick to Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, or Toshiba). If that price gets you a 7200rpm drive, go for it. If not, you'd never know the difference.
 
I paid $50 For my 120 gig WD Scorpio including shipping and couldn't be happier. You will have to find a way of storing whats on your current drive some where else while you swap out but I guess thats prettty obvious. I was lucky in that I only had a few demos which I just re-downloaded.I'm sure theres a solution here on the server somewhere.
 
Road Rash
I paid $50 For my 120 gig WD Scorpio including shipping and couldn't be happier. You will have to find a way of storing whats on your current drive some where else while you swap out but I guess thats prettty obvious. I was lucky in that I only had a few demos which I just re-downloaded.I'm sure theres a solution here on the server somewhere.
Click to expand...

The Backup option in the menu works a charm !..
 
Thanks guys

I have a Externall HDD, so just Plug it in, Go to the Backup Utility and that should copy ALL the files from current PS3 HDD to the external.
Then Install the New HDD lets say 120 gig. And how i Bring data from my external to the new HDD?




Ok so Im looking at these ones.
120 is good but I rather pay the extra few dollars to get 160 And never worry to delete files and music.
Oh since there is a new Update coming out soon that allows XMB to be turn on while game is on, MUSIC galore! New excuse to get a Bigger HDD lol.. ( ima Trance/Drum n Bass freak) haha

HDDs 160GB

Im thinking the TOSHIBA one,
What exacly is Cache?
Toshiba has 16 Cache while the other two only have 8
 
From wikipedia:
...a cache is a temporary storage area where frequently accessed data can be stored for rapid access.
Click to expand...

Usually bigger is better, but who knows if the PS3 actually takes advantage of it.
 
i would just put a 500GB 5400rpm in it, so that i have enough storage for everything.

I personally don't need it, since i only use the 60gb hard drive for the games themselves.
Movies and music are on a external hdd that is hooked up to my laptop.
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
But the speed (5400 vs 7200) doesn't have as big of an impact as it probably would have on a computer.
Click to expand...

Yes I know, its only seconds faster. But for me every second counts since I always drop music, picture and video files to my PS3.
 
If you always drop music and stuff onto your ps3, what's the transfer speed?
If the transfer speed is not high enough, the 7200rpm disks won't be faster because they 'll have to wait for data to come in, while the 5400rpm disk will almost constantly be writing.
 
I don't really know the transfer speed, but I'm just making examples :P
And, you're right, if the rate is not high enough then the 72 wont be that much faster. But for me it never hurts to buy a faster drive :)


Is it true, the more stuff you have on your HDD the slower it gets?
Whenever on my PC I fill out more then 200 GB of space (250 GB limit) the PC seemed to load aplications bit slower, but not much differance. Once I clear out the entire HDD and Instal one or two games, they seem to load bit faster.
 
NoxNoctis Umbra
Is it true, the more stuff you have on your HDD the slower it gets?
Whenever on my PC I fill out more then 200 GB of space (250 GB limit) the PC seemed to load aplications bit slower, but not much differance. Once I clear out the entire HDD and Instal one or two games, they seem to load bit faster.
Click to expand...

Well the computer would get slower since the registry would be pretty clogged up. So it would take longer to search through the registry.

As the hard drive gets more filled up, it becomes harder to allocate data. So if you install a game that is a gig or two, it will be located in different parts of the hard drive. Then when the computer is searching for that data, the hard drive has to go to several places to load it. That's why Windows has a defragmenting tool.
 
NoxNoctis Umbra
Thanks guys

I have a Externall HDD, so just Plug it in, Go to the Backup Utility and that should copy ALL the files from current PS3 HDD to the external.
Then Install the New HDD lets say 120 gig. And how i Bring data from my external to the new HDD?
Click to expand...
With the same Backup option in the menu - Only this time select "Restore" ;-)

Ok so Im looking at these ones.
120 is good but I rather pay the extra few dollars to get 160 And never worry to delete files and music.
Oh since there is a new Update coming out soon that allows XMB to be turn on while game is on, MUSIC galore! New excuse to get a Bigger HDD lol.. ( ima Trance/Drum n Bass freak) haha

HDDs 160GB

Im thinking the TOSHIBA one,
What exacly is Cache?
Toshiba has 16 Cache while the other two only have 8
Click to expand...

Just stuck a 7200rpm in mine instead of the 5400rpm - Didn't even have the courtesy to see what brand it is (got it through work). But, as with the other 3 disks I've had in it - it just "works"...

Cache is a small amount of RAM on the harddrive used to store data that happens to be accessed often. The more the better. The one I just put in also has 16Mb..

Word of Caution - I've never seen this behavior before, but before my Restore would start this time, I had to move the external drive to the left most USB port. This is the first time I've seen this, but also the first time I've had anything else attached while doing a restore (DFP was in the left most port).

So - Use the Left most USB port when doing the restore. Backup worked fine in the 3rd port.
 
Flerbizky
Has anyone ever confirmed this ?... Like taken the time to measure eg. how fast a game loads ?..

The 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm discussion has been a rumour for as long as I can remember..

[Edit:] Apparently - it does indeed make a difference. But heat is not a concern : http://boardsus.playstation.com/pla...read.id=2000029&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
Click to expand...

Yeah, logically, it should affect performance as much as it should a computer. And logically, it could improve performance in a number of ways. Games that require installs to speed load times should benefit from the extra speed. And I'm not sure if there are any PS3 games that install data to the hard drive to be streamed, but if there are, I'd imagine that the extra speed could reduce pop-in or keep framerate a tad smoother during certain places in the game.
 
Flerbizky
Has anyone ever confirmed this ?... Like taken the time to measure eg. how fast a game loads ?..

The 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm discussion has been a rumour for as long as I can remember..

[Edit:] Apparently - it does indeed make a difference. But heat is not a concern : http://boardsus.playstation.com/pla...read.id=2000029&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
Click to expand...

Ironically his test is also flawed a little. The two drives have different platter sizes. So a part of the performance boost comes from the larger density of the platter.

But I haven't found any real-world type benchmarks proving that the difference on a computer is bigger. There are some regular benchmarks and a couple of people saying they noticed a large difference. I guess this is the closest it gets.
 
DustDriver
i would just put a 500GB 5400rpm in it, so that i have enough storage for everything.

I personally don't need it, since i only use the 60gb hard drive for the games themselves.
Movies and music are on a external hdd that is hooked up to my laptop.
Click to expand...

Aren't PS3's in 2.5" drives? Good luck finding a 500GB internal drive that actually fits in the thing.
 
NoxNoctis Umbra
I see, you never know since its a cell processor ;)


So ill be placing an order on this Baby
Click to expand...

Well, for a mere $25 extra, the drive I suggested earlier is 330 GB (That's more than double the space!). The only drawback is that the cache is only 8 MB instead of 16, but I doubt the 16 mb cache will make the drive noticably faster. Both drives are faster than the drives that come in the PS3s
 
But its a 5400 RPM so it will take ages from going from one spot of the Disc to the other...









Casio
Aren't PS3's in 2.5" drives? Good luck finding a 500GB internal drive that actually fits in the thing.
Click to expand...
It's possible to go bigger.. hehe
 
Flerbizky
Has anyone ever confirmed this ?... Like taken the time to measure eg. how fast a game loads ?..

The 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm discussion has been a rumor for as long as I can remember..

[Edit:] Apparently - it does indeed make a difference. But heat is not a concern : http://boardsus.playstation.com/pla...read.id=2000029&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
Click to expand...

When I get my PS3 in few months, I'm definitely going w/the larger 7200rpm HDD..and after reading the above post, I'm not going to be too concerned with 'heat issues'...
 
I just order the item, 3 day delivery.. hmm so i hope it gets here by 5 days LOL

Ill post my thoughts if I see any difference, I wont be timing it or anything, just mental timing

Im hoping for GTA4 improvement, that game has biggest loading I think from all my games. Oh and Burnout as well, since there is only one Huge load time as well.
 
The speed difference is so small... I personally would opt for a larger drive. Or maybe follow the guide on how to use a 3.5" drive... that way you can have a high-capacity 10,000 RPM drive! A bit more costly, sure, but totally worth it. And make sure it's SATA, not SCSI.
 

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