That did not take long. Gamersreports published an article that explains how to replace the existing Playstation 3 hard drive which is either 20 Gb or 60 Gb with a bigger one. All you need is a bigger 2,5mm SATA drive which replaces the orginal hard drive. You can even use faster hard drives that run with 7200 rpm instead of 5400 rpm.
You also need some screwdrivers to open the Playstation 3, please note that opening the PS3 will void the warranty.
- The first step is to find the HDD Bay on your Playstation 3. It is located on the left side of the console, and it is marked with HDD. Easy enough. Use your flat head screwdriver to pop off the plastic cover. You now have access to the actual HDD caddy.
- The next step is to remove the blue screw that holds the HDD caddy in place using the Phillips head screwdriver. Once you have done so, flip up the metal handle that is on the front of the caddy, and slide the HDD towards the FRONT of the Playstation 3 to dislodge it. Once you have done so you can remove the HDD tray.
- Once you have access to the tray outside the PS3, you can take out the 4 screws which hold the original Playstation 3 HDD in place, and swap in your new 2.5MM SATA Notebook HDD.
- Once the new HDD is secured in the HDD caddy, you need to place the caddy back inside the PS3 unit, and slide it toward the REAR of the console to lock it in place. Once you have done so, the final step is to use your Phillips head screwdriver to replace the blue screw which anchors the HDD caddy to the Playstation 3. Pop on the plastic cover, and boot up the console.
- As soon as you boot up the console, the PS3 will detect that the HDD is not formatted, and it will ask you if you would like to format. You must select yes twice, because they want you to be sure that you realize you will be destroying all the data. Of course, you pick yes.
- Once the HDD is formatted, which takes less than 2 minutes, the unit will ask you to reboot. Once you have done so, you can do into the settings menu option in the PS3 OS. Then choose system settings, and then finally system information. There you will see a display of the HDD space on your console. If you have done everything correctly, you will see that the HDD space now reflects the amount of space on the replacement drive. Keep in mind, about 15 to 20 GB of space will be taken up by the PS3 for system use, so do not be alarmed when the HDD space measurement comes up short.
- To answer your question before you ask, the only thing that gets erased is game saves. Your network ID info, your console settings, and even the 1.10 update all remain in place when you do this HDD swap. Neat eh?
Please note that this text has been directly taken from the GamersReports website, please note that they also added pictures to the article, so pay them a visit. (page 1, page 2)
Related posts:
European Playstation 3 compatibility listPlaystation 3 in the news
PCSX 2 Playstation 2 Emulator
Add a bigger hard drive to your PS3
Playstation 3 Launch Titles
Computers’ energy costs
Europe gets delayed and crippled PS3 for more money
New Rumors on PS3 delay
3 Responses to “Replace the Playstation 3 Hd with a bigger one”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
[...] the warrenty. are you sure, i swear i read that somewhere, because you have to unscrew stuff Proof! QUOTE=Shin2k35;4194421] You also need some screwdrivers to open the Playstation 3, please note [...]
Just like the XBOX, early reports are that you do not get enhanced performance from the 7200 rpm drive, just more heat. If you’re serious about performance, get the biggest cache size you can.
My PS3 does not prompt me to format the drive… it says the drive must be formatted… there is no option to click OK… if you press any key on the controller it just does a re-boot.
The drive is ok… Ive reformatted it on my laptop (NTFS only)… again… there is no option to repartition/reformat the drive in FAT32 :( Any suggestions ? I dont want to have to create partitions that are smaller than the drive I am replacing !