How to change a PlayStation 3 hard disc…

15 May

How To Change A Playstation 3 Hard Disc

In: Uncategorized by: Three Speech May 15, 2008 @ 2:30 pm

32 Comments

remember that your old disk CANNOT be put back into the ps3 and used as it was. You will be forced into reformatting it!!!!

Remember to back up all your data first via the menu option.

Restore data doesnt put back games that are under someone elses account even if you re-add that persons account (game sharing routine).

Hi speed hard disks will cause more heat and thus the fan will be on more, especially in the release 60gbs versions!

So if you have 2 ps3’s like me you also wont be able to move the disk from one machine to another without loosing all that data, its so annoying having to reformat it just coz you took it out. Beware!

If you ever have to take it out for some other reason, just remember that what i have said…

Comment by komp — May 15, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
What puzzles me is how so many people destroy the screws when doing this. Just use the correct screwdriver and use enough pressure so the head doesn’t slip. It’s an absolute doddle. I can only think the folks who destroy the heads have no practical DIY skills.

Comment by Paul — May 15, 2008 @ 2:39 pm
@Paul
I found it hard to find the right sized screwdriver. My set of 10 didn’t have one that fit. Eventually one came with the enclosure for my old drive (2 week after I destroyed the heads of the screws in my PS3 and used needle-nose pliers to get the screws out instead).

Comment by pat — May 15, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
On my 2nd drive now - had to ditch the original 60GB, after having taken it out to oogle at the nerd geekfactor of just being “able” to access the drive, I promptly dropped it on the floor without realizing had shuffled my seat back to sit down on the desk and gave it a good crunching with the chair leg.

Comment by JohnSketch — May 15, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
Now, how to add rumble motors to your SixAxis.

Could I be talking about the DualShock 3?

Comment by DaveC — May 15, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
I would love for Sony to publish a list of drives which are compatible with PS3 or at least specifications of the drives which the console supports. I know there are some on the market which are simply too thick to fit in the slot, and with new technologies like SATA II, it is difficult to know which drives will work.

Comment by Neil — May 15, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
@Paul - what nonsense. The trouble is that you don’t know what size of screwdriver you need until you actually disconnect the PS3, wait for it to cool down and then take the cover off the side of it. When your trusty PS3 is laid out on your kitchen table with your shiny new hard drive next to it, it’s tempting to “make do” with your screwdriver that fits fairly well. .. and if the screwdriver doesn’t fit perfectly then those poor little screws are history!

Comment by reakt — May 15, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
i’m currently waiting for Sony to deliver a new cage, because i can’t seem to get the 60gb out of the original cage. changing your hard drive isn’t easy

Comment by Jesse — May 15, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
So guys let me get this straight, before removing my drive, switch to each account and back them up? Can I restore each user account once I recreate them on the new drive? Also, I can’t remember any of my passwords, will they be restored too?

Who has the biggest? Who has the fastest? And just how much of a heat/fan noise problem are we talking about here?

Comment by LordOfRuin — May 15, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
I believe any 2.5″ SATA 5400rpm drive is fine.

Also, irrespective of DIY skill, the screws are a bugger to be remove if they have been put in tight in the original manufacture. The main problem is the cheap screws which seem like there made out of candy floss rather than metal.

Comment by Tenchkov — May 15, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
@Paul - that’s nonsense.

I’ve got watchmakers screws the *perfect* size but the little blue screw of death is still made out of Play-Doh.

My tip is needly-nosed pliars, sideways on the screwhead - no probs there.

Comment by Tony Nibbles — May 15, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
The screws of the cage were a nightmare, as stated above they have been put in tight in the original manufacture, but the punchline is in the instruction manual it tells you not to have the screws too tight.

Comment by Siôn Walter Mowbray — May 15, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
TBH if we could install and run games/demos from an external drive we wouldn’t need to upgrade the internal. i’m down to the last 7Gb on my 60. and that’s only in a year! mind you i have GTA now and have no need to play anything else

going to have to boost it up later this year.

what’s the biggest drive you can fit internally? 500Gb??

Comment by mobiletone — May 15, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
@1,

I took my original drive out, and put it into a Linux PC to see if I could figure out the on-disk format (I couldn’t seems to be encrypted). So I put it back in my PS3, it booted without any indication that the drive had ever been removed.

Now, each PS3 does have a unique serial number, removing a drive from one and putting it in another will require formatting (probably part of the encryption).

Also, if you are getting a bigger drive, get a USB2.0 external enclosure (I use one from MacAlly) for the old disk.

First put your new bigger drive in the enclosure and backup your PS3 to it. Now take the external to your PC and copy the backup files there. Next remove the old drive from the PS3, and put it into the enclosure while installing the new drive in the PS3. Take the enclosure back to the PC and format it as FAT32 (Windows won’t let you on a disk this large, but a Linux boot CD can help here). Last copy the backup data from the PC to the external drive and head back to the PS3 to restore it (under the Backup Utility Restore, not Restore PS3).

I’m really enjoying my 250 GB PS3 now.

Comment by NSI — May 15, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
I have a better solution: Why doesn’t Sony just settle on one big HDD size and end all these crap debates?

If people want more than, say 120GB, then they can buy and upgrade, if they’re unfortunate enough to think they can put all their media requirements on anything other than a NAS box.

Has anyone considered what will happen to all that stored media on a PS3’s HDD when the next PlayStation comes out or if the HDD ‘goes west’ or the unit itself dies?

Back-up anyone?!

Comment by Zed Zee — May 15, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
@15, Zed Zee:

What will happen to the stored media on the PS3? I’ll copy it to my external HD and move it to my PS4. That should be easier than what I had to go through getting all my save files from the PS2 HDD to the PS3 (by way of the memory card adapter).

Backups are easy. One can save individual files, but the Backup Utility is amazing. A restore from it fully re-creates your PS3, every setting, every file, everything.

Sony, if you are taking notes on the design of the PS4. Include the ability to load a PS3 backup to automatically import all save games and other data with witch the new system is compatible.

Comment by NSI — May 15, 2008 @ 11:42 pm
This is a most interesting thread, on a subject that curiously is already all over the net, and yet, I’m getting real world experience from you guys. Brill. Now then Sony, why oh why didn’t you put a USB port on the back of the unit?

I might buy myself a USB hub and pop it out of the way, connecting the Eye and a spare 320Gb external drive that I have. That’ll work won’t it.

Comment by LordOfRuin — May 16, 2008 @ 6:26 am
not being funny or any thing but this is old news i upgraded my hdd on launch day last year i mean there is loads of info about doing from the day the usa got there console in 2006 and to all the people that are strugaling with it go and find some one who has the tools and no how

Comment by headcasephil — May 16, 2008 @ 8:35 am
For further info about this check out:

boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3media&thread.id=32840

Great guide. Also compares and tests 7200 and 5400 drives.

Also:
avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=643706
50 pages of info etc about swapping the HDD.

Comment by SH4RKY — May 16, 2008 @ 9:02 am
I upgraded my 60GB launch model with a Hitachi TravelStar 160GB with no trouble at all. My 60GB drive was full and the TravelStar was the fastest 2.5″ HDD available at the time according to reviews. To be honest I’ve noticed barely any difference between the speed of original 5400rpm and the TravelStar’s 7200rpm/16mb buffer. If I upgraded again I’d probably be tempted to put the extra on more capacity and just get a standard 5400rpm model.

In terms of compatibility, to my knowledge you can use ANY 2.5″ SATA-II HDD. There are even instructional videos of how to use a 3.5″ HDD, though this will not fit inside your PS3. The only recommendation Sony give is to use a 5400rpm to keep things cooler, but that’s up to you, mine hasn’t been any noisier with a 7200rpm drive.

You CAN remove and replace your existing drive without issue, it is a myth that you’ll be forced to format it, however you cannot insert it into another PS3. What would happen now I’ve been using a different drive and go back to the original I don’t know, and I’m not willing to experiment! I still don’t see what the problem would be as the OS is tied to the PS3’s serial number, and that hasn’t changed, my guess would be it would work fine.

The backup function worked flawlessly (far far better than expected). I backed up the original on a spare USB HDD I had knocking around (there is a DOS based utility you can download to format large FAT32 drives in newer versions of Windows, I can’t remember it’s name but search for it in Google). It took about 20 minutes to backup everything, then I removed the old HDD and inserted the new one.

When you turn it on again it will install a fresh OS automatically and within a few minutes you’re back up and running with a clean install. Then simply connect the external backup device and choose Restore Backup.

The backup restored EVERYTHING - seriously aside from the free space you wouldn’t even know you’d changed the drive, every user, every setting, every theme, every message, every video, every game, every save - you name it. I’ve got 3 accounts on my system, one being a US account, and the backup had no problem restoring items downloaded by that user.

In summary - changing your HDD is as painless as it can possibly be - the only issue is if you need to change you PS3 hardware. I hope Sony come up with a solution to transfer the data/disc from one PS3 to another for cases where your PS3 dies, admittedly it’s a rare occurrence but better to be safe than sorry…

Comment by Apnomis — May 16, 2008 @ 9:56 am
It is a bit worrying to think that I might be forced into upgrading my HDD when my game collection grows, due to the forced installs of games.

It’s not a problem, but I thought that a 60gb unit would be huge for gaming, as all of my media is streamed from my computer.

Good guide though, TS.

Comment by Cho — May 16, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
after I watched the guide I changed my external 80 gb sata hitachi drive for the 60 gb sata in my ps3 and restored the data I had saved to my external drive before hand and all save data as well as downloads,demos,and game data on all user areas were restored.The only thing is to use the drive from your ps3 as a plug and play external drive you need to format it using swissknife,just google it! Otherwise the drive and its contents are unseeable in vista due to sonys encryption software.The extra 20 odd gb makes quite a difference but I will probably have to upgrade at some point,great site by the way!

Comment by andy — May 16, 2008 @ 9:17 pm
@1 that’s not correct,dude if you turn the machine off and take out the hard drive then put it back you do not have to re-format it all is still in place I know cause I tried a few dry runs before commiting to formating the new drive I was replacing it with.Even after formatting the new drive I could still put in the old 60 GB drive back in and all the info,data etc was still there.

Comment by andy — May 16, 2008 @ 9:22 pm
@2

Not all Playstations are created equal. Early 60GB units were over tightened, with cheap screws that easilly strip. Later 40GB units had a MUCH lower torque setting on those screws.

I know, my 60GB stripped easilly, and had to be butchered out. My brothers 40GB, the screws came out a dream. I think Sony instructed the manufacturer to lower the torque setting when they moved from 60GB to 40GB.

Comment by Mark — May 18, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
question: does it needs a external HDD large enough to back up your content?in the video,it shows a 12 G external making the job…i mean can i do the backup twice in a smaller HDD than my content??it might be sound silly but…

Comment by minas — May 18, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
is it s-ata or s-ata II, or can u use both?

Comment by spacebrain — May 19, 2008 @ 6:24 am
Whos willing to try out a sataII 2.5″ SSD performance boost?

Comment by JohnSketch — May 19, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
will the ps3 handle any buffer size and is SATA II HDD all right for the job (HDD UPGRADE)

Comment by jJJ — Jun 2, 2008 @ 6:34 am
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Pingback by How to change a PlayStation 3 hard disc… | GameBlews PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, PSP, DS News — Jun 12, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
June 14 2008 is when I stated to upgrade my HDD im going from 40GB to 320GB biggest i could find at 5400rpm only £60 from amazon its a western digital. Now dont belive anyone that says when you remove the HDD you loose everything that is not true just dont knock it about. It still has everything even after reformatting a new drive.
I got an external enclousure for my internal hdd so i created a 32GB partiton on the new HDD then backed up the old 40GB to the new 320GB Internal one that is in the external case then put back that up to the pc wipe the drive then swap with the 40Gb that is in the ps3. Copy the back up from the pc to the old 40GB then take that to the ps3 and the ps3 then everything is back ps3 no diffrent apart from the mass of extra space for media. I upgraded for the reason that i will be purchasing play tv when it is launched in september. when recording tv 40GB enough unless im constantly deleting data. Hope this helps people as i found some people ve missleading and inforation from diffrent places to get the full picture on upgrading. The external enclosure was also bought from amazon for around £10. I now have the 40Gb hard drive in this so i can use it as an external drive for anything. Must admit you do need a screwdriver that fits perfectly because the screws are on so tight. Transfering between hard drives wasn’t the fastest but still alot faster than downloading everything again.

Comment by Owen — Jun 14, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
would you recommend an internal or external hard drive for an upgrade ?

the only advantage to an external the fact you dont have to back up existing data ?

Comment by Stu — Mar 9, 2009 @ 2:07 am
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