Can you switch out hard drives for the PS3?

[SpiderHulkThing]

My buddy found a great deal for a 40 gig PS3, but wants to know if he would be able to get another hard drive later on if he needed one. I know you can do this with the 360, but can you do something similar with the PS3?


Another question, are the 40 gig systems more prone to break than the other systems? I looked on ebay to see what the usually go for and I see a ton of broken 40 gig systems being sold as broken systems. I just don't want my friend buying this system if it's going to have a good chance of breaking on him.

 

[kingman]

It's actually very easy. Just make sure that it's a 2.5" SATA HDD and you'll be fine.

At the bottom of the console there's a part that opens up. Just unscrew and replace the HDD. Takes a few seconds to format and you're ready to go.

Even better:

 

[SpiderHulkThing]

Thanks for the info and quick response!



My friend and I were looking on ebay to see what used 40 gigs generally go for, and I see a lot of listings for broken 40 gb systems. Are the 40 gb ones more prone to breaking than the other systems?

 

[kingman]

I would say original 60Gb consoles seem to have the most trouble. Not much news on 40Gb consoles breaking a lot.

 

[Havok83]

I had a 60gb and swapped mine out for a 160gb

 

[SpiderHulkThing]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm glad to help my friend get his system and I'm glad to have someone else to play on-line with.

 

[snakeinthegear]

With a harddrive upgrade, does this mean that what was once a 40gb ps3 can now play ps2 games?

 

[Spider-X]

With a harddrive upgrade, does this mean that what was once a 40gb ps3 can now play ps2 games?

No. The backwards compatibility is based on a motherboard chip. The 40gb models do not have this chip. It has nothing to do with storage space.

 

[snakeinthegear]

Ok, thanks for the info.

 

[roach]

im thinking of doing this too...i saw the "how to" in a magazine but im very wary of opening consoles on my own.

 

[RyanJ]

im thinking of doing this too...i saw the "how to" in a magazine but im very wary of opening consoles on my own.

It's actually very easy to do. You're not even opening the console. It's just a slide out tray and a couple screws. They built the PS3 so you can upgrade the HD very easy. It takes about 5 min from start to finish. Be sure to back up all your games saves and any other media you want to save. It does keep your user info stored though. You shouldn't have to reinput any of your user informantion and logins. It was very painless.

 

[KALEL114]

It is very easy. Here is what I used to do it.

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

 

[roach]

thnx. now that I am back in the States and downloading tv shows and movies im running out of space on my 80g

 

[KALEL114]

FYI. I'm using the WD Scorpio 320gig. It is awesome.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

I believe that The Guardian, who posts on here, has the 500 gig version. Maybe he can give some feedback on his as well.

 

[roach]

yeah im looking for the most gigs i can put in this thing