| PS3 250gb? Here’s How. |
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everything ps3 related,
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In this article my aim is to explain how to upgrade your ps3’s hard
drive, to anything from 80gb to 500gb! I recently expanded my own
ps3 to 250gb so I will tell you step by step how I did it.
First things first you are going to need a hard drive, your current hard
drive is probably a 40gb 2.5” sata 5400rpm so you need to look on
places like amazon, misco etc… for any hard drive that is 2.5” sata
5400rpm and has the size in GB that you want. Sony recommend that
you don’t go faster than 5400rpm, so don’t, in case it has adverse
effects your shiny new ps3, and there are plenty of 5400rpm to
choose from at the right price.
Secondly you are going to need an external hard drive or USB
memory stick to backup your game saves, downloads etc… To see
how much space you will need on an external device go to
Settings>System Settings>System Information, this will then display
how much free space you have on your system so you have to use
some maths to work out how much space you have used, e.g. “free
space 30GB/40GB“ means you have 30gb free space out of 40gb so
you have used 40gb - 30gb = 10gb
there are two ways of backing your information up, the cheaper way is
to use a USB pen drive, to back up your game saves, an 8gb should
be enough and can be bought for around £10 if you don’t have one
already. To do, this insert your USB drive into a USB slot on your ps3,
then go to Game>Saved Data Utility> then highlight the game save
data you want to back up e.g. COD4> press triangle to bring up the
menu> select “copy”> you will then be asked to “select destination”
and your USB pen drive should be listed, Highlight the USB drive and
press “X”, the game save data will now be saved on your USB.
Repeat this method for all your game saves. If you have enough
space left after this is done on your USB then you can also back up
any media you have on the ps3. If you have only used around 7gb on
your ps3 (highly unlikely!) you can do a full system back up which is
explained below
drive, to anything from 80gb to 500gb! I recently expanded my own
ps3 to 250gb so I will tell you step by step how I did it.
First things first you are going to need a hard drive, your current hard
drive is probably a 40gb 2.5” sata 5400rpm so you need to look on
places like amazon, misco etc… for any hard drive that is 2.5” sata
5400rpm and has the size in GB that you want. Sony recommend that
you don’t go faster than 5400rpm, so don’t, in case it has adverse
effects your shiny new ps3, and there are plenty of 5400rpm to
choose from at the right price.
Secondly you are going to need an external hard drive or USB
memory stick to backup your game saves, downloads etc… To see
how much space you will need on an external device go to
Settings>System Settings>System Information, this will then display
how much free space you have on your system so you have to use
some maths to work out how much space you have used, e.g. “free
space 30GB/40GB“ means you have 30gb free space out of 40gb so
you have used 40gb - 30gb = 10gb
there are two ways of backing your information up, the cheaper way is
to use a USB pen drive, to back up your game saves, an 8gb should
be enough and can be bought for around £10 if you don’t have one
already. To do, this insert your USB drive into a USB slot on your ps3,
then go to Game>Saved Data Utility> then highlight the game save
data you want to back up e.g. COD4> press triangle to bring up the
menu> select “copy”> you will then be asked to “select destination”
and your USB pen drive should be listed, Highlight the USB drive and
press “X”, the game save data will now be saved on your USB.
Repeat this method for all your game saves. If you have enough
space left after this is done on your USB then you can also back up
any media you have on the ps3. If you have only used around 7gb on
your ps3 (highly unlikely!) you can do a full system back up which is
explained below
The other method is to do a system back-up on an external hard drive, which must be in the FAT-32 format, attach your external hard drive
to your ps3 and go to Settings>System Settings>Back up utility>Back up this will then back up all your information to your external hard
drive.
The first method is probably the best if you don’t already have an external hard drive for cost issues, as your user account and PSN
account info and updates are stored on the ps3’s internal flash memory. It is only your media, game saves and downloaded
content/media that is stored on the HDD, so if you do a backup of all your media and game saves you will be ready to go, once the PS3
formats your new HDD. But if you are using a wireless router make sure you know your WEP key as you will have to put that back in when
your new hard drive is in.
Also downloaded games like Tekken 5 can’t be backed up, so you will have to download them again, this is not a problem as you get 5
downloads of each title you buy, simply go to the playstation store and go to download history where all the games/media you have ever
downloaded will be listed, then simply press download on the highlighted game.
For the next bit you will need;
A small flat head screwdriver
A small Philips screwdriver
Somewhere flat and free of dust/dirt to work
O.k. So we have our nice new hard drive, and we have backed up all the data we want to, it is now time to remove the original hard drive.
First turn off the ps3 and remove all power cables for safety, now locate the hard drive cover on the left hand side of the system, it should
have a HDD sticker on it or a label saying “detach this cover when removing the hard drive” get your small flat head screw driver and
prise off this cover, this will then reveal the hard drive.
You should now see your hard drive and a metallic BLUE screw, get your Phillips screw driver and remove the blue screw, this is the
screw that holds the HDD in place on your ps3, once this is removed flip up the metal handle that is to the left of where the screw was
and slide the HDD towards the FRONT of the ps3 to dislodge it from the internal connections, you can now pull the HDD carefully
towards you and it will slide straight out.
You now have access to your HDD out side the ps3, you will now have to remove the tray that is attached to your original HDD, there are
four Phillips screws, two on either side, that need to be removed, once this has been done remove your old ps3 HDD out of the tray and
put in your new 2.5MM SATA Notebook HDD then replace the 4 screws to hold it in place.
Now your new HDD is in the ps3 caddy, you now have to install it into your ps3, which is the reversal of removal. First push carefully the
new caddy into the HDD space, but remember to keep it to the right hand side of the slot (or the front of the ps3), when it touches the
back of the HDD space use the handle to push it to the left (or back of the ps3) to locate the HDD connections on the PS3 connections,
you will know when this has been done correctly when the space where the blue screw goes lines up with the hole on the ps3. Once it is
lined up you can now put the Blue screw back in to secure the HDD to the ps3, replace the HDD cover and turn your system on.
Now as soon as the console boots up you will presented with a screen asking you to format your new HDD, as your ps3 has realised
there is a new HDD installed, you must select “yes” twice as a ps3 safety precaution in case you erase your hard drive by accident!
This will take around 2 minutes and you will then be asked to reboot your system. Once you have rebooted you can now check if your
mod has been successful (fingers crossed!) Go to System>System Settings>System Information, this will display your free space that
should reflect the size of the replacement HDD you have just installed, but don’t start worrying if it is 15 - 20GB short of what you expected
as this is taken up by the ps3 for system use.
You now have a new bigger hard drive, all you need to do now is put your game saves/media back on, simply connect your USB/hard
drive go to games>saved data utility>USB device(or what ever you used to back up your data) you can now highlight the game you want to
copy onto your new hard drive, press triangle and select “copy” repeat this for all your game saves and media and away you go, you now
have a bigger hard drive and your ps3 is back to normal. It’s pretty easy really, it just takes time to save all your games and put them back
on, but well worth it for all that extra space!
If you choose to perform this modification then ps3offer.co.uk accepts no responsibility if you harm or break your ps3 while performing
this task. If you are not confident you can do this procedure then please leave it to someone who can.
to your ps3 and go to Settings>System Settings>Back up utility>Back up this will then back up all your information to your external hard
drive.
The first method is probably the best if you don’t already have an external hard drive for cost issues, as your user account and PSN
account info and updates are stored on the ps3’s internal flash memory. It is only your media, game saves and downloaded
content/media that is stored on the HDD, so if you do a backup of all your media and game saves you will be ready to go, once the PS3
formats your new HDD. But if you are using a wireless router make sure you know your WEP key as you will have to put that back in when
your new hard drive is in.
Also downloaded games like Tekken 5 can’t be backed up, so you will have to download them again, this is not a problem as you get 5
downloads of each title you buy, simply go to the playstation store and go to download history where all the games/media you have ever
downloaded will be listed, then simply press download on the highlighted game.
For the next bit you will need;
A small flat head screwdriver
A small Philips screwdriver
Somewhere flat and free of dust/dirt to work
O.k. So we have our nice new hard drive, and we have backed up all the data we want to, it is now time to remove the original hard drive.
First turn off the ps3 and remove all power cables for safety, now locate the hard drive cover on the left hand side of the system, it should
have a HDD sticker on it or a label saying “detach this cover when removing the hard drive” get your small flat head screw driver and
prise off this cover, this will then reveal the hard drive.
You should now see your hard drive and a metallic BLUE screw, get your Phillips screw driver and remove the blue screw, this is the
screw that holds the HDD in place on your ps3, once this is removed flip up the metal handle that is to the left of where the screw was
and slide the HDD towards the FRONT of the ps3 to dislodge it from the internal connections, you can now pull the HDD carefully
towards you and it will slide straight out.
You now have access to your HDD out side the ps3, you will now have to remove the tray that is attached to your original HDD, there are
four Phillips screws, two on either side, that need to be removed, once this has been done remove your old ps3 HDD out of the tray and
put in your new 2.5MM SATA Notebook HDD then replace the 4 screws to hold it in place.
Now your new HDD is in the ps3 caddy, you now have to install it into your ps3, which is the reversal of removal. First push carefully the
new caddy into the HDD space, but remember to keep it to the right hand side of the slot (or the front of the ps3), when it touches the
back of the HDD space use the handle to push it to the left (or back of the ps3) to locate the HDD connections on the PS3 connections,
you will know when this has been done correctly when the space where the blue screw goes lines up with the hole on the ps3. Once it is
lined up you can now put the Blue screw back in to secure the HDD to the ps3, replace the HDD cover and turn your system on.
Now as soon as the console boots up you will presented with a screen asking you to format your new HDD, as your ps3 has realised
there is a new HDD installed, you must select “yes” twice as a ps3 safety precaution in case you erase your hard drive by accident!
This will take around 2 minutes and you will then be asked to reboot your system. Once you have rebooted you can now check if your
mod has been successful (fingers crossed!) Go to System>System Settings>System Information, this will display your free space that
should reflect the size of the replacement HDD you have just installed, but don’t start worrying if it is 15 - 20GB short of what you expected
as this is taken up by the ps3 for system use.
You now have a new bigger hard drive, all you need to do now is put your game saves/media back on, simply connect your USB/hard
drive go to games>saved data utility>USB device(or what ever you used to back up your data) you can now highlight the game you want to
copy onto your new hard drive, press triangle and select “copy” repeat this for all your game saves and media and away you go, you now
have a bigger hard drive and your ps3 is back to normal. It’s pretty easy really, it just takes time to save all your games and put them back
on, but well worth it for all that extra space!
If you choose to perform this modification then ps3offer.co.uk accepts no responsibility if you harm or break your ps3 while performing
this task. If you are not confident you can do this procedure then please leave it to someone who can.
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| Resource box: The author of this publication is Andrew Stanley, who has worked in the gaming industry for over 5 years and has been a gamer for over 20 years, he runs www.ps3offer.co.uk and www.planetxbox360.co.uk. Read the full original article at <a href="http://www.ps3offer.co.uk">cheap ps3</a> which includes pictures |