PS3 HDD Upgrade Tutorial(now includes PS3 Slim!)

[H20HYBRID_GT]

It's no big deal. Simply put a copy of the latest firmware onto a USB flash drive, flash memory card, or CD-R. It needs to be in the proper folder with the proper name to be recognized. The PS3 will load the firmware image and prompt you to format the new hard drive.

Thanks a lot, that did the trick! I could have thought of this solution myself, but I was just confused about that FW/storage message i guess. Thanks again, this is really one of the best things on this forum you always find someone competent to help you out if your in trouble. 👍
Now i can play new games again without having to delete and reinstall older game data

 

[Sprite]

One thing i would like to ask, has anyone got the PS3 connected to a NAS (network attached storage) system? If so any tips?

 

[hamstrings]

I don't think the PS3 supports SMB/CIFS or NFS shares yet. Unless the thing streams by UPnP AV (either itself or through a PC), then it would not work.

 

[ceiling_fan]

REMOVE YOUR OLD HDD:
STEP 1: Turn the system off, unplug all cables.
STEP 2: Turn the ps3 to its left side; pull he HDD cover off(if you are weak grab a Slot screwdriver to pull off).
STEP 3: Hold the PS3 on the right side with your free hand and gently unscrew the blue screw.
STEP 4: Hold the small handle and pull to the right and pull out; the tray is now out of its place.
STEP 5: Unscrew the four screws on the right and left side and pull the HDD off the tray.

Bear in mind I'm a total hardware noob...

I was able to easily get out the blue screw but am having trouble with the pair of screws on each side. Is it just a matter of pushing down harder whilst unscrewing? I don't want to damage/strip the tray and I want to make sure as I suck at these kind of things (I'm baffled as to how I was able to build my desktop! )

Great guide by the way





Joke time!

What's difference between a pregnant woman and a lightbulb?

Spoiler

You can unscrew a lightbulb.

 

[hamstrings]

Push down hard while unscrewing, but if you feel the screwdriver slip, stop immediately! If you have great difficulty getting them out, double-check the size of your screwdriver.

 

[ceiling_fan]

Push down hard while unscrewing, but if you feel the screwdriver slip, stop immediately! If you have great difficulty getting them out, double-check the size of your screwdriver.

Am I supposed to be using a different size screwdriver than I did for the blue screw?..

 

[nick09]

Well try pushing a bit harder and the same screwdriver should work. I don't got much more to suggest other than getting a new HDD tray.

 

[ceiling_fan]

I could've sworn I already posted this, but I got 'em eventually. Woop new drive

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

UPDATE/WARNING for new 40GB owners!

It appears Sony did some re-engineering of the HDD slot for the recent 40GB PS3 (Models # CECHH01-1.90 & CECHH01-2.00)

I discovered this when a neighbor who recently bought a 40GB PS3 was over and saw that I had purchased the HDD SATA Extender that Delirious had brought to everyone's attention.

Like me, he also wanted to use an external 1TB drive instead of an internal drive, and so he ordered the extender as well and asked for my assistance when when both it and his new hard drive came in.

So yesterday evening I went over to his house to help him install it and restore the data from the original drive to the new drive only to find out that unlike my PS3 (60GB Launch model CECHA01), it wasn't possible to use that SATA extender with his PS3.

I knew something was odd from the start as unlike my PS3, the small pop out panel on the left side of the PS3 that gives access to the HDD wouldn't pop open from the right side of the panel like mine did. Instead, it had a notch on the left side and had a tab on the right side to keep it locked in place.

Then when I removed the panel, although it had the customary blue screw... the rest looked quite different (and smaller) and unlike my PS3, once the blue screw is removed you no longer have to pull down a tab and slide the HDD case to the right to disconnect it from the SATA and power connectors inside the PS3.

The new design now has the HDD case positioned clockwise 90 degrees such that now all you have to do is simply pull a smaller pull out tab on the front of the HDD case and the HDD case slides straight out... because now the SATA and power connections are on the opposite side of the HDD case instead of the left side.

I actually prefer this design... but as far as that handy SATA adapter is concerned, it won't work because it is designed to connect to the SATA connectors inside the PS3 like the 20GB, 60GB, 80GB, and previous 40GB models. I am not sure if the 160GB model has the same HDD case design as the new 40GB as for some odd reason the 160GB model does not show up in the list of models on the PS3 manual website.

BTW: If you look at the manuals for each model, and go to page 16, you'll see diagrams that show how the new 40GB models have different HDD access panels and HDD cases.

I called customer support at Console Source, where both my friend and I got our PS3 SATA extenders and they said that they were not aware of the fact that there were two different types of HDD cases for the PS3, and as far as they knew, the company that makes the SATA extender has not yet made a model to fit the new 40GB PS3s.

Soooo... if you have a recent 40GB PS3, and you are planning on swapping out your HDD for a larger one, just keep in mind you have slightly different instructions on how to do that... but it's still just as easy, if not more so than before. However, if you also want to use a SATA extender so that you can use an external SATA drive, the one that Delirious found and that I and my neighbor purchased will not work on that PS3.

Hopefully for my neighbors' sake they will make one designed for the new 40GB model, as he really wants a huge HDD to store and access his massive music and photo collection directly on the PS3 rather than via a USB drive.

 

[nick09]

I have a idea, get a sata data and sata power cable and attach them to the internal connections to your HDD. You will have to fish around but it may be crazy enough to work.

EDIT: Or better yet remove the PCB from the caddy, wire a connection using a sata data cable, and insert the PCB into the slot.

 

[Strittan]

I'm thinking of getting a new HDD as I only have a 20GB PAL machine. What would be the ultimate choice?

 

[Kryz11]

You can buy a 500GB -1 T with 5400 RPM for cheap, or get a more expensive 250-500 7200RPM drive.. Faster drive will increase some load times bit faster, as well file sharing and what not.. BUT the ultimate HDD would be a SOLID STATE DRIVE, very expensive, but they truly do improve reads form the hard drive. Sometimes even by half!

My 60gig PS3, now has a 180gig 7200 RPM drive, it might shave second - 3 seconds here and there, depening what I am loading or transferring.. not worth the extra money. Sometimes when I start the system, 1 every 20 times I get Error thta PS3 can not read the HDD, so all I need to do is restart the system.

I would say just buy a 5400 RPM, because PS3 wont need to use more power, as well they are cheaper and you can get a lot of memory in them. 500 gig should be plenty.


Here is video to give you some Idea about SSD.



Here is video between stock 5400rpm vs 7200rpm drives

 

[Strittan]

Thanks for the advices! The SSD seems pretty impressive indeed, but so does the 7200rpm drive. As for the size, 120GB should be plenty for me. I was actually thinking mainly about that I want the loading/installation speed to be optimized by the time GT5 comes out.

 

[TB]

As for the size, 120GB should be plenty for me.

You might think so now, but if I were you and was going through the work of upgrading drives, I'd throw in at least a 250.

 

[Kryz11]

I agree, go with at leasts 250, I have a 7200 180 gig PS3, and I only have less then 20 gigs left now! Picture, loads of music, videos! games! I mean its really a media device for almost anything, big hard drive will secure your future for good. But if you only use it for GT5, get a cheap 120 gig hdd. But remember, GT5 might use Custom Soundtrack support, so you need lots of your music in it, GT5 suppose to support from 8-20 mega pixel pics.. they do take lots of space, so you will be saving GT5 20 megapixel photos a lot.. now GT5 says they will have youtube support, I am thinking you can save replay movies into HDD as well.. so yeah.. I would get a 250 gig. these days they are not so expensive.

 

[yeti]

I thought that PS3's didn't support 7400RPM drives?

C.

 

[nick09]

You might think so now, but if I were you and was going through the work of upgrading drives, I'd throw in at least a 250.

Yeah it's best to get the largest HDD that you can afford. I still have the 320GB 5400RPM WD drive I bought from two years ago and I still have about 107GB of free space left on the HDD.

I thought that PS3's didn't support 7400RPM drives?

C.

No they do support them, in fact this 500GB Seagate HDD uses about the same amount of power as the 60GB ps3 model's HDD. You can also get this 640GB WD HDD which runs at 5400RPM but the speed will be about the same. I do know WD currently offers 750GB and 1TB laptop HDD models but they won't fit into the PS3 since they are 3mm thicker than common laptop drives.

EDIT: I updated the first post with instructions for PS3 Slim users.

 

[Kryz11]

if you want, you can support even a 3.5 inch HDD, all you need is that extension cable to connect inside the PS3 HDD slot. and external power source

That way you get even MORE memory for cheap! It just PS3 wont look good with external HDD

 

[nick09]

Yeah you could do that but I would be very worried about the hard drive being exposed to the elements. I would get this external encolsure instead since it has a standard sata port and get this power supply since the external is powered by molex. The only thing you need to do is make sure the hard drive does not use more than 2Amps on the 5V and 12V(look at the images of the stickers on the HDD they usually tell you the ratings). Another thing is that you will have to manually reconnect the power when you want to use the PS3 and disconnect after you let the PS3 shut down. It's safer and way more simple to install a 500GB or 640GB laptop drive into the PS3.

 

[yeti]

No they do support them, in fact this 500GB Seagate HDD uses about the same amount of power as the 60GB ps3 model's HDD. You can also get this 640GB WD HDD which runs at 5400RPM but the speed will be about the same. I do know WD currently offers 750GB and 1TB laptop HDD models but they won't fit into the PS3 since they are 3mm thicker than common laptop drives.

So it basically supports any drive as long as it has the same power rating then?

C.

 

[nick09]

So it basically supports any drive as long as it has the same power rating then?

C.

Yeah but laptop drives normally don't take more than 0.5 amps so a little over is fine. After you are done replacing the old hard drive you can get a external enclosure for the old ps3 HDD to use it for file storage or just keep the hard drive in case of future problems where you need to send the PS3 back to Sony.

I now make sure that I backup my 320GB ps3 hard drive to a 320GB external so I won't lose any of my precious game saves in case something happens to my PS3.

 

[yeti]

Yeah but laptop drives normally don't take more than 0.5 amps so a little over is fine. After you are done replacing the old hard drive you can get a external enclosure for the old ps3 HDD to use it for file storage or just keep the hard drive in case of future problems where you need to send the PS3 back to Sony.

I now make sure that I backup my 320GB ps3 hard drive to a 320GB external so I won't lose any of my precious game saves in case something happens to my PS3.

Yeah - I got a 320 18 months ago or something... At that time I think it was advised to get a 5400 RPM drive for the PS3.

You're probably OK for a smaller External drive - as the OS takes a bit off the top - and also I would assume that the backup process compresses the data.

I backed mine up before the latest Firmware!

C.

 

[nick09]

Well it's always good to get a matching external for backups and yes the backup process does compress the data. When I changed my hard drive two years ago the data took up 50GB out of 55GB on the PS3 hard drive. The backup process helped reduce that to something like 45GB or 47GB.

I'm not that sure if the OS is on the hard drive because if the hard drive had the OS on it then there would be no menus when you would try to boot the PS3 without the hard drive.

 

[Kryz11]

Today as I finish GOW3, I found out I only have 10 GB of space left.. I need to upgrade a HDD myself. I found a good deal on this one.

For 85 bucks, 7200 RPM with 16 cache and 500 gb memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145275


Good buy? My bro says he uses Hitachi all the time and never broke once on him.

 

[nick09]

Well since the price went back up to 95 bucks I think a 640GB WD would be a better deal. But if you want a faster hard drive then this, a 500GB 7200RPM Seagate is the way to go. Though for future proofing I would go for the 640GB but that's just me being Paranoid as I like a ton of space.

I always buy WD or Seagate. I know one guy who pledges on WD and if his laptop had a Seagate he would run that HDD till it goes overboard and replace it with a WD. I have myself personally disassembled hard drives in my internship. I have found out that if you want a hard drive, you would want a WD or a Seagate because of the construction of the HDD. I always find WD to be better in the build quality area but Seagate is right behind WD. I would consider Hitachi as a close third in build quality since the construction varies based on different models.

Fujitsu Hard drives are the oddest I came across. The platters were held down fine with Torx and outside casing was held down by Phillips but the oddest thing in the hard drive was a pair of ungodly strong magnets. I had to use a lot of strength just to slide the magnets apart. I would not even consider Maxtor because they are too easy to get into.

 

[yeti]

(In addition to the above - HP HDD's are just Seagate drives rebranded (and recosted!))

C.

 

[nick09]

(In addition to the above - HP HDD's are just Seagate drives rebranded (and recosted!))

C.

Yeah they are a waste of good money as HP is always. I never buy my computer stuff at best buy because of "Store credit". They just love to do that while there are better stores online such as Newegg that allows you to get all of your money back and not just force you to get another thing from that store.

When I got my 320GB HDD for my PS3 I never understood the difference between a laptop hard drive and a desktop hard drive. So I mistakenly got a desktop hard drive and when I wanted to get a refund they told me I had to get another drive(same or lesser in price) or just take store credit. I was just lucky they had a 320GB WD laptop drive in stock online and I had them ship it to me. I was only happy that at least I had gotten a working that drive that would go into the PS3.

 

[Kryz11]

Today I went to BestBuy and got a Segate 7200 RPM with 500GB, it was 10 dollars more then NewEgg, plus I don't have to wait for the delivery, if something is wrong with it, I can return it and get a new one on the same day. I also wanted to buy PS3 SLIM, they were sold out, as well two other GameStops!!! What is up with PS3 being sold out? I only found ONE console left in the gamestop store, but it was the 250 gig. I want the 120 gig because I want to replace the HDD right away. So I have to wait a couple more days for the store delivery.

My original 60 (186 gig) PS3 will go into the living room, all shiny and ready for Auto Start disc for Bluray movies . As well share pictures and what not with the family.

 

[Jinx]

Can i take out of my alienware's hdd model is M5700 kind old laptop to replace on my ps3 40gb? Thanks in advanced.

I forget what size of hdd in my alienware.

 

[nick09]

Well you should be able to find a label on the hard drive that says SATA then you are fine to put it in your PS3.