By: James Yu |

It doesn't matter if you have the 20GB, 60GB, or even the new 80GB PlayStation 3--you can always use more storage space. All that available hard-disk space quickly disappears once you start downloading games, demos, and HD videos. Fortunately, Sony has designed the PS3 to allow console owners to perform their own hard-drive upgrades. You can go out and select your own hard drive instead of being forced to buy an official first-party hard-disk accessory. However, giving console owners that freedom means that aspiring upgraders will need to know how to select the right hard-drive upgrade and the proper installation technique.

The first step to replacing the hard disk is going to the store or visiting an online retailer to pick up a new hard disk. The PS3 is compatible with just about any 2.5-inch SATA notebook hard disk. Both 5400- and 7200-RPM drives should work fine. The physical size of the hard disk is important because it has to fit the PS3's 2.5-inch drive tray. As far as storage capacity goes, it doesn't make sense to go through the trouble of upgrading unless you go big: We're talkin' 120GB, 160GB, or even 250GB.

Hard-disk manufacturer Seagate supplied us with a 160GB Momentus 5400.3 for our upgrade.

Once you have your upgrade drive, the next step is to back up the data on your current PS3 hard drive to an external storage unit. You can skip this step if you aren't attached to your music, videos, and game saves, but most of us will probably want to save all that information. The PS3 has a built-in software backup utility that can copy the PS3's hard-drive contents to an external storage device, such as a USB thumb drive or a memory stick. The removable storage device must use the FAT32 file system in order for the PS3 to recognize it. If you have an external hard drive that's formatted in NTFS, you can use the Disk Management utility in Windows to reformat the drive, but you'll need to create partitions on large external hard drives because Windows can only do FAT32 on drives 32GB or smaller.

Save your data using the PS3's backup utility.

If your storage device isn't large enough to handle a full system backup, you can selectively copy data over through the various music, photo, and game menus in the XMB. Your PlayStation Network login and system settings will remain safe on the system during the entire process. After you have your data safely backed up, you can move on to the actual hard-drive swap.

You will need a Phillips-head screwdriver to complete this part of the installation process. The PS3 owner's manual also includes step-by-step details on how to replace the hard drive, in case you need more instructions.

Turn off and unplug the system. Remove the plastic HD side-panel, and remove the blue screw.

Open the metal latch, move the drive tray to the right, and slide out the drive.

Remove the four screws that hold the hard drive to the tray. Use a screwdriver that fits snugly because the screws are extremely tight and easy to strip.

Swap in the new drive, and replace the screws.

Put the drive tray back into the system and slide it into place. Then replace the blue screw and snap the side panel back onto the system.

Turn on the console and let the system format the new drive. Then load up the PS3 backup utility to restore data from your external storage device back onto the PS3 hard drive.

At this point you should have a newly upgraded PS3 and the leftover hard drive. You could try selling the old drive, but small-capacity used drives might not fetch enough money to be worth the hassle of finding a buyer. If you still want to make the drive useful, you can buy an external drive enclosure to make it into a portable storage device.

Are you ready to upgrade your PlayStation 3 hard drive, or have you already upgraded it? Share your tips or concerns in the comments below!

728 Comments

  • GoHaNtJeeh

    Posted Oct 31, 2009 9:30 am GMT

    HI, i wonder, i have a 250 gig installed. Is it true that your ps3 will go slower when you reach 100 gig of videos, images and stuff? or is this just a joke?

  • raptor400k

    Posted Oct 29, 2009 9:16 am GMT

    Really, I liked that feature and saved me from completely hating, but I agree with the guy who said Sony should have sold PS3s with backwards compatibility and less space. That really got me pissed off with the PS3 for a while and its sad that its hard to find a 60GB.

  • RvanS80

    Posted Oct 27, 2009 5:58 am GMT

    I just upgraded mine to a 500GB Momentus Seagate HD. For anyone attempting this I would suggest the following:
    1. Backup your data.
    2. Have a pair of pliers handy. I can't stress how tight the four little screws were and I unded up stripping the one screw. A quick twist with the plier at the beginning would have saved the screw that got stripped.
    All in all, the exercise took about 3 hours, including going out to pick up the pliers and a tripple shot skinny late from Starbucks!

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Oct 17, 2009 11:51 pm GMT

    So any 2.5 inch SATA notebook drive will work? SInce I have the new TV now, I can see a time where I will want to get movies off of PSN, the 60GB is just not cutting it (just had to dump a ton of old demos when I noticed my freespace was under 1G.)

  • trd_matrix000

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 3:18 pm GMT

    Can't wait to put a Fujitsu 7200 rpm 500 Gb in my new PS3 slim! Total cost= $390. Take that, new 250 gb slim! Guess I'd better do it now rather than later...seems pretty straight forward. Any tips on how to format the "backup" storage on a mac? I think mac uses FAT 32 as a default, so it should be pretty easy i guess.

  • hotfiree

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 12:25 am GMT

    Hey will 250gb be enough for my ps3 needs>?

  • Hanzoadam

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 6:36 am GMT

    Thanks for the tips I was dreeding that blue screw it was preaty simple with the right screw driver people were telling me about it I was kinda put off the idea but I needed memory,

  • Hobbitslayer18

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 12:11 pm GMT

    "Once you have your upgrade drive, the next step is to back up the data on your current PS3 hard drive to an external storage unit. You can skip this step if you aren't attached to your music, videos, and game saves, but most of us will probably want to save all that information."

    Duno if this is completely true, a friend of me said he had to back up some info regarding the latest software patch 3.01

  • rystaman22

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 11:14 am GMT

    can someone have a look for me plz

  • Hobbitslayer18

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 10:44 am GMT

    @codewhitedragon

    I heard that you can just redownload them, with a maximum of 5 times.

  • rystaman22

    Posted Oct 3, 2009 3:17 pm GMT

    I was looking at this one http://bit.ly/R24mo is this ok ???? i have got a 20gb PS3

  • coolguy681

    Posted Sep 28, 2009 12:53 pm GMT

    Upgrading my PS3 20gb PS3 Hard drive right now. I backed all my data on an external hard drive and had to change the NTFS format to an FAT32 format. So right now just waiting for my PS3 to cool down before i swap my 20gb in for a 320gb hard drive. Anyways i guess ill do my work for college while im waiting lol.
    Any questions please feel free to ask. I delayed this project for 8 months and finally im confident enough to do it.

  • Game-Hog

    Posted Sep 27, 2009 12:53 pm GMT

    For my 60 gig PS3 I picked out a Seagate SATA 2.5 inch 5400 rpm Momentus 500 gig at Best Buy. I had two problems. The first was when I tried to remove the 60 gig seagate HDD that Sony initially installed. One of the screws holding the HDD together was on the other side of the enclosure thereby forcing me to yank on the HDD until the screw for the 60 gig HDD was stripped out of it before I could remove it to swap it out with the 500 gig HDD. That screw is still stuck on the other side of the HDD enclosure. The second problem was the data transfer rate of the new seagate was 3.0 gig per second. After researching it online I determined my PS3 had a 1.5 gig per second data transfer rate so after swapping it I got an error that said "Correct hard disk not found." I had to contact Seagate who sent me a schematic showing me how to use a jumper shunt (get them at a computer parts store mine needed a size 2mm) on the new seagate HDD to change the data transfer rate from 3.0 to 1.5 and that made my error go away. It has worked great ever since. One odd thing is even though I installed 500 gig you only have a maximum storage of 465 gig. All in all I'm glad I made the upgrade but the blue screw everyone mentions is kind of aggravating if you don't have the right kind of screwdriver but is minimal compared to the aggravation of deleting your downloads (you have to do this so your restore process will work due to Sony not having a backup process that handles DLC proprietary rights and causes the back up and the restore to lock up - they blame the DLC publishers) just redownload them after you finish restoring your necessary saved info. This whole HDD swap process took me about 6 to 8 hours to do from start to finish

  • mnizinski

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 10:23 pm GMT

    You may have to update your system software before ANYTHING can happen. I have a 40gb model and after the switch it told me that it couldn't run the system software and that it would need to be restored. So you may want to have a copy of it on hand. You can find a post about it at:

    http://coderetard.com/2008/06/18/ps3-harddrive-swap-system-software-cannot-be-run-correctly-how-to-obtain-storage-media-230-or-later/

  • Hobbitslayer18

    Posted Sep 25, 2009 3:10 pm GMT

    So which is better, Seagate or Western Digital ? Just asking because WD is a lot cheaper than seagate, and you also get a lot more GB for that price.

    + Does it have to be 5400/7200-rpm, or may it also be 5400/7200-tpm ?

  • codewhitedragon

    Posted Sep 24, 2009 11:46 am GMT

    Only just found this tutorial .. what happens to my download games that I have got of the PSN don't want to loose my Wipeout HD and FF7 as I don't really want to have to buy them again ..

  • chrisandjess

    Posted Sep 13, 2009 3:51 am GMT

    I own the 80 GB CECHE01 PS3, that came bundled with metal Gear Solid 4. My backwards compatability is software based. It doesn't have the Emotion Enigine. Would upgrading my Hard Drive cause me to lose my Backwards Compatability? Older PS3 models are getting expensive, so I'd prefer not to have to buy one and I'm not going to waste shelf space by purchasing a PS2. Nor will I throw out perfectly good PS2 games, that I still enjoy playing.

  • rystaman22

    Posted Sep 1, 2009 11:40 am GMT

    @Uzaair this is what i was on about and please can someone answer this question plz Does SATAII Make any difference !? Looking at this drive i live in UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generic-Notebook-Hard-Drive-160GB/dp/B000OUJUN4

  • TristanH12

    Posted Aug 31, 2009 8:58 am GMT

    I seem to have been required to download an firmware update before it recognized the harddrive. OTher than that it was smooth. THe blue screw is annoying to get out and the HDD cover is hard to push back into place.

    Upgraded from 40GB to 320GB

  • Uzaair

    Posted Aug 25, 2009 7:11 am GMT

    @rystaman22 doesn't it need to be 5400 rpm? the hard drive you're looking at is 5200 rpm. or does it not matter?

  • ultralesus

    Posted Aug 23, 2009 6:30 am GMT

    I'm upgrading my PS3 to the new model, and I figured I might aswell upgrade the hard drive before I use it... so does anyone know if its the same hard drive? Is the same 2.5" ATA? Is there a limit? I want to get 500GB or 1TB.

  • Fz1994

    Posted Aug 21, 2009 7:39 am GMT

    thnx

  • rystaman22

    Posted Aug 21, 2009 3:08 am GMT

    does SATAII Make any difference !? Looking at this drive i live in UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generic-Notebook-Hard-Drive-160GB/dp/B000OUJUN4

  • Game-boy85

    Posted Aug 20, 2009 10:42 pm GMT

    Did you know the best buy Geek Squad will do it for $50.00 and it dosent void the Warrenty, and will back up all you Downloaded content too.

  • Game-boy85

    Posted Aug 20, 2009 10:42 pm GMT

    Did you know the best buy Geek Squad will do it for $50.00 and it dosent void the Warrenty, and will back up all you Downloaded content too.

  • jca_3rd

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 1:05 am GMT

    does anybody know how i back up my saved games because i cannot copy some of them to a pen drive, or does it back them all up with the system data? please let me know asap

  • Grendeloak

    Posted Aug 17, 2009 1:40 am GMT

    Very easy to do, bought a Western Digital 320GB for £42 off Play, backed up the system using an old Lacie harddrive took it 40 mins to back up and then 40 mins to restore.

    The screws were tight but most screwdriver sets come with a Phillips PH1 head which I found fitted well.

    All in all very quick n easy to do, great to not to have to delete stuff to make things fit anymore.

  • terror_ninja

    Posted Aug 9, 2009 8:55 pm GMT

    i wish sony would have only sold all 20GB models with backwards compatibility and told us all that we could change our hard drives.....i dont think it would have saved them much but i think that would have been a good idea....that way people who only want the PS3 for a dvd player..could only have it for that with a small drive and hard core gamers could just upgrade to like a 250GB and every one would get backwards compatibility......

    i would have gotten a 60GB if i knew i could change the hard drive back then

  • MattMaresh

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 11:37 pm GMT

    Just upgraded my PS3 from a 20GB hard drive to a 160GB. I was amazed at how easy it really was. The screws were very soft, but also crazy magnetic, just pushed in a little bit with my screwdriver and I was able to get them going without any sort of stripping. Thanks a ton GameSpot!

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Aug 1, 2009 10:52 pm GMT

    ty for this. im considering buying a ps3 and knowing i can upgrade the HDD with any 2.5 HDD and or even use an external hard drive is great.

  • alien100000

    Posted Jul 10, 2009 9:12 pm GMT

    This is very usefull, plan on replacing my 80gig hard drive soon

  • SoutheastSam

    Posted Jul 5, 2009 8:55 pm GMT

    Just got my 500GB HDD and I'm about to install that beast.

  • Iz-GOod

    Posted Jul 3, 2009 8:58 am GMT

    Man they ain't kidding when they sad the screws are tight, I ruined one of the four screws on the hard drive even though my screwdriver was the perfect size. I eventually got it out using a knife and pliers.

  • Tyrael696

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 7:47 am GMT

    this is very useful for people that buy the 40GB or the 60GB Ps3 is better doing this than buying a Ps3 of 160GB and it wont be enough space for music and movies enthusiast, and hard gamers

  • ryan_5000

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 6:09 pm GMT

    Does anyone know if you can copy blue ray movies onto your ps3 without using another OS even if its just the digital copys?

  • ryan_5000

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 4:44 pm GMT

    not long, most of my games i deleted cuz i beat them and i only had zen pinball and neculeus downloaded with 2 themes so not long, when i tryd restoring the data i kept it wouldnt let me cuz aparently there wasnt any there, i just went to the playstation store and at the top right corner u can check your downloads and get them agan for free. trophies arent affected cuz their on the system, before you do it completely, id test what ur puttin it on with 1 thing to make sure it works 1st. i just felt like starting fresh.

  • formerroadie

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 11:04 am GMT

    how long did it take to back up your data?

  • ryan_5000

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 9:15 am GMT

    Western digital has great hard drives, im extremely pleased with mine. saves and loads faster and downloads from the playstation store and installs fast 2, all around their awesome

  • formerroadie

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 9:01 am GMT

    just bought a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 2.5" SATA 16 MB Cache 7200 RPM Notebook Internal Hard Drive. I'm pretty stoked. That's more than enough for me. I can't wait to get it.

  • ryan_5000

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 5:31 am GMT

    I just put a scorpio blue 500G hard drive in my ps3, i only get 413G out of 465G but its still allot of space, i did full format and everything, the drive is fast and smooth, it keeps the ps3 cool and uses way less power to run, it was $189 cdn at Bestbuy, its worth getting.

  • anik786

    Posted Jun 5, 2009 10:36 am GMT

    answer to shani_boy101 question- use HDD.
    You can use SSD's but it's very expensive and only a bit better performance.

  • shani_boy101

    Posted May 26, 2009 2:54 am GMT

    what should i put in, HDD or SSD?

  • lostn

    Posted May 25, 2009 7:02 pm GMT

    Here's my advice, having just upgraded it today.

    In my first attempt to unscrew the blue screw, I found it extremely tight and impossible to turn, and if I forced it I would have stripped the screws. It was already beginning to strip. I tried a range of screwdrivers and no luck. Then I went and purchased a new screwdriver for the job. I probably already had the correct hardware at home, I just wasn't sure which one it was because they weren't labelled and I didn't want to risk using the wrong one.

    The key is, you have to use the correct screwdriver. It has to fit into the screw 100% perfectly. If you are using the correct screwdriver, it is not difficult to unscrew them at all. You won't even need to apply much force. They are not tight at all. If the screw feels tight to you, then you are not using the correct screwdriver. It took only seconds to remove the blue screws and the four silver ones came off just as easily.

    So what screwdriver do you need? Get a Phillips #1 (ph1) with a sharp tip (to make sure it doesn't slip), preferably magnetic, and with a larger handle for more torque. Those screwdriver sets with thin screwdrivers are probably not strong enough. You will hurt your hand using them. The screwdriver should cost no more than $5. If you are having trouble opening the screws, CEASE IMMEDIATELY. You are using the wrong tool for the job, and if you persist, you will damage the screw making it impossible to remove with a screwdriver. Change to a different screwdriver until you find one that does the job easily and without resistance. If this is your first time trying to get the HDD out, get a Phillips #1 (ph1).

  • nappan

    Posted May 20, 2009 1:26 pm GMT

    By the way, if you use a backup drive larger than 32gb, and run Vista, the easiest and ridiculously fast way I formatted my external was just to use Swissknife. It's freeware from CNET's own Download.com, and about as easy as it gets. Formatting 80 gigs took all of 10 seconds. If it's smaller than 32gb you just use the command line instruction "format X:/fs:fat32" without the quotes... and for god's sake, USE THE RIGHT DRIVE LETTER. You get one confirmation and then it's off to the races. If you use that method on a drive larger than 32gb, the process will take a looooong time... and then Vista (64 at least) will realize it can't make the file structure, and say "sorry" and leave it RAW.

  • nappan

    Posted May 20, 2009 1:19 pm GMT

    @_Ninja_adam_: Oh yeah, it really is incredibly easy. I just did it, and snagged 320GB WD 7200RPM drive. The only part that was even marginally difficult, was remembering to format my external drive for FAT32 so that the PS3 would recognize it and I could back up some stuff. I mean, you can get half a terabyte @ 5200RPM (totally fine, native) for what... 60 bucks? I think Amazon has a pretty good deal on a Seagate drive too. Frankly, the market for this is so huge, that a quick google of the topic is going to give you more info than the operation will ever require.

    Oh, and it is as sweet as you think it is, to have so much space that you never have to think about it again. If you're thinking about it, do it. Think of it this way... hundreds of Gigs of space... for about the price of a game.

  • SilverChimera

    Posted May 18, 2009 9:27 pm GMT

    @ _Ninja_adam_:
    yea, its pretty simple if you can use a screw driver. try this HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145257

    its cheap as hell!

  • _Ninja_adam_

    Posted May 17, 2009 9:38 am GMT

    Im thinking of doing this??? is it quite simple?

  • Solidshark21

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 10:22 am GMT

    Those screws were really tough to get off and i think i ruined like three screw drivers trying. luckily they were cheap. Still i can't figure out what happened to some of my space. i bought a 500 gig drive in place of my forty gig one. After putting almost everything from the forty gig drive onto it it says that i only have 405 gigs left out of 465.

  • MasterFreinz

    Posted Apr 24, 2009 7:22 pm GMT

    Man, those screws are a pain in the ass.

    Still, It'll all be worth it when I finally put in my 360GB HDD

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How to upgrade your PlayStation 3 hard drive

Find out how to upgrade the hard drive on your PlayStation 3.

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