Thread: harddrive update ps3

Hard drives are (yet another) item that are often now more expensive from ebay than in a bricks and mortar store. I'm not sure if this is due to stupid 'gotta have it' bidders or sneaky merchants.

My local hole in the wall computer shop sold me a 1.5 terrabyte (1,500 gig) hard drive two weeks ago for $130, and $90 will get you a 1 gig drive - even cheaper at the computer markets.

You should be able to get a 500 gig drive to suit a Playstation for around $60-$80.

Ebay groin kicking complete, now to answer your question....

The hybrid drives from Seagate are a cross between a normal hard drive, and one of the new solid state drives. They have four gig (I think) of flash memory which an internal algorithm allocates as storage for the most frequently requested data; everything else lives on the normal hard drive.

Although there is benefit from this in a computer, I don't think you'll notice anything on a Playstation (I don't think they can benefit from faster transfer rates,and every time you change the game you are playing, the algorithm has to work out what the frequently stored data is all over again and shuffle it onto the flash memory...it would probably get this right, right about the time you finish playing a game...).

Note that you will need a laptop form factor (2.5 inch) hard drive, not a desktop form factor (3.5 inch) one.

thanks master splinter i will look at the computer fairs
i take it i can store 10 movies on a 500gb compared to 2 on a 40gb? going through play tv
greg

From your figures, I'd make it closer to 25 movies. Sounds like it stores them without much compression (torrented files are from 600meg to 1 gig).

As MS said, those eBay prices sound a bit steep. For example a 1Tb (1000Gb) Samsung 7200 rpm 3.5" SATA drive can be had for around $90 from several online retailers (e.g. Techbuy, etc.).

If you need the smaller 2.5" notebook drive, just be wary of the connector required. Unlike 3.5" SATA drives which have a standard connector, there are many variations in the world of notebook drives. It would be just like Sony to have their own proprietary connector......

thanks for the replies,master splinter and mr brush i will do my homework and not rush in getting a hard drive, i hate my wifes wrath when i do something i later regret
greg

Farm boy - I came across this guide to upgrading your PS3 drive which might be useful:

How to upgrade your PlayStation 3 Hard Drive - PS3 Games

They even recommend a drive - yes, they are the 2.5" SATA type you need, but it looks like Sony use a standard connector.

These drives are a little more expensive, but 500Gb 2.5" SATA notebook drives can be had for around $100-110, for example:

Western Digital 500GB 7200rpm 2.5" Mobile Serial ATA HDD w. 16MB Cache (WD5000BEKT) | Techbuy Australia