New HDD For Your PS3? Say Good Bye To Your Old One Forever

Pwnpatrol writes:

"I just learned the hard way that once you install a new hard drive into a Playstation 3 that the old one will no longer be accepted and will need to be formatted to be used again."

[360sucks]

this is old news

[GETPWNT]

old news that you guys have gotten used to the fact that PS3 sucks a lot time ago? We know.

[-EvoAnubis-]

What a moron! Are you telling me he didn't have the sense to stick all his gamesaves on a memory stick, or a PSP, or a USB Flash drive, or an SD card, or something? I'm sorry, but he deserved what he got. That's just stupid.

[wow4u]

"All his saves"? That could be many many GB of data. Is there no way to transfer your data to the new HD directly?

That's a seriously bad design.

[-EvoAnubis-]

He could have every single PS3 game on the worldwide market and all of them on PSN, including PS1 Classics from each region's Store, and the gamesaves would still be less than 1.5GB.

[Skerj]

Anubis is right, the guy didn't do research before doing that apparently, because I thought you needed to backup to like an external USB drive or something. He also said he tried to use Ghost with an enclosure, how come he didn't use the enclosure to begin with to migrate all his stuff to the 250gb?

[Genesis5]

Yeah just dump them on to a flash drive it's not hard. I dump all my completed PS3 and PS2 game saves on to the same 1 gig flash drive and there is still tons of space on it.

[Cryos]

Why would you even try this without first reading something about it?

very very foolish

[Fux4Bux]

n4user1:
""All his saves"? That could be many many GB of data. Is there no way to transfer your data to the new HD directly?

That's a seriously bad design."

The actual game saves are tiny. There's no need to transfer any install data and you can redownload anything you got on PSN. There's really absolutely no problem here unless you're a moron.

[whoelse]

He doesn't deserve it. But he should have backed it up certainly.

[tatical]

"All his saves"? That could be many many GB of data. Is there no way to transfer your data to the new HD directly?

By reading your comment, you probably don't have a PS3. My game saves are rarely over 1 MB, most of them are around 400 kB (0.4 MB).

[athlon770]

If you owned a PS3, you would know that right in the menu tree is a option to back up "ALL" data, however how many gig is on the drive and you can back it up to a external usb hard drive.

It is something that is done quite simply and in fact the most difficult part of the ordeal is formatting the external hard drive to fat32 which the PS3 and the 360 recognize.

I understand that maybe everyone might not have a spare external usb hard drive laying around the house, but as stated above, he should of put his game saves onto a thumb drive which even a 2gig stick costs under $30.00.

Heck, I have a 512meg card constantly in my PS3 (I have the original 60gig version) that once a week, I copy my game saves over too as a just in case type of deal, and once a month, I do a full backup of my internal drive to my external drive.

[MikeGdaGod]

i changed my HDD months ago and it was extremely simple.

first, everywhere you look for info on how to swap drives clearly tells you to save all game saves to a memory card or USB. most places have this printed in bold just so everyone can see how important this step is.

this guy obviously didn't do ANY research and now he's f*cked.

[-EvoAnubis-]

"Heck, I have a 512meg card constantly in my PS3 (I have the original 60gig version) that once a week, I copy my game saves over too as a just in case type of deal, and once a month, I do a full backup of my internal drive to my external drive."

This is EXACTLY what I do, down to the size of the memory stick in my PS3.

[tweaker]

Bad design?....nice one! since when did game saves take GB of data? lol

[SL1M DADDY]

You sir are ignorant and should not be posting about something you know nothing about. I for one just recently swapped out my HDD and simply backed up the game saves to a thumb drive. Once the install was completed in about two minutes, I simply copied the saves to the new HDD and was good to go. If the idiot in the article did not read up on how to successfully do the swap (as it is illustrated in the MANUAL), then he should simply give up on electronics all together.

Oh, and as for your "poor design" comment... At least it's not a 180 dollar 120gb HDD that can only be used on a proprietary system. Over priced HDD space is worse.

[Jinxstar]

@ n4user1

I have 16 games for PS3. I saved them all to a 1 gig mem stick and didn't even fill up 25% of it. The only thing that was kinda a pain was reinstalling all the games. DMC4 and HS and such... Still though I lost no save games... No excuse imho to not have saved games.

[BrianC6234]

I agree. The guy is an idiot. Crying about his tiny problem. Oh wow, big mean Sony. They stopped him from copying his data. That will teach him.

Funny how this is the first time this problem has come up after more than a year. Even if this problem is real big deal. Just back up your data before you do anything else. Problem solved. I don't think most people do things backwards like he does.

[wow4u]

Wow, so much vitrol. Perhaps they could have done like Xbox 360 and provided a free cable, plugin the cable, transfer the data. ALL of it. Done.

So, the game saves are only a couple GB - what about the other data? How do you move that? The installs? The Downloaded Games? The music, movies and pictures you may have put there (though, for the life of me, I dont know why anyone would put data on a closed box like a video-game console as opposed to using a machine on your home network or a external drive... but I digress).

But the fact that you _cannot_ move data off the machine WITHOUT jumping through all kinds of hoops, means the design is terrible.

The mass-market is what has to do all this. And, if this feature isnt designed properly -- like Sony has failed here -- its not ready for prime-time.

This forum is up in arms, why? Because they arent looking at it rationally.

Sure, you _can_ do it. But, the method Microsoft implemented is vastly superior.

[BlackCountryBob]

You just are not listening are you?

The HDD is standard so there is no need for a daft 360 style proprietary cable to transfer data. There is an option on the PS3 menu to backup every single piece of data and settings to a external source like a USB hard drive, this includes all installs, demos, music, pictures, game saves and PSN material. This is good design, its not quite as elegant as say the Apple time machine system using the wifi hard drive but it is in actuality no different to the backup method employed by every single PC/Linux and is still available on Apple macs so its hardly new or confusingly original.

IMO its very good in fact as it places responsibility on the user to care for their data.

This guy was an idiot, he should have looked at some FAQs about how to change HDDs and he would have learnt this, he is suffering from his own stupidity. And also, any idiot should have known that before you do any work like that to a system you should perform a backup before anything else.

For what its worth, he can rip his music again, transfer his photos, re-download his PSN games (no DRM) and his games will install again, he has lost his saves which is something that could have been avoided if he had done some very very minor research first, all this could have been avoided with something as small as a 64mb USB for his saves!

[athlon770]

I understand what you are saying, and I partly agree with you. When I upgraded from a 360 pro to a 360 elite, there was nothing I could do to save my data from the old 20gig hard drive. Luckily, one of my friends did the upgrade route and had the cable and install disc. So, no, Microsoft did not make it painless as you are implying, but if using the upgrade kit, with the cable and disc, yes, you attach the cable to the new drive, start up the 360, pop in the disc, and wait 3hrs for the system to do whatever it needs to do.

With the PS3, anyone and everyone can upgrade their hard drive easily. As I stated before, the hardest thing to do is format the external hard drive you will use as fat32. After that, it is a five step process...

1) select back up data from the menu.
2) remove original hard drive
3) insert new hard drive
4) power on PS3 and say 'yes' to format new hard drive
5) restore saved data

ALL data will be restored this way, any music you ripped, any movies you saved, any game data that was saved to the system, even that 5gig DMC4 mandatory install!

If you consider this is more difficult than the 360 way, well that is your opinion but I doubt few around here will agree with you since PS3 owners can CHOOSE any size 2.5" SATA hard drive they want and slap it into the system...oh and when we purchase a 120gig hard drive, it does not cost us $180.00!

[wow4u]

"When I upgraded from a 360 pro to a 360 elite, there was nothing I could do to save my data from the old 20gig hard drive." == wrong.

******

You can get the cable from Microsoft -- for free -- here:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/s...

So, you didnt need to borrow the cable, they'll send you one for $0.

*******

To make your "simple 5-step process" work, you need an external HD that is _larger_ than the HD on your PS3.

Very very few people have one of those lying around. For the mass market, the Xbox 360 method is vastly easier.

For the PS3 method, you need to get inside the PS3, you need to be able to identify what a bare-HD is, you need a large external HD, you need to follow a menu system to perform a "backup" ("uh, what is that" asks Ms. Soccer Mom).

The Xbox 360 method? Two clicks, insert disc, done.

It's laughable to argue otherwise. What is "easier"? Paying a couple extra bucks for a HD, and a clean transfer method or buying a computer harddrive and putting it into your videogame machine, getting a third-party device ("I dont have one of those, what does GB mean?" says Mrs. Soccer Mom), and choosing some obscure menu option ("hey, there are no instructions in my HD box on how to do this!" - Mrs. Soccer Mom)

Lets not be silly here. Yes, using any HD is nice for those who care about a few bucks savings, but for those who just want an easy upgrade, the Xbox 360 is _vastly_ superior.

[callahan09]

Quote: ""All his saves"? That could be many many GB of data. Is there no way to transfer your data to the new HD directly?

That's a seriously bad design."

Bad design or not, it's still by far the best design any console has had ever had as far as hard drives are concerned. The 360 doesn't give you the choice of using any 2.5" sata hard drive, which means if you want to upgrade your 360 drive you have to buy a very overpriced proprietary drive. And there's no way to transfer the files directly in that scenario, either.

[callahan09]

Uh, you're making it out to be a lot more difficult than it actually is.

There is a clearly labeled plastic cover on the side of the PS3 that says "Detach this cover when removing the hard disk." You detach it and there's a screw to remove, then you see the hard drive, and nothing else. There's no need to identify the hard drive, because it's the only thing you see. You pull it out, put in the new one, and screw the screw back on, put the cover back on, and done.

To back up your existing hard drive before installing the new one, you need an external hard drive. Or a flash card. It's no big deal. These things are inexpensive.

Anyway, to replace the PS3 hard drive, all you need is the basic ability to read and use a screwdriver.

[Enigma_2099]

... when you remember that you can back up your data on a seperate storage unit and then back to the new HDD?

DNRTFManual!

[xsteinbachx]

Tool.

[Vip3r]

Jackass.

[Bleucrunch]

Yes he should have done some type of research before doing that because the same thing happened to me and I lost everything because I was sooo hyped about gettin my 200gb hard drive so I feel for him....very dumb on both our parts.

[fenderputty]

looks like the guy just pwned himself and then let everyone on the internet know how bad the self-pwnage was. lol

He even admits that the majority of the data was media. He then says he's not that pissed about the media. Well ... why didn't you just back up your saves and leave the media out of it?

Come on guy ... no back ups?

[Tempist]

Clearly...

Come on, people, Sony included the instructions to upgrading the harddrive for a reason. Also that's no excuse for not backing up game saves.

[Ri0tSquad]

Thats why Sony included a regualar copy & back up options which can found in the system settings.

[xhi4]

it says on the online manual, hardcopy manual, online tutorials etc. to BACKUP YOUR FILES!

just use the backup utility in the settings area, its so easy

[Gorgon]

Well, it was actually a decent assuption. You see, if I swap an HDD from my PC and put it there later it will work just fine. So it is perfectly understandable that the guy just assumed the same would happen with the PS3. In fact, I think it's quite stupid it doesn't.

[fenderputty]

one shouldn't back up their files? You never know what could happen. When doing stuff of this nature it's always safe practice to back things up.

[halo3betasnatch out]

No you should back up your files, but you guys have to understand that it is very strange for you not to be able to swap HDDs and put the old one back in if you want. All the manuals and tutorials in the world could say that, but 1 most people don't read manuals or watch the tutorials, and 2 it is perfectly reasonable for someone to think that he could swap the HDDs in and out as he pleased, I think that it is a pretty stupid set up for the PS3, but I still love my baby Play station.

[-EvoAnubis-]

It does. I've removed my internal HDD on 4 separate occasions (to show friends how easy it is) and put it back in with ZERO issues. I don't know how, but this guy just f'd up.

--

Edit: Just re-read it, and I DO know how he f'd up. He plugged it into his PC. That was not smart.

[Gorgon]

"7.1 - does that mean one shouldn't back up their files?"

When did I said that?
I'm just commenting on the fact that it's a pretty decent assumption that you could just swap HDDs any time you want in a PS3, just like in a PC. Should PCs also loose the possibility to swap HDDs every time you want just because you can also backup data in a PC?

[Cryos]

if you swap out hdd on a pc, though, you need to somehow save the os to a new disk. And (my assumption here) if my pc had only one connection for a hdd and I wanted a bigger one in, I'd first backup or copy the files I wanted, then swap out.

He's lucky Sony chose to keep the os intact away from the hdd.

this guy just jumped in and did no research. makes it his bad.

[Gorgon]

Cryos:

No, you don't need to backup the OS. You can just put another HDD and put another OS instalation there. Then you swap it again and the other HDD will run just fine with the OS in it.

Also, you can have two HDDs and just swap the one with only data on it. Like you said, the PS3 OS in not in the HDD, just data, so again I don't see why it could not be done.

[andron]

As for the HDD it would work just fine when you put it back. But not if you mess it up before putting it back....

[Cryos]

wow gorgon, you totally missed my point. lol

here's what I'm saying. If you want to swap out HDD on a pc, but 1. don't plan on keeping the old one (let's assume there is only 1 place for a hdd, like the PS3) and 2. don't want to buy a new OS or whatever

what is one to do?

Obviously Copy the files first, then change said HDD. so what this guy did went against conventional logic.

The reason Sony did this was probably to deter game saves and whatnot to be posted to the web, along with PSN games. Makes sense. They are trying to keep pirating from happening and I don't blame them. So, once you format a new HDD for the PS3, the system reads this as the HDD and the other cannot be swapped. Sucks for you and I (not really, it's really EASY to follow the instructions that are in the manual, on the web, youtube videos, etc.) but I'd rather have to do an extra step to ensure that pirating is harder. It hurts the game industry, and means less money for developers, those we depend on to deliver great games.

*Edit*
btw, would you try to use a windows formatted HDD in a mac or vice-versa? the why try a PS formatted HDD on a different platform?

[Gorgon]

Cryos:

Yep, sorry there, I guess I misinterpreted what you were trying to say. Yes, I agree with you, "since you put it that way..I'm in" (LOL)

I think that its a matter of piracy, like you, unless he did something wrong and you can actually do it. Still my point was simply that it is perfectly expectable to be abble to do it and I can't criticise the guy for assuming it could be done.

[wow4u]

"I've removed my internal HDD on 4 separate occasions (to show friends how easy it is)"

Ok. Sure, it is "easy". But it is not as easy as the solution Microsoft has. The harddrive clicks on and off so you can carry it with you (to play @ a friends for instance).

If you want to say "removing PS3 is easy" you must say "removing Xbox 360 HD is MORE easy". So, why use the word "easy" if it has no context?

So, in reality, in a world where adjectives have actual meaning, this is true:

Removing the PS3 harddrive is hard.
Removing the Xbox 360 harddrive is easy.

They cant both be "easy" when they are not the same. Clearly, "less easy", "not as easy" would be better when talking about the HD in the PS3.

Not only is _changing_ the physical drive harder, but clearly -- by this article -- the method is harder too.

There is _no_ denying this reality. Im not really saying the PS3 is _hard_ -- just that its clearly nonsense to say it is "easy", because that has CONTEXT.

And that context is compared to the Xbox 360, which is vastly more easy to do this than the poor solution PS3 has foisted on the public.

[athlon770]

Indeed, you can just unclip the hard drive from the 360, but the PS3 all you need to do is put a thumb drive in one of the USB slots, copy the game profile to it, and take the small thumb drive over to your friends house without risking you rather expensive hard drive.

Lets see here, risk a $90.00 20gig hard drive or a $180.00 120gig hard drive, or copy the game profiles over to a $15.00 thumb drive and take that over to the friends house...hmmm, yea, I'm going to use my thumb drive thanks, but you are right, the 360's hard drive does come off very easily. Congrats.

Of course we are getting off topic here, this isn't about how 'easy' it is to remove hard drives, it is about how this guy didn't follow directions and lost all his game saves because he thought he knew something when he did not. If you consider how many hours of gaming he lost when all it would have taken is 30seconds to copy his game saves to a thumb drive (which I am sure he has (infact he probably has multiple)) it just makes his comments ridiculous!

[bootsielon]

While it's understandable that you should always make backups, it's ridiculous that an HDD can't be switched over and over as many times as anyone wants. You know, like any PC does.

[Percy]

i have 3 hardrives that i can just plug in and they work fine. He screwed it up thats why im laughing.

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 3]

These xBot Lemmings are trying EVERYTHING to destroy my Baby;)PS3!!!
;-D
I changed my PS3 60GB Hard drive to a 160GB;-P Hard drive easily!;)

[SKullDugger]

And your point is what?

[The_Engineer]

and im just waiting for 1TB 2.5" drives to come out then its hehehehehhe.

[Horny Melon]

Back up often!

[halo3betasnatch out]

Great rule, but under 30% of computer owners do it, just because of lack of knowledge, lack of extra HDD, and even just lazynes =/

[-EvoAnubis-]

Sounds like a personal problem.

[halo3betasnatch out]

oh I know that it is, but that doesn't change my point, either way people should back up, it's just too bad that they don't

[-EvoAnubis-]

Agreed.

[andron]

Saves fit on a memory stick, I do it once in awhile anyway.

This guy should learn to take at least a peak at the manual. And whining on the net sure will help saving face..............

EDIT: Great quote here: "Much to my surprise a PS3 formatted hard drive cannot be read by either Windows XP or Vista – apparently it uses some sort of proprietary file system, I’m assuming to prevent any sort of illegal copying."

[Mr_Kuwabara]

A lot of people just don't have common sense, really now...

[PSWe60]

I blame everyone but myself

[BIGELLOW]

FAIL

[XB-T]

Ok guys I plan to buy a bigger HDD, so what happens with my PSN games? You say I can redownload it, but also GT5P? I would really prefer the PSN version, but I hope there won't be any problems when I get me the bigger HDD.
Also I forgot my PSN password and I don't see anywhere a link to retrieve it...

[Shakyhand]

All your PSN games can be downloaded again from the Download List on the PS store. The link to retreive your password is above the sign in button.

[athlon770]

just go to the system settings, choose the back up data option, this will save ALL your data and games that were downloaded, your personal settings...EVERYTHING. Back that up to a external hard drive (if you do not own one of sufficient size, then ask a friend to borrow theirs), make sure it is formatted in fat32 (this is the hard part, XP will not format in fat32, and Win2k will not format over 30gig...you will need an external program (many on the web to download) or use a WinME or even Linux to format that large external drive into a fat32 partition.

Once done, connect the external drive to the PS3, it should be recognized instantly and either directly back up your data to the external, or if you already made a backup onto the internal drive, just copy it to the external...simple.

Once that is done, open the small little door on the PS3, remove old drive, insert new drive, start up the PS3, it will instantly see the new drive and ask to format it...say yes...after that is done, restore the backup from the external drive and poof, everything is there.

I won't wish you luck because you will not need it. :)

[XB-T]

Thanks for the help guys and the format won't be a problem as I'm using Partition Magic.

[Close_Second]

...this guy was one of the people who helped push "Turok" over that 1 million mark.

[meepmoopmeep]

i have a 1GB memory stick in my PS3 slot along with a 1GB usb flash drive in one of the USB slots. i back up my stuff daily. all my game saves don't even take up 50 MB. that's about over 10 games.

[MikeGdaGod]

i too keep a 1gb memory stick in my 60gb model so when i swapped my HDD out, it was extremely simple.

[rushbd]

I back up my Save games before changing the hdd not after. . they were less than 30 mb.

[thehitman]

I mean how hard is it to put shyt on a memory stick or flash drive. I constantly use mine to carry saves from my cousin house when I go beat the games he buys usually all the singleplayer games he buys like uncharted heavenly sword army of two conan dmc4 etc so i got to his house beat them put saves on my stick which all saves dont take up more than like a couple mb on my 512mb. Obviosly this dik head did something wrong or didnt know what he was doing and most likely reformated something wrong.

The idiot lost his game saves but he should have his dlc still since thats tied to the psn account where he can download on any ps3.

[kingOVsticks]

if the PS3 had a voice it would be laughing maniacally and saying

PS3(in Unforgivable voice ):hahahahaha your supposed to back up your saves files and or media files onto a sd card or a usb flash drive YOU STANK BOOTY EPIC FAILURE B1TCH!! Now rub my black back to get some of the smudges off from your noob fingers then get me some WAFFLE FRIES!....Unforgivable

[thehitman]

ROFL

[Percy]

He screwed up his own drive when he plugged it into a pc and now he is crying. I have the 60gb my ps3 came with a 80gb i upgraded to then the 500gb that i can hook up internaly but is in a external case that works on both my pc and ps3. All of them i can just plug in and they work fine all data intact and playable.

[Grado SR-60]

Got 250gb samsung 2 months ago for 120 shipped. was an error that they honored. couldn't be happier, 60gb is not a backup/transfer driver.

[Alcohog]

What a clown.

[Monkeynator]

The problem is not what 9 out of 10 of you fools think. The few of you who went ahead and tested this out themselves know that you can swap your drives back and forth just fine, and some of us know that windows isn't going to just torch a hard drive if it can't see what's on it. So it's obvious he zapped his drive physically during the swap... Pretty much just bad timing or trolling for internet attention.

I have the old original 60GB that came with the system that I haven't used for almost a year and after being tossed in the back of the cabinet it still worked fine when I plugged it back in. Hard drives are not that fragile, especially the laptop drives.

So the end result is:
A) Your HDD can be swapped back and forth on the PS3, so the guy assumed nonsense about Sony unreasonably locking down on the HDD.
B) You can move around a HDD reasonably without it dropping dead, thus BACKING UP IS NOT NECESSARY before formatting the new drive though it saves the round trip of having to plug it back in again later to make the transfer.

[jollygoodchap8]

I thought all this was common sense.

[Malacath]

Only an idiot you change his hard drive without backing up any saves he wants to keep.

There is no way he could have 41GB worth of saves. If he used common sense he would have backed up just the saves and then he could have redownloaded the other content later.

[Shankle]

*sighs* these people can't have read the article properly. He DID back up his files, but he rather foolishly backed them up on a PC, not an external hard drive (he had a load of media so a usb stick wouldn't be big enough).

[kalioon]

*even bigger sighs* no he didnt: "Much to my surprise a PS3 formatted hard drive cannot be read by either Windows XP or Vista"

please read and understand the article before attempting to slag others off.....

[ceedubya9]

There have been plenty of resources for this stuff all over the web since day one. You have to always make sure you have all the facts you need before tampering with things like this. If you don't really know what you're doing, then don't do it. I have yet to upgrade my hdd, but when I do, I know that I'll have all the info I need to make sure that I don't make any mistakes.

[digunderground]

It's called research, and you obviously know about the internet, you just "blogged" on it. I too have swapped my drive out for a larger one, and had no problems. If you read and have common sense it is a painless problem. The fact that you can change the drive is a feature, your stupidity made it a problem... blame yourself not the MFG. They could have just told you it's not upgradeable..

BTW I feel bad for your loss, but it is your fault.

[Kulupoo]

lol im just laughing @ his TV
scratch+dirt = LOL
... sigh some people just dont know how to take care of stuff

[JamesL007]

(Caution this is a long comment)

Is back up your data for swapping HDD's a known fact in the world of electroincs to keep up to date backs of all your data you find necessary for you,

You could have avioded by simply going to the any electroincs store and picking up a internal HDD either SATA or Ultra 100 doesn't matter, and then buy a enclosure for it, why you ask I am talking about a standard 3.5 inch HDD not a 2.5 inch Labtop style stay with me here ok. Ok after you pick up both things ok the Harddrive and Enclosure, please make sure you are buying a quailty HDD too like Seagate, Western Digital or Hitachi. Don't buy Maxtor at all trust me on that fact. Now that you have you Harddrive install it in the enclosure usually a simple task couple of screws later you have made a interanl HDD into a external HDD you are half way Home at this point ok.

Now formatting of the HDD is important here ok, there are many systems out there that can format to various styles like FAT32 or NTFS. Now the PS3 will only recongize FAT32 not NTFS, so I use Partition Magic to do this part there is a ton of programs out there too that can do it for you, now remember that FAT32 is limited to 32GBs it can format for that space, so you will have to make a couple of partitions, again simple if you have a standard program like Partition Magic to do it for you.

After you have Partition the drive into FAT32, hook it up to your PS3, and then turn on the system, remember that most Enclosures require you to have a separate power supply to it to power up, so plug in the Enclosure into the power strip and turn on the enclosure too. Now once you have both your PS3 and Enclosure turn on and running make sure the system sees the external HDD, again easy to to see you should see a USB sybmol followed by the drives known name. Now go into System Settings via the XMB and locate back up data, and then back up all your data you need, I suggest you do this at least once a month just in case something happens. Once you have a back-up copy of your data you are set, and since you now have a external USB like mass storage device hooked up you no longer need to upgrade the interanl HDD unless you really need the space.

But Once you have the Drive in place the external one of course you can than make back-ups and go ahead and replace the internal HDD and just simply hook up the external HDD to the PS3 again and it will see that you have a back-up file and ask if you want to install the back-up files at that point you say yes and wait, and then you are done.

We talk about this a lot over triplechat about upgrading HDD's on the PS3 and have wrote up walkthoughs with pictures too,

Its not that hard to do, if you upgraded your PC HDD's before you can upgrade your PS3 HDD with no problem.

Thank You all who read this, its a handy guide.

[tudors]

your average Joe public who knows little about fat32 partitions and only wants to play games should have an easier method than this, I know people who cannot even use a mouse on a PC, there not thick just not technically minded. Why does the PS3 format the old drive, I see no reason why it would do this, Gorgon made some good points, you have one piece if hardware in the PS3 with a hardrive swap, if this was a PC (same PC) with no hardware changes then you could just put the old drive back with no loss of data, why is the PS3 built to format the drive once a new one has been installed.

[athlon770]

not to step on your toes on this one, but the maximum FAT32 table (partition) is 8tbt, not 32gbt...

http://support.microsoft.co...

copied from above site...

• Clusters cannot be 64 kilobytes (KB) or larger. If clusters are 64 KB or larger, some programs (such as Setup programs) may incorrectly calculate disk space.
• A FAT32 volume must contain a minimum of 65,527 clusters. You cannot increase the cluster size on a volume that uses the FAT32 file system so that it contains fewer than 65,527 clusters.
• The maximum disk size is approximately 8 terabytes when you take into account the following variables: The maximum possible number of clusters on a FAT32 volume is 268,435,445, and there is a maximum of 32 KB per cluster, along with the space required for the file allocation table (FAT).
• You cannot decrease the cluster size on a FAT32 volume so that the size of the FAT is larger than 16 megabytes (MB) minus 64 KB.
• You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.

[JamesL007]

Good Point athlon770, I forgot about that.

I remember reading your post and then making up mine and some how forgot about that how could I.

But still if you want a quicker way I found for a friend is this,

First, go out and buy 2.5 inch Labtop harddrive that is SATA ok,

Second, make sure you buy a enclosure for the 2.5 inch HDD,

Third, Unplug your PS3 and move it to a safe workabout area,

Fouth, remove the current HDD,

Fifth, Install the new HDD,

Sixth, Turn on the PS3 with the new HDD,

Seventh, You will be prompted to format the new HDD do so,

Eighth, Once you are done formatting the New HDD, Turn off the PS3 and unplug it from the powerstrip.

Nineth, Remove the Harddrive from the PS3 and install the old one, now as long as you have not reformatted the original HDD if will work like before.

Tenth, Install the New formatted HDD into the Enclosure you brought earlier, and hook it up to your PS3 via the USB port and you have a external HDD in under 20 minutes that way too.

[Eric1970]

do these morons not have access to a usb HD larger than a gig? this guy is a complete idiot if he didn't back things up and everyone who agrees with him - just walk away from technology you doofs.

This isn't even a story and I have no pity on this jacka@@

[DJ]

"Nowhere in the manual or on the internet (or even on the PS3 itself) was I warned that once I installed a new hard drive into my Playstation that my old one would become useless unless reformatted."

No, your old one only becomes unreadable (not unusable) when you hook it up to a PC which obviously formats it in a different way. I'm surprised he didn't back up his game saves before trying something that foolish.

[potenquatro]

i didn't know so many people changed their ps3 hdd.60g is more than enuff for me.... if anybody swaps their hdd on their ps3,pc,or anything..please remember to back up ur files.

[Llionv]

I just Installed 250gb Hard Drive, easy no problems! This man should use Google!

[tudors]

if not why don't you try it see if you loose your data.

[Citizen Cook]

So what? Unrtil the day i can own all my HD moives on a HDD, i don't give a sh!t.

HA HA HA HA!

[xplosneer]

(I have mostly disk based games and play online more often, so saves aren't as big a deal)
I back up Once a month on a 120GB external Seagate.