PS3 Replacement Hard Drive

[lovedr]

Hello All,

Has anyone on here upgraded their PS3 hard-drive yet? If so, would you mind answering a few questions please if possible.

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4YMZ&CategorySelectedId=11154

I am looking at purchasing this one from Dabs (seems to meet the relevant spec 2.5", 8MB, SATA, 5,400RPM) I am not that fussed that its 320GB but seems quite a good price and thus i'm not likely to run out of space again anytime soon - hopefully.

Anyone have any other recommendations?

I have read a few other threads not to get a drive with anymore on board memory or faster speed (than above features) as it may cause the PS3 to overheat?

Also, regards to the backup of existing drive, does it "cover" everything, all game saves, settings, photos, music, vids, themes, etc etc?

And, final question, I assume once i've backed up, just then insert the new drive, format and then re-install data.

I have checked some of the youtube vids out for help but i'm not that technically minded so thought i'd ask you guys first before placing an order and starting all of this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Rich

[Darkdrium777]

More cache causes no problems. It's the drive speed that modifies heat generation. 7200RPM makes a little more heat, for very little performance gain (We're talking fractions of seconds). 5400RPM is standard and a very good choice.
Size, up to you and your budget ;)
Full backup is everything. :) Insert the new drive, format it and restore, everything will be back.

[bik3rluke]

Get a WD 320gb from Play.com for £49.99. It's the common one to buy, and many users have done it with no problems.

I went for a Samsung 500gb for £89.99.

Stick with 5,400rpm.

Yes, the back-up backs up everything.

Yes, make sure you do a full format. It'll do a little quick format automatically, but make sure you do the full format after. It'll take like 15 hours.

Very, very simple to do.

1) Buy new drive (either WD 320gb or 500gb Samsung).
2) Back-up the existing data using the tool.
3) Swap the HDDs over.
4) It'll run through the quick format.
5) Manually full format the HDD.
6) Use the tool to recover your data from the external HDD.

[lovedr]

Hi DD.

Awesome replies, many thanks indeed both, very much appreciated and informative too.

Well, sounds like the backup and restore shouldn't be a problem at all.

*touches wood (hehe)

...and that there really isn't that much in it between the different hard drives.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/2148/1415/-/3516598/Western-Digital-Scorpio-WD3200BEVT-320GB-2-5-Internal-SATA-Hard-Drive-Sony-Playstation-PS3-Compatible/Product.html?searchtype=genre

I assume this is the one you mention Kryptix. I've not heard of Western Digital before, but you'd recommend that one over the Toshiba (on Dabs), is one model / manufacturer more reliable than the other?

Last question - would larger cache make any noticable difference or just stick with 8MB?

Cheers again peeps.

[Darkdrium777]

Western Digital. Or Seagate, it's what the PS3 comes with. Haven't heard a lot of Toshiba in hard drives, so if you can get a WD for say 10$ more, get the WD. ;)
More cache = technically faster, although no idea by how much.

[lovedr]

Cool, thanks, have heard of Seagate and if thats what the PS3 comes with should be fine I feel for upgrade.

I would imagine that the cache will again only make a negligible difference, so I'll stick with the 8MB unless someone else says otherwise.

Think I'll go with the WD then over the Toshiba.

Cheers fellas.

[AG-wolf]

newegg.com amazon.com

Western Digital or Seagate

7200rpm laptop

get it as big as you think you'll need.

pricegrabber.com is a good place to go to compare online prices if you have a specific model number

[lovedr]

cheers again,

i'm gonna ring Play later today as i dont really such much difference in the finer spec for these 3 PS3 compatible drives, they are all the same price however one's 120, one's 250 and the other 320GB.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/3-/243883/2-/Promo.html

surely there must be something - older model, better reliability?

reading some of the posted reviews also very interesting with regards some teething problems others were experiencing with the new drive whereby they had to rip a cd or usb stick with latest firmware first to resolve.

[Darkdrium777]

Cross out the 120GB, it's an EIDE drive, this will not work with the PS3.

And get the 320GB, it is rated as having a faster transfer rate than the other (Which is what you want, obviously ;)).

[lovedr]

cheers dd, just gonna give them a ring now, so will advise all shortly what Play say.

think I will opt for the 320GB, so is their website incorrect for the 120 GB then if this is incompatible with PS3?

ta

[Darkdrium777]

They advertise it as IDE, but a quick tour on the WD website revealed all are also available in SATA interface.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=506

Check it out ;)

And I was wrong, you should get a SATA 1.5Gb/s, not SATA 3.0Gb/s as apparently the PS3 isn't compatible with it. The SATA 3.0Gb/s (SATA-300) will fall back to SATA-150 if it cannot function at SATA-300, but it will be slower.

[b4p]

i bought one of these; it arrives today. Reviewers give it 5/5 saying it works perfectly with the PS3:
Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT
320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache
SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197

i'll let you know how it goes.

[lovedr]

so does that rule out the 320GB one, well it would still work but be better to get a different one yes? suggestions please.

unable to obtain an answer from Play at this time.

it's always the way with these things (also like when i picked up my lcd tv few months back) the more info you establish, the more complicated it gets - well for me anyway lol.

[lovedr]

cool, so you bought the SATA 3.0 one, will be interesting to see how that actually runs in real life, pls do advise, might hold off ordering one for now then.

i'm sure it'll work perfectly, but as dd states wonder whether the 1.5 is more "technically" suited.

*i'm now living in the land of confusion.

[Darkdrium777]

Oh if you want 320GB well go for SATA3, it will work. Maybe not just as fast as 1.5, although I'm really not sure about that.

But it will work with the PS3, that's for sure ;) 5400RPM and SATA interface is good to go :+

[lovedr]

i think i will go for that 320GB one on play (even if it is a 3.0 one although not 100% if it is without re-checking) as i'm sure the noticable difference will negligible between the 2 different styles anyway don't you think?

[b4p]

so far so good. my external backup drive didnt work because it was not formatted FAT32, so i used a 16GB thumb drive. I had to delete some stuff so it would fit. The whole process took about an hour. Now i have to reinstall things. Anyway, it worked perfectly.

[lovedr]

cool, any descernible difference in drive speed, load times etc between the factory default drive and your new one?

[b4p]

i cant tell any difference.
edit: blah

[Sideshow]

i bought one of these; it arrives today. Reviewers give it 5/5 saying it works perfectly with the PS3:
Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT
320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache
SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197

i'll let you know how it goes.

Exact HDD that's currently sitting in my PS3. Good choice!

[lovedr]

sounds like a no brainer then, going to order i think.

thanks again for the helpful comments chaps.

[lovedr]

btw trawled the net for further reading and found this link which sheds a little more light on the subject:

http://www.ps3pad.com/ps3-help-guides/2008/01/24/how-to-upgrade-your-ps3-internal-hard-drive/

the relevant and important gist of it being:

"We chose a 5400rpm model for temperature considerations. Also there are two types of SATA drive - SATA-150 and SATA-300 (differences are the data transmission speeds - either 1.5Gb/sec or 3Gb/sec. The PS3 supports 1.5Gb/sec only so no need to pay any extra for SATA-300 as these will not run at maximum speed."

"people that are asking about installing a sata II drive: yes you could, but there would be a transfer bottleneck as the ps3’s sata controller is only sata I, so not really any point unless you have a sata II drive spare and it means not buying a new drive."

"secondly, on the topic of the increased temperature for using a 7200rmp drive, consider a 5400 drive with the larger 16mb of cache. for any reads from the drive this would give a fair increase in performance over the standard 8mb drives. obviously if you want to risk the extra heat, a 7200rpm 16mb cache drive is as good an upgrade as u could go."

"You can use a 3.0 Gb/Sec SATA HDD (otherwise known as SATA-300). However, when connected to the PS3 this will fall back to SATA-150 (1.5Gb/Sec) as this is the transfer rate the PS3 uses."

"Which type of drives can i use with the PS3?
Answer: As you might know you can only use a SATA harddisk type. First of all you have to know it’s a 2.5” harddrive (known as a laptop harddrive). You can use SATA & SATAII with transfer-rates of 1.5Gb/sec and 3.0Gb/sec the only catch is that the 3.0Gb/sec will be set back to 1.5Gb/sec because of the compatibility of the PS3. So do not even bother to pay extra for something you cannot use."

"Can i use a harddisk which runs on 7400RPM (or higher)?
Answer: Yes u can use a 7400RPM (but not higher). But i will not recommend you to upgrade your PS3 with an 7400RPM harddisk because of the risk of high tempratures it can produce and when your ps3 fails you WILL lose your warranty! I recommend to stay with the principle of 5400RPM."


so to summise, I think it best, and only a personal preference, to stick with a 5,400RPM drive to not run risk of over-heating, whatever size I fancy, probably 250 - 320GB depending on price, and a 1.5Gb/sec transfer rate as a 3.0 is wasted (but again if the 3.0 is better price go for that? as I'm not so sure that it would run slower than 1.5 but I have heard this rumoured ie sort of down-transferring) with min 8MB cache or even better 16MB.

Thoughts ppl? Time to browse for drives again.

Any new drive suggestions spring to mind?

Cheers,

Rich

[Darkdrium777]

Well your 320GB one will do, as I said. There's no need to rethink the whole plan :)

[b4p]

i was aware of all that before i made my puchase, so no change here

[lovedr]

Well, it was news to me and the info might be helpful for a few others on here.

You could be right DD, I do like to over complicate things, to the point of comfusing myself lol, still the more knowledge hopefully the better the purchase.