Upgrading the hard drive in your PS3 is a good idea, especially if you like to play and download a lot of games and demos, not to mention use your PS3 for videos and music. This is a relatively painless process, though it is an upgrade that many will not feel very comfortable doing. In the grand scheme of PC upgrades, this one is pretty simple.
For me, it took longer to get the blue screw and the four HDD sled screws out than it took to install the new drive, power on the PS3, and format the new drive. And that is not a joke. I have seen some PS3 systems where it is quite easy to unfasten the holding screws, but that was not the case for me. I also was quite successful in stripping a few of the sled screws because they are pretty small, smaller than your average 2.5" drive setup.
But first things first — let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I would consider shopping around at TigerDirect or Newegg, but I was able to find a 320 GB WesternDigital SATA 2.5" drive for $119. I am replacing the 60 GB drive in my launch PS3.
In the XMB go to Settings > System Settings > Backup and backup your current drive to an external USB drive. I suggest making your backup as lean as possible. Delete any game cache files (seeing as they usually weigh in at about 5 GB apiece) and any demos or other items you can always re-download later. Once you run through the backup process you are ready to go to work. My biggest piece of advice is to replace your hard drive before it reaches the limit, which was not the case for me.
Unplug everything and place the PS3 on a clean surface, preferably a work bench. The side door labeled "HDD" pops right off. There is a blue screw holding the sled in place; take that off. Lift the clasp and pull out the sled. Here you will find more screws holding the drive in place. Good luck with those buggers. Swap the drives, and put it all back together just as you took it apart; there really isn't much to it.
Article comments
1 - lilmdawg
Yeah this is much better than 360!!! When seagate comes out with 1tb in 2.5" in 2009 i'm so going to update my 80gb!!
2 - True
I upgraded my 60gb drive to a 250gb which I only paid $99 for. The install was simple. Beats paying $180 for a 120gb xbox drive.
3 - Ken Edwards
It sure does. The price for the 120 GB drive is insane. I bought an Elite because it cost me *less* to trade in my Premium and get the Elite with the 120 GB drive than it would have been for me to just purchase the 120 GB drive separately.
A little DIY goes a long way, thankfully Sony was thinking the same thing when they put the PS3 together.
4 - Tim
I am so gonna install a samsung spinpoint m6 500gb when they start selling them over here!!
5 - Joe
"When seagate comes out with 1tb in 2.5" in 2009" - lilmdawg.... do you know what month this is coming out
6 - random
Remember! When you back up your PS3, make sure it is a 30gig Microsoft Windows Fat32 partition on the USB disk and not something modern, like ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, reiserfs4, xfs, jfs, or any other F/S that is free to use and can use more than 30gigs of disk space.
7 - Ken Edwards
Yes it has to be FAT 32. I thought I said that. It is a real pain in the rear using such an old format, especially if you have more than 30 GB to back up, like I did. I had to re-download a lot.
8 - everett pressley
can I play my ps2 games on ps3 after the HDD upgrade?