Unoffical Upgrade your PS3 HDD thread

[quote name='m_d_amore']the ps3 doesnt recognize the hdd(original) after you put it in a external?[/QUOTE]you have to re-format it to NTSC or whatever it is for windows to recognize it.

[quote name='Richlough']Do you have to manually add back your PSn accounts or do they stay as part of the back-up ?
I don't know the info for my foreign accounts [I made it up] to be able to recover them .[/QUOTE] They transfered for me however the passwords did not. Could be different for others as my switch-a-roo didn't go as smooth as others I've heard.
 
[quote name='RelentlessRolento']dumb question, but when you backup and restore, locked save files still transfer over, right?[/QUOTE]

They should. They're locked to your system and you not changing that, only the HDD.
 
Thinking about upgrading the HDD in my PS3 and had a question about trophies. It seems from reading through the thread that trophy data does not carry over without reloading the disc for the game? I know it will still be on PSN but I would hate to not be able to view any of my trophies from games I have rented in the past.
 
[quote name='AdvOfJet']Thinking about upgrading the HDD in my PS3 and had a question about trophies. It seems from reading through the thread that trophy data does not carry over without reloading the disc for the game? I know it will still be on PSN but I would hate to not be able to view any of my trophies from games I have rented in the past.[/QUOTE]

That kinda sucks. I've been toying with the hdd upgrade. Now I have to decide whether to do it right away (and only have it screw with a handful of games) or wait until my hdd is bursting and hope that Sony comes through.
 
easy upgrade. If only 360 allowed this , lol. I am really appreciating the free stuff I got for $400 - $100 wireless fre, able to do backups - free, online - free, ability to swap hard drives, etc.
I may have paid more , but I got more, too!
It's time we started thinking of our consoles more like a pc and start doing regular backups.
 
so I ordered a regular 3.5" sata from newegg for my new computer build and they sent me two boxes, one with the HDD I ordered and one with a Seagate Momentus 5400.3.

Here's the product page on newegg, will this work in my PS3 or does it have to be Sata 3.0gb/s? It's only 1.5 gb/s.

Funny thing is it's the same packing slip in each box, for the hdd I ordered.

EDIT: nvm, several comments in the reviews page mention using it as a PS3 drive just fine.
 
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[quote name='velvet396']so I ordered a regular 3.5" sata from newegg for my new computer build and they sent me two boxes, one with the HDD I ordered and one with a Seagate Momentus 5400.3.

Here's the product page on newegg, will this work in my PS3 or does it have to be Sata 3.0gb/s? It's only 1.5 gb/s.

Funny thing is it's the same packing slip in each box, for the hdd I ordered.[/QUOTE]

Thats plug/play for a ps3.
 
What is the largest drive a PS3 will work with as an "internal"?

Reason I ask, Plugged a 3.5" 750GB drive via a SATA cable and external power supply in to the PS3 internal SATA port, no problem - it formats and the PS3 is happy. A 2TB drive was a no go, I was going to to get a 1TB drive or 1.5TB to see if they would work but wanted to see if anyone has had luck with the 2TB ones before I give up.
 
[quote name='onapartyrock']What is the largest drive a PS3 will work with as an "internal"?

Reason I ask, Plugged a 3.5" 750GB drive via a SATA cable and external power supply in to the PS3 internal SATA port, no problem - it formats and the PS3 is happy. A 2TB drive was a no go, I was going to to get a 1TB drive or 1.5TB to see if they would work but wanted to see if anyone has had luck with the 2TB ones before I give up.[/QUOTE]

I've read 1TB will work.

My PS3 arrives tuesday back from sony after fixing a dead laser, cannot wait to pop in my 320 gig in it and get downloading!
 
As an update, the PS3 showed up from sony with a new blu-ray drive installed. I popped in the Hitachi 320 gig i got from Amazon for 62 shipped and funny enough, it was the identical type of drive found in the ps3 already. Same brand, cover, similar model #s, same speed, etc. Just 320 vs 40 gigs. The hard drive is fantastic, and i had 263 gigs left after the install of it. I did every optional install and forced install for all 9 retail games i own + all the free DLC for all of the games, all the updates, installed Home and also GT HD Concept 1.2. Ended up taking 17 gigs for all of it. Tonight and tomorrow ill be downloading the entire PSN + PS1 library, so i'll finally use up a good chunk of the drive.
 
What kind of HDD do I need to exchange my existing PS3 HDD. Also, what is the best brand to get when exchanging drives?
 
Just wanted to post that I upgraded to a Western Digital 400GB Scorpio and everything is awesome. Used a friends external to back up my 50GBs used and now I'm set.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Drive-WD4000BEVT/dp/B001P80F0Q

71.40 for the 400GB on Amazon, 64.99 for the 320. I actually got mine with credit card rewards points though.

Tons of 5 star reviews on Amazon from people using this drive in PS3s, and Western Digital is a great brand.
 
Maybe someday if I get rid of my 360 and Wii I'll look into 750 GB / 1 TB drives for my triple. That, or maybe I'll just upgrade my PC drive and stream everything.
 
For that Western Digital 400GB HDD. Do you have to format it into FAT32 first? And if so how do I do that?
 
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Question: Can you back up your 320GB HDD with a 250GB if the 320 is NOT full? I'm thinking of backing up my data since HDD are known to fail.
 
[quote name='element676']For that Western Digital 400GB HDD. Do you have to format it into FAT32 first? And if so how do I do that?[/QUOTE]

As far as I know, FAT32 formatting is only necessary for usb external drives, since that is what the ps3 is compatible with. So that will only be an issue if you are backing up your files on the ps3 onto a large external hard drive (or a really big flash drive I suppose). Amazon reviewer's suggest googling FAT32FORMAT.EXE if you need to do this or SwissKnife is another one.

I actually used a friend's external that was already properly formatted since he used it to backup another PS3.

So basically, no you don't have to format the internal HDD (the one you are putting in your ps3), but you may need to format your backup hard drive if you use one. Don't think you'll need to format any internal hard drive, the PS3 does that itself.

Pretty sure if you just want your save files and stuff like that, you can just save them on a flash drive or sd card or something instead of going through the trouble of formatting a large external drive. you'll have to install/redownload your games though.
 
[quote name='fizzywix']Just wanted to post that I upgraded to a Western Digital 400GB Scorpio and everything is awesome. Used a friends external to back up my 50GBs used and now I'm set.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Drive-WD4000BEVT/dp/B001P80F0Q

71.40 for the 400GB on Amazon, 64.99 for the 320. I actually got mine with credit card rewards points though.

Tons of 5 star reviews on Amazon from people using this drive in PS3s, and Western Digital is a great brand.[/QUOTE]

I saw you post about the 400GB hard drive in another thread today, and I went and ordered one :D. That price with free super saving shipping + the amazon credit card reward points = win. Thanks for the post.
 
Anyone tried to clone the PS3 HD onto a new one (with norton ghost, or similar app)?
If the PS3 can be fooled so it doesnt know that the HD's been upgraded, there would be no need to backup anything or redownload stuff (having to re-create all the gameshare users)... :D
I wanna upgrade my 60gb, but I have like 7 or 8 share groups, so it would be a hassle to find all the passwords and redownload everything... (not to mention 6 of these came with my PS3 from the previous owner (he actually has a single game in each! :roll:)... i dont know if he'll still have the passwords...)
 
[quote name='doubledown']Question: Can you back up your 320GB HDD with a 250GB if the 320 is NOT full? I'm thinking of backing up my data since HDD are known to fail.[/QUOTE]

yes you can... if the source hdd doesn't have enough space, you'll get an error. So yeah, you don't need a bigger hdd to back up stuff, it depends on the size of the contents to be backed up.
 
[quote name='LFLFM']Anyone tried to clone the PS3 HD onto a new one (with norton ghost, or similar app)?
If the PS3 can be fooled so it doesnt know that the HD's been upgraded, there would be no need to backup anything or redownload stuff (having to re-create all the gameshare users)... :D
I wanna upgrade my 60gb, but I have like 7 or 8 share groups, so it would be a hassle to find all the passwords and redownload everything... (not to mention 6 of these came with my PS3 from the previous owner (he actually has a single game in each! :roll:)... i dont know if he'll still have the passwords...)[/QUOTE]

Oyi, you better be careful with the game sharing accounts... After hdd upgrade, not all games will work. Some of them requires you do log into the account purchased from and re-activate. It's kind of stupid b/c when you try to do that, the account is in "activated" state. So, what you need to do is, turn it off and then turn it back on.

I'm not sure ghost imaging works, but you can try... Pluck out the 60gb and duplicate the image on the new hdd then pluck in the new hdd and see if everything works. My guess is that, it probably works, but the PS3 will still think it's a 60gb even though the new hdd is much bigger.

You will need those passwords, especially you screw it up (leave the 60gb hdd untouched)...
 
guys guys, when upgrading hdd for the PS3 and you have a lot of saves and games, it's easier to back them up and then restore them once the new hdd is installed. You don't need to re-download anything... The only drawback to the process is that, some game saves can't be copied (like RE5). So, naturally, you'll lose them after the hdd upgrade :(
 
[quote name='fizzywix']Just wanted to post that I upgraded to a Western Digital 400GB Scorpio and everything is awesome. Used a friends external to back up my 50GBs used and now I'm set.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Drive-WD4000BEVT/dp/B001P80F0Q

71.40 for the 400GB on Amazon, 64.99 for the 320. I actually got mine with credit card rewards points though.

Tons of 5 star reviews on Amazon from people using this drive in PS3s, and Western Digital is a great brand.[/QUOTE]


Newegg got the 10% off hdd deal twice in two months... I got my 500gb WD for $85 shipped.
 
[quote name='Serpentor']yes you can... if the source hdd doesn't have enough space, you'll get an error. So yeah, you don't need a bigger hdd to back up stuff, it depends on the size of the contents to be backed up.[/QUOTE]

Thanks....I assumed that was the case, now I just need a smaller HDD just for PS3 backups.
 
I recently upgraded to a WD 320Gb Scorpio drive and had no issues at all with my game sharing account. Even before using the restore feature, after installing the new drive, the account information was still stored on the PS3. It appears as if the account information is stored in the higher memory on the PS3 iteself and not on the hard drive. Once I ran the restore and the games were loaded back on I had no problems playing them.
 
[quote name='Serpentor']guys guys, when upgrading hdd for the PS3 and you have a lot of saves and games, it's easier to back them up and then restore them once the new hdd is installed. You don't need to re-download anything... The only drawback to the process is that, some game saves can't be copied (like RE5). So, naturally, you'll lose them after the hdd upgrade :([/QUOTE]


If you do the system backup first and you're upgrading the HDD in the same system, everything transfers over, including locked game saves. You only lose locked data if you are restoring it to a different system.
 
Have any of you shopped from zipzoomfly.com before? I had never heard of them until I started searching Google for HD deals.

I like this one. Any objections that you guys can see? 320GB for $80, and then a $15 mail-in rebate and free shipping. They'll also throw in a black aluminum external enclosure for $5.
 
[quote name='bmachine']Have any of you shopped from zipzoomfly.com before? I had never heard of them until I started searching Google for HD deals.

I like this one. Any objections that you guys can see? 320GB for $80, and then a $15 mail-in rebate and free shipping. They'll also throw in a black aluminum external enclosure for $5.[/QUOTE]
ZZF is fine. I've shopped there a number of times. The 3 best places to shop for computer parts are ZipZoomFly, Newegg, and TigerDirect. I prefer Newegg, but the other 2 are great as well.
 
[quote name='bmachine']Have any of you shopped from zipzoomfly.com before? I had never heard of them until I started searching Google for HD deals.

I like this one. Any objections that you guys can see? 320GB for $80, and then a $15 mail-in rebate and free shipping. They'll also throw in a black aluminum external enclosure for $5.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, zipzoomfly has been around forever, except they used to be called googlegear.
 
Just a quick questions, as I've been contemplating doing this for awhile since my 60GB is filling up rather quickly:

Which would be the easier way to do this, PS3 back-up utility or copying everything over manually? I assume the first, but I didn't know what the utility might not back up.

I have an empty external HD that I could use the back-up utility for, I'd just have to find a new external case (I lost my power cord :cry:)

And also, is the added heat from the 7200rpm drive really something to be concerned about? I suppose I should be more concerned because I have a first gen model that can get pretty warm.

Thanks
 
[quote name='lolwut?']Just a quick questions, as I've been contemplating doing this for awhile since my 60GB is filling up rather quickly:

Which would be the easier way to do this, PS3 back-up utility or copying everything over manually? I assume the first, but I didn't know what the utility might not back up.

I have an empty external HD that I could use the back-up utility for, I'd just have to find a new external case (I lost my power cord :cry:)

And also, is the added heat from the 7200rpm drive really something to be concerned about? I suppose I should be more concerned because I have a first gen model that can get pretty warm.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

The utility restores EVERYTHING - network/video/audio settings, user accounts, saves, DLC, etc, unless there are game saves that aren't transferable (KZ2 comes to mind). Can't go wrong with it, just follow the instructions verbatim.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']The utility restores EVERYTHING - network/video/audio settings, user accounts, saves, DLC, etc, unless there are game saves that aren't transferable (KZ2 comes to mind). Can't go wrong with it, just follow the instructions verbatim.[/QUOTE]

Alright, thanks for your response. I should find a new enclosure sometime soon then :bouncy:
 
I realized that after upgrading the hdd, my Warhawk trophies disappeared (reset to 0%). It's weird... The KZ2 saves i never look at in detail, but i do remember seeing trophies being reset to 0% and then "mysteriously" set to my previous %.

For Warhawk, i know i'm not seeing thing, because I have completed the Foot Solider and Vehicle training trophies. I did them last night again, I wonder if the WH trophies were counted twice...
 
Just checked my laptop's external USB hard drive and it's formatted to NTFS. I need a FAT32 drive to backup the PS3, right?

If so, I don't know how the hell I'm going to manage this.
 
[quote name='bmachine']Just checked my laptop's external USB hard drive and it's formatted to NTFS. I need a FAT32 drive to backup the PS3, right?

If so, I don't know how the hell I'm going to manage this.[/QUOTE]

You can use a product like EASEUS Partition Master to create a new partition on you external drive and you can make the new partition to be FAT32.
 
[quote name='bmachine']Just checked my laptop's external USB hard drive and it's formatted to NTFS. I need a FAT32 drive to backup the PS3, right?

If so, I don't know how the hell I'm going to manage this.[/QUOTE]

well you can do as the above poster said. Make a partition in your external HDD if you have enough space on it. Otherwise you'll have to format it
 
[quote name='bmachine']Just checked my laptop's external USB hard drive and it's formatted to NTFS. I need a FAT32 drive to backup the PS3, right?

If so, I don't know how the hell I'm going to manage this.[/QUOTE]

fat32format and SwissKnife are both programs that can partition or format a drive to fat32. google either one
 
Thanks for the suggestions, guys...I used Swissknife to make a FAT32 partition and was able to complete the backup. Swapping the HDD was super quick and easy but the backup/restore process is taking hours.

I put my old 80GB HDD in the external enclosure and hooked it up to my computer but now I can't locate the drive. I got a popup that says the drivers for my new hardware have been installed but it's not appearing in "My Computer". Any thoughts on why it's not visible? The power light on the enclosure is lit and I can feel the vibration of the drive spinning inside.

The enclosure came with a weird Y-shaped USB cable...the small end plugs into the drive and the 2 big ends plug into my computer. I've never seen a cable like this...what's it for?
 
Pretty sure the y cable is so it can draw... "MORE POWER!!!"
Course, it assumes you're attaching each end to a separate bus, otherwise it can't draw more amps than one cable.

As for the "not showing up" check the disk management console.
Right click on My Computer
Click "Manage"
On the left, under "Storage"... "Disk Management" and see if it shows up there. If it is, format and assign a drive letter.

That was all under some form of XP... I've no idea if Vista would be different.
 
I don't have the power, Captain!

Anyway, I am running Vista...but your directions led me to the Device Manager and the old PS3 drive is listed as a USB Mass Storage Device. If I right-click on it and view the properties it says that the drive is "Not Initialized". I don't see an option to format it, though.
 
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