New hard drive for my PS3- Need CAG advice!

GtoTheNextLevel

GtoTheNextLevel

CAGiversary!
Hey Cags!

I was wondering if anybody could give me some good advice about upgrading my HDD for my PS3. Like what's a good brand, speed, etc. I really want to go to a solid state drive, but my budget just won't let me for that. My hard drive has been randomly freezing up when it's accessed and I wanted to replace it before it dies. I know the process of how it's done (the HDD I'm using now is actually a buddy of mine's old drive that he upgraded), but any advice would be most welcome. Thanks!
 
SSD's don't make a difference and the blue screw is made out of butter. People say that you should stick with 5400rpm and the only difference I've noticed between that and 7200 is that installations go a little quicker. Beyond that, there's not a huge difference. Stock drives are Seagate, which aren't bad, but WD and Samsung are good too. The only real decision you have to make is how big.:D

Oh, and I hope you have PS+ to transfer your locked saves.
 
[quote name='dohdough']SSD's don't make a difference and the blue screw is made out of butter. People say that you should stick with 5400rpm and the only difference I've noticed between that and 7200 is that installations go a little quicker. Beyond that, there's not a huge difference. Stock drives are Seagate, which aren't bad, but WD and Samsung are good too. The only real decision you have to make is how big.:D

Oh, and I hope you have PS+ to transfer your locked saves.[/QUOTE]

I do have PS+ so thanks for reminding me about that. I really don't need anybigger than 320 or 500GB, I have a 320GB now and I still have 100GB free on it, I'm just looking more for reliability and performance. Like who is the best brand or RPM, but I have heard ppl say that 7200 doesn't really make a difference. But i like the one Enuf recommended; I have a WD external HDD that hasn't steered me wrong.
 
[quote name='dohdough']SSD's don't make a difference and the blue screw is made out of butter. People say that you should stick with 5400rpm and the only difference I've noticed between that and 7200 is that installations go a little quicker. Beyond that, there's not a huge difference. Stock drives are Seagate, which aren't bad, but WD and Samsung are good too. The only real decision you have to make is how big.:D[/QUOTE]
SSDs don't make a noticeable difference on disc based no-install games but on heavy HDD access games, they're noticeably faster than the stock drive. The best example I can give is Gran Turismo 5, the install takes over an hour on the stock 5400 drive, 30 minutes with a 16mb cache 7200 rpm Samsung drive and less with an SSD. Load times for GT5 are markedly improved with an SSD, improved by about 2 seconds with a 7200 rpm drive over 5400.

Seagate took over Samsung's line of Hard Drives as well, so Samsung drives are now Seagate drives. If you want the speed, I'd go WD Black, Blues work decently and are good all around performers though, most people are comfortable with more of the same. I like my 7200 rpm drive personally, it's definitely faster than stock by far and since the firmware is stored on the HDD, it is a legitimate upgradable part. The SATA 1.5 limits the true potential of the upgrade from being awesome, making it just an improvement at best.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Try running the Rebuild Database and Restore File System options from the PS3's Safe Mode menu BEFORE you buy a new HDD to replace the current one.

Here's a page that tells you how to get into the safe mode menu:

http://playstationlifestyle.net/2009/10/14/keep-your-ps3-safe-with-this-guide/

Again, try Rebuild Database first and see if that helps. If it does, then congrats as you just saved yourself some money.[/QUOTE]

I'm backing up my hard drive right now, but after that's done, I'll give it a shot. I just wish I had checked on here BEFORE I had deleted all my unnecessary installs and PS+ free games, oh well.
 
Great advice already so I'll just throw in my 2¢ if you're willing to take it: stick with the default 5400 RPM drive speed. Any perceived decrease in loading times or increase in speed while navigating the XMB were negligible.

Worse, there are some games that can have freezing or 'hiccup' issues if using a non-default RPM drive, which I found out while playing Syndicate. After about 8 hours of playing online co-op missions, the video and audio would 'lock' about once a minute for 5 seconds at a time, then go back to normal -- essentially making the game unplayable, both online and offline. I found out later that the issue stemmed from the way autosave worked and people with 7200 RPM drives were describing the same problem.
 
[quote name='eLefAdEr']Great advice already so I'll just throw in my 2¢ if you're willing to take it: stick with the default 5400 RPM drive speed. Any perceived decrease in loading times or increase in speed while navigating the XMB were negligible.

Worse, there are some games that can have freezing or 'hiccup' issues if using a non-default RPM drive, which I found out while playing Syndicate. After about 8 hours of playing online co-op missions, the video and audio would 'lock' about once a minute for 5 seconds at a time, then go back to normal -- essentially making the game unplayable, both online and offline. I found out later that the issue stemmed from the way autosave worked and people with 7200 RPM drives were describing the same problem.[/QUOTE]

Tried what IATCG recommended and it seemed okay for a bit, but upon the 3rd boot and playing a few games, it was doing it again, so I guess I'll be getting a new drive. Thanks for the heads up about the 5200RPM issue, now I just have to decide if its worth the extra $5 to go WD or Seagate.

Thanks you guys for everything!
 
[quote name='VyseArcad1a']Tried what IATCG recommended and it seemed okay for a bit, but upon the 3rd boot and playing a few games, it was doing it again, so I guess I'll be getting a new drive. Thanks for the heads up about the 5200RPM issue, now I just have to decide if its worth the extra $5 to go WD or Seagate.

Thanks you guys for everything![/QUOTE]

No problem, glad to help. Another advantage of the lower RPM I forgot to mention is cooler running temperatures, which will probably add to the lifespan of your HDD while residing in your console.

I've been running a 7200 RPM 320gb Seagate (don't recall model #) for about a year now and no major issues, but if I do decide to upgrade further it will definitely be a 5400 RPM drive, probably Western Digital as they seem to be of slightly better quality based on fewer overall complaints on sites like Amazon and Newegg.
 
[quote name='eLefAdEr']Great advice already so I'll just throw in my 2¢ if you're willing to take it: stick with the default 5400 RPM drive speed. Any perceived decrease in loading times or increase in speed while navigating the XMB were negligible.

Worse, there are some games that can have freezing or 'hiccup' issues if using a non-default RPM drive, which I found out while playing Syndicate. After about 8 hours of playing online co-op missions, the video and audio would 'lock' about once a minute for 5 seconds at a time, then go back to normal -- essentially making the game unplayable, both online and offline. I found out later that the issue stemmed from the way autosave worked and people with 7200 RPM drives were describing the same problem.[/QUOTE]You write as if there isn't hard proof that a faster drive does benefit the PS3. SSDs, if they were priced better, would be the way to go. People are reporting Skyrim plays better with less framerate issues and such. The "perceived" decrease in loading times and XMB access are significant if you compare one to the other. It's a question of value and how much accessing the XMB ingame you do to receive such benefits.

Also a quick googling of your Syndicate Auto Save issue shows it's a bug related to belonging to a Syndicate, I didn't see anything relating to the hard drive issue.

[quote name='eLefAdEr']No problem, glad to help. Another advantage of the lower RPM I forgot to mention is cooler running temperatures, which will probably add to the lifespan of your HDD while residing in your console.

I've been running a 7200 RPM 320gb Seagate (don't recall model #) for about a year now and no major issues, but if I do decide to upgrade further it will definitely be a 5400 RPM drive, probably Western Digital as they seem to be of slightly better quality based on fewer overall complaints on sites like Amazon and Newegg.[/QUOTE]We're in 2012 now, most 7200 RPM drives run as cool as 5400 rpm drives and draw similar voltage to their slower counterparts. Try catching up with things?
 
[quote name='Mad39er']You write as if there isn't hard proof that a faster drive does benefit the PS3. SSDs, if they were priced better, would be the way to go. People are reporting Skyrim plays better with less framerate issues and such. The "perceived" decrease in loading times and XMB access are significant if you compare one to the other. It's a question of value and how much accessing the XMB ingame you do to receive such benefits.

Also a quick googling of your Syndicate Auto Save issue shows it's a bug related to belonging to a Syndicate, I didn't see anything relating to the hard drive issue.

We're in 2012 now, most 7200 RPM drives run as cool as 5400 rpm drives and draw similar voltage to their slower counterparts. Try catching up with things?[/QUOTE]

How about you not come in here and attack somebody who's just trying to help?
 
The PS3 is spec'd to 5400 RPM HDDs: That isn't to say that there's no benefit but rather that all games/content are designed to run with a 5400 RPM drive in-place.

It all comes down to cost; if you can order a 7200 RPM drive for the same price and of the same size as the 5400 RPM model then have it.
 
[quote name='Mad39er']You write as if there isn't hard proof that a faster drive does benefit the PS3. SSDs, if they were priced better, would be the way to go. People are reporting Skyrim plays better with less framerate issues and such. The "perceived" decrease in loading times and XMB access are significant if you compare one to the other. It's a question of value and how much accessing the XMB ingame you do to receive such benefits.

Also a quick googling of your Syndicate Auto Save issue shows it's a bug related to belonging to a Syndicate, I didn't see anything relating to the hard drive issue.

We're in 2012 now, most 7200 RPM drives run as cool as 5400 rpm drives and draw similar voltage to their slower counterparts. Try catching up with things?[/QUOTE]

Funny how you call me out on my opinions, interpret them as stated facts, then fail to provide any sources of your own. Thanks, I needed a good laugh today.
 
[quote name='VyseArcad1a']How about you not come in here and attack somebody who's just trying to help?[/QUOTE]I'll gladly let you wallow in misinformation dressed up as fact.

[quote name='eLefAdEr']Funny how you call me out on my opinions, interpret them as stated facts, then fail to provide any sources of your own. Thanks, I needed a good laugh today.[/QUOTE]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxJ5SSGqBdM
-
It took 2 seconds of googling to pull up this one.
http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/618428?start=0&tstart=0

and this one from Eurogamer
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3-hard-drive-upgrade-guide

You want me to quote any more or are you done?
 
[quote name='eLefAdEr']Way to misinterpret me.

Nowhere in my post did I discuss SSD drives.[/QUOTE]
You're right in that you didn't discuss SSDs, you dismissed everything other than 5400 rpm drives and that was your opinion that the benefits were not really noticeable. You don't have to discuss SSDs when you position yourself as such.

You went on to spout that 5400 rpm drives run cooler than 7200 rpm drives, which was true in years past and is not the case as of 2011 at the very earliest.

Why are you bothering?
 
[quote name='Mad39er']You're right in that you didn't discuss SSDs, you dismissed everything other than 5400 rpm drives and that was your opinion that the benefits were not really noticeable. You don't have to discuss SSDs when you position yourself as such.

You went on to spout that 5400 rpm drives run cooler than 7200 rpm drives, which was true in years past and is not the case as of 2011 at the very earliest.

Why are you bothering?[/QUOTE]

I bought the 5400 500GB drive, the deed is done. How about instead of further proving how much of an :booty:you are, you shut the fuck up and go play more Call of Duty?
 
[quote name='VyseArcad1a']I bought the 5400 500GB drive, the deed is done. How about instead of further proving how much of an :booty:you are, you shut the fuck up and go play more Call of Duty?[/QUOTE]
Whatever you like, you know you can close the thread? Do eeet.
 
[quote name='Cage017']I'm in a similar situation as I have about 20 GB left on my 120GB PS3 slim. I was told at Office Depot to go with the Seagate Momentus: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Momen...qid=1340941680&sr=8-3&keywords=ps3+hard+drive. At Office Depot, this model costs $100 but $70 at Amazon sounds like a good deal.

What do you guys do with your old hard drives?[/QUOTE]

That was one of the drives I was considering but I went with the Western Digital, although it seems good too.

I still keep my old hard drives just in case.
 
What are people's thoughts on SSDs for PSN games? With the new PS+ game collection I have a lot more games I'm playing off the HDD versus discs. Think an SSD will be an improvement?

Also is the PS3 have a 3gbps SATA or a 6gbps connection?
 
Because the PS3 only has a SATA 1 connection not SATA II or III, there are only marginal improvements with SSD. Someone did benchmarks, on the web, and I wasn't impressed.

EDIT: actually looks like GT5 really benefits -> http://www.tomshardware.com/news/playstation-ps3-ssd-upgrade-loading,11811.html
According to this it is game dependant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjQqpQe8g6Y&feature=player_embedded
The above video, the guy is obviously a little technically challenged, but there is still some good info.
More good info here: http://www.overclockers.com/ps3-hard-drive-roundup-5400-3-scorpio-black-x25-m-g2/
 
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