PS3 Fat Hard Drive Upgrade 1TB + Slim & Super Slim Guide

[@dugandont]

it's 2021 and i needed this since the PS3 store is closing in July. thank you sir!

[@cummywummiez]

Not anymore

[@apshotsnep]

Go get far cry 4 from psn If you want to play it

[@dylghtbae]

Not anymore luckily

[@thejojofamilyssecrettechni3824]

What? When exacly?

[@JRockThumper]

@@thejojofamilyssecrettechni3824 you just can’t use credit cards anymore. You have to load the money to your PlayStation wallet.

[@johncole4882]

This is missing a MAJOR step. How you could skip over having to do a fresh os install is crazy

[@LlamaRoyal]

It has been reported that some PS3 will only need to format the HDD and thats it, you don't have to re install the OS. It happened to me. The OS is installed elsewhere not sure but it just works. It worked for me.

[@EzeAsuoha]

​@@LlamaRoyal how u know which ps3s tho?

[@cornelisemail6070]

Yes specially with phat and the slim it needs a fresh instal.

[@EzeAsuoha]

​@@LlamaRoyalwhat ps3 did u have

[@LlamaRoyal]

@@EzeAsuoha I actually have phat and slim versions. Like I mentioned it's not as easy for OG XBOX well at least for the 1.6 it's super easy. No matter the PS3 version it's still easy

[@MarioMan-iw7xl]

Thanks for the easy to follow video! Got my PS3 HDD upgraded from 60GB to 320GB!

[@veeradhunna7835]

Bro its important to use fat32 harddisk

[@broughton1835]

@@veeradhunna7835 why?

[@onisandwich6205]

@@broughton1835 Late asf because PS3 can only read files if it's Fat32

[@brentvance9090]

I should have known you had a video for this - I follow your Nintendo updates, but didn't consider PlayStation. I watched a few before yours and they completely glossed over the backup step. You're thorough as always. Thank you so much!

[@emprex122]

I finally found the my answer i been looking for. It's is possible to copy my old data to new SDD drive, without buying another PS3. What a life saver. TIme to up grade my drive 1TB here i come

[@gabed0195]

I'm so glad I had this video I went from 40gb to 500gb I had some hiccups but it works perfectly now

[@willy970]

First off - love all these videos. They're so great and they make me super excited to play with my old tech. That said there was an extra step I needed in this process. I needed to have a usb drive with the 4.88 OS file on it before the new HDD would format. This vid is a year old so maybe things have changed a bit. Happy hunting and thanks again!!

[@harlanshamer622]

I seen another video where the guy also showed that I needed a usb with ps os. He showed that I would have to install it otherwise it wouldn’t work. I know this is a old video but did you ever find out if this is true or not?

[@johncole4882]

He completely skipped multiple parts

[@braydonhayward-durham6533]

Watching this because I'm planning to start up a collection of playstation. Thank you!

[@GremlinZ420]

Couple years ago I put a SSD in my PS4 Pro and decided to keep the hdd. It’s gonna come in handy!

[@Sorrow366]

Dude, your comment made me remember that I still had my old 500GB PS4 HDD lying around so thank you! I was about to buy a new one!

[@jsztx2117]

Now i can finaly install mgs 4 on my ps3

[@theunknownandunsolved6963]

Thanks for the video, was way easier than i thought to do this, i had an extra 250 gb hdd so put it in my PS3. Just to let people know, if you have rebug installed, you DO NOT have to reinstall it to change out your HDD.

[@mello_man]

Does the same go for evilnat and hen ?

[@theunknownandunsolved6963]

@@mello_man i honestly don't know . But, i just got everything ready for an install and changed the hdd. But didnt need to do anything. I can only say try it, but be ready to reinstall everything. If you don't have to reinstall its a very simple process. Think i had mine done in like 30 min and was surprised it was so simple..because it seems nothing can be simple anymore. Best of luck.

[@adamthiry868]

Depends on your model of ps3. Some you don't have to, some you do

[@EzeAsuoha]

​@mello_man u find out?

[@EzeAsuoha]

​@mello_man u find out?

[@JaycRam]

Any chance, you could make a video on how to upgrade a hard drive on a PS3 that's already been modded?

[@johnmurcott1273]

Yes plz

[@michaelthedford]

Is this going to work on a modded ps3?

[@Hungarian_]

@@michaelthedford yes it works, you just gotta redo your cfw install since the ps3 setup installs the ofw. you can transfer your files from your old drive afterwards

[@mightygamerlord]

I like how slowly and simply you tell everything it’s realy just impossible to not understand.

[@MagnetonPlayer_2]

My 20GB went to 1TB, thank you for the instructions

[@razorburn645]

Thanks. I might give this a try. My 80g storage was a nightmare.

[@GamingintoEternity]

I love your tutorials but you missed something major. I followed step by step but after installing the new SSD the system didn't recognize the operating system. Figured out and added 4.90 to the flash drive. Created a folder named UPDATE and added to the backup flash drive. And it worked! My PS3 is back in business with a 1 TB SSD.

[@gigalagaki]

Did you go OFW 4.90, or reinstall Rebug/EvilNat or something? I'm having trouble with mine - doing the flash, but it gets stuck on Preparing To Update - 98%, not sure where I'm going wrong :/

[@bingerr]

Great tutorial. Can't understand why it only had a few thousand views. I'm going to troll Craigslist and marketplace for some old PS3s to mod. Thanks man, and keep up the awesome videos

[@joshuaortiz5141]

Ey I still got ps3 interssted?

[@mysilentworld6731]

@@joshuaortiz5141 how much?

[@D10078]

I have a 1TB SSD in NY PS3 slim. 30 games and DLC 710GB left. PS4 has 1TB SSD and 8GB external. 95 games on that.

[@martinpatterson3417]

I've seen a few tutorial that suggest downloading the PS3 firmware onto a USB stick (in folder PS3\UPDATE). You haven't done this step. Is it not needed?

[@badger4512]

i once took the hard drive out and put it back in just to clean it, i had to format the whole drive and install new firmware and i lost all my saves and all my games

[@afuzzyriff]

I needed to do this step.

[@brunovieira4630]

​@@badger4512 that's strange, i take the hdd out everytime i clean my console, never lost any data, Never had to format, never had to install firmware.

[@ianl.4470]

Hi Blair, got a question about HDD compatibility. My understanding is that modern HDD's have a 4K advanced format where the physical drive sectors are 4,096 bytes... but that the PS3 OS was actually designed to run on old-school HDD's that have the previous 512 byte sectors. I've read on some forums that folks have experienced stuttering issues when running certain games from their newly installed (modern) HDD's - because no one sells those old 512 sector HDD's anymore! Granted.... even though the HDD's are 4K AF... most will be running on 512e (emulated) so they can work with existing OS's and applications that I/O data in 512 sized packets. Do you know anything / have experienced these stuttering issues? I'm guessing the stuttering come either from the physical and logical sectors not being aligned (4K vs 512), or from the 512e process which is essentially an extra step between the OS and the HDD.... I'm really looking forward to upgrading my PS3 HDD, still using the 80GB on my fat PS3!

[@AL-mm9mc]

Uhhhh trick question?

[@naughtydog9843]

Did you ever find out the answer to this?

[@ianl.4470]

@@naughtydog9843 no, and to be honest, work got in the way and I never got around to it. I researched high and low and did not find an answer. I suppose you could try it, but make sure you have a way to revert back to the original HDD if things go wrong....

[@IIIISai]

@@ianl.4470 hm so does size matter, if i use something like a 512 or 256 Gb hard drive, do they all have that 4k bytes issue?

[@ianl.4470]

@@IIIISai I don't think so....

[@AR-jp5pm]

1.5 TB max is what the PS3 can take. PSN digital download cards needed to purchase additional content. Be sure to defrag & clear the dust bunnies frequently (KZbin how to). My slim is still going strong after 13 years. Original controllers not so much.

[@StoneyAngel]

I finally did it, and it worked perfect now to jailbreak it😈

[@nikospireas72]

Please if you can make also one "How to upgrade your internal HDD of PS3 after jailbreak" Thanks in advance

[@rodrigoarguetaalba2526]

Man, I got the same problem. New HDD just arrived but I’ve already jailbreak’d my PS3 and filled it to the brim with games. Any help, pls?

[@naughtydog9843]

@@rodrigoarguetaalba2526 Same here fellas, did you ever find out?

[@cyberspirt]

Does the back up require you to download all your digital games from the PS store again?

[@awesomejoeproductions2874]

No you don’t as long as they are backed up on a flash drive

[@KyleYoung2012]

I figured out how to do it I just had to update the ps3 manually and move my ps3 in a way it would work and also had to jam my usb into the slot in order for it to read the update,it took forever but I got it to work

[@Lirzzz]

Watched a video of yours about PSP CFW about a month ago and I'm just now upgrading my PS3 storage. Same style of video, professional and concise, worked like a charm! Thanks again Blaine :)

[@SyndiGlo]

Exactly me rn lol

[@Bears9McMahon]

Your way doesn’t work with a brand new hard drive you have to go to the PlayStation website and download a file to format it

[@paultedaldi587]

Awesome video thankyou, and your blowing me out Madden 25 , 25? Its 24 now and this vid 3 years old😮

[@ghostmalone92]

Pick up a fat PS3 40gb at bookmans for $80 last weekend and wanted to upgrade the harddrive to a 1tb so when doing this my experience was a little different switch the harddrive was easy as pie but when turning on the ps3 i gave me a message about updating the software even though is was already updated to 4.86 already so i just downloaded the software online put it on the fat32 USB and plugged it in the USB and press select and start as it says to search for the update and worked like a charm i don't know if anybody had to go through the same route as me, Thanks for the video your doing great 😎👍

[@chrisreyes5012]

had the same issue and did the same with the USB and installed the update. Works fine

[@ElPresidente.]

How much GB should the drive be that use to transfer over the update file?

[@Dogmaguy74]

I think i'm having the same problem...little help?

[@jonresanovich154]

I liked the way you did this tutorial..

[@bogartwilley]

I'll be trying this on my poor PS3 I just bought last night, I only played it a couple hours but me & the lil guy done bonded, I gotta bring it back from the dead lol

[@alphawolfking3652]

I appreciate that it’s 2022 and I wanna play red dead redemption but thanks to this video I can finally download red dead redemption

[@HombreAlabama]

You just earned a new subscriber, great video! Thank you

[@ilikecheese9877]

Yo mama

[@PatSmashYT]

I'm glad it doesn't require any os installation unlike ps4, just got myself an 80gb model and I'm going to install a 500gb drive and then jailbreak it

[@commentarysheep]

The CECHE01 DOES require an OS install. But I think you’ve already figured this out.

[@TheJStale]

Does this method work with current firmware too or is the process different? Can you do an updated tutorial on this Blaine if so?? Also, does it restore CFW???

[@TmpVideo]

Any luck?

[@LoneTaurus82]

Considering backing up and restoring my data on a cheap 500gb team group SSD I got from newegg recently for less than $30. Only pain will be backing up gigabytes of game data and also media files which will probably take ages lol.

[@marvindesanta]

Is a Hen Backup possible?

[@horacecramp]

That's what I'd like to know as well since I have a jailbreak ps3

[@KyleYoung2012]

Please help i just got a 1tb hd for my ps3 and it keeps on saying to install the update,i already installed the update on my other hd but now its making me do it on this one,do i have to format it to fat 32 or something to get it to work?

[@KyleYoung2012]

I got it to work I just had to jam it in my ps3 and got it to work

[@KGReadytolaugh]

Will the back up work on saving my PS3 hen jailbreak with all my PS3 iso files I’ve installed or will it just save the original PS3 files ?

[@da_joker-_-4206]

can anyone help me i cannot get this to work it says no applicable update data was found connect storage media that contains update 4.87 or higher

[@dlleb]

did you find the solution? Same thing happened to me

[@JamarLeetrail]

ME TOO

[@dannymurillo3628]

Great video! Is the process the same for replacing the HHD to SSD?

[@THE-UFO-MAN]

Thankyou for this video, really enjoyed it, and it is so helpful in everyway possible, well done for that.

[@simonwoo5330]

what's the max size we can upgrade to?

[@LmaoImSaucy]

1tb max

[@davidgill7412]

@@LmaoImSaucy technically 1.5 TB.

[@BigBossToys]

When you do this does it also back up dlc? For example MGS4 had dlc that they removed from game that's no longer available from Konami unless you backdoor it.

[@PEACEWALKER1992]

Thanks for showing man! :)

[@jackofblades3171]

The 80GB model does not have a ps2 Chipset. It is software emulated. The 20gb and 60gb have PS2 hardware inside them

[@davidzusack3678]

You make ps3 nodding so much easier

[@TingandWal]

is 1TB still the max internal memory we can go into the PS3 or can we use a 2TB?

[@JzLyfe]

I know this comment is old but i cant find any current up to date info. I wanted to do a 2tb to have every ps1 game and whatever ps3 games but no luck.

[@babygorilla4233]

Oh it's so nice when something is designed to be serviceable.

[@demonhunter20]

Nice guide, but you forgot to mention that you need an update file to install the os in the new drive.

[@burntolivegaming]

Nah dawg, that aint it

[@claudeschaller]

Great video! I have a USB to SATA cable that I’ve used for backups and stuff in the past, can I just backup all my games and data onto the new hard drive and cut out the USB stick?

[@fireballsud6466]

I was just wounding the same thing. For some reason I can’t get the usb file right??

[@davidgill7412]

You can straight out clone a PS3 hard drive using debug options on 4.84.2 REX REBUG CFW. As long as you have QA flags enabled you can downgrade to that. Then scroll down settings till you get to Debug. Go into Debug and scroll down till you find HDD exchange utility. Hook up your hard drive to the PS3 using a SATA to USB adapter. Follow the instructions to begin the process. After it's complete, install the new hard drive. When you power it on again, it'll look for an update. Take the CFW you want to use and put it on a USB drive. Update your PS3 from the USB drive and you should be finished.

[@claudeschaller]

@@davidgill7412 Awesome, I’ll try that out. Thanks!

[@davidgill7412]

@@claudeschaller Just found a better solution. On your CFW (you're using EvilNat 4.88 firmware right) go and highlight Network Settings. Hold D-PAD Down, L1, L2, L3, R1, and R2 at the same time. This enables the Debug menu with the HDD Disk exchange utility.

[@valentineli305]

@@davidgill7412 Mine was on CFM4.83 or so. Would the Debug clone work from a native 120GB HDD to a new 500GB HDD?

[@DontDodgeIt...RamIt...Dammit.]

Where does the manual update file from PlayStation come in during this process or is that a much older upgrade method? But awesome video and very informative. 👍

[@gimmybhullar574]

You forgot where you need to put the PlayStation update from their website onto a thumbstick drive then insert that onto the ps3.

[@MrChristianDT]

Incredibly convoluted, how I ended up having to do it, but I force-downloaded the playstation update to my phone (it wouldn't active just by clicking the link, so I had to hold it down until a menu popped up, told it to download & when a messae box popped up, click download anyway), transferred it through my laptop to a USB stick with the PS3 & UPDATE folders & then updated my PS3. I'd been led to believe that I could just hook the hard drive to the PS3 with a SATA to USB adapter & do a straight copy transfer. Found out the problem after getting some weird results when plugging it into my computer & looking it up- USB can't supply enough power to an internal hard drive to get it fully running, so it's data can't be accessed the way it can off of a basic flash drive. I guess the only way to do it is doing what the PS3 itself recommended- connecting two PS3's together via ethernet.

[@BOXING_LOUNGE]

Hi Blaine, I'm currently backing up my data and I'm almost ready to replace the HDD with an SSD. Do I need to install the firmware after? I'm using PS3 PRO 4k custom firmware. Thanks Champ 🥊🥊

[@BOXING_LOUNGE]

@@astraldrifter777 see my content Champ 👀🥊🥊

[@om3973]

Glad that worked for you when I did this all my games were thare but i couldn't losd my saved files they were thare but was saying it was a diffrent pa 3 so I lost all my saved data

[@devious338]

Now I can complete my back log

[@bingerr]

Question: what's the HD size limit?

[@newbielol5119]

1,5 TB

[@ShadowMods221]

@@newbielol5119 what about 2tb

[@FadeingRevolt]

@@ShadowMods221 nope

[@Creeper_ofDoom]

Does this work with seagate internal hdd’s, i wanna use a 1tb one that i have leftover

[@KYSMO]

Hey, Blaine! A quick question: why can't I just clone the PS3 HDD to an SSD using Macrium or a similar cloning tool? Thanks!

[@annabellecarter6067]

Hi i have subscribed today👍

[@thatonedudenamedvalentine7836]

Just speechless! Question, faster performance?? Loading times shortened?

[@lucasjerez2137]

Unless its sdd i dont think so. Ps4 does take advantage of sdd's

[@davidgill7412]

@@lucasjerez2137 your limited on BUS speeds. SSD performance is negligible.

[@MileHighScaleModeler]

Hello, Blaine! I am new to modding a PS3. I am modding my own PS3 Slim for personal use. Can you tell me if Firmware 4.89 will still work with this video? Asking as at the time of this video the most up to date firmware was 4.86. Also, is 1TB the biggest internal HHD that can be read by a PS3?

[@caenpa4510]

I bought my ssd last week and replace it for my hhd on my ps3, than i tried to install cfw and something went wrong. Now i have a brick ps3 and a ssd with no use... by the way nice tutorial.

[@caenpa4510]

@@blainelocklair it was a chech 2001A

[@lucasjerez2137]

Did you flash memory bin before installing cfw? Check out an eflasher

[@ShadowMods221]

@@blainelocklair how much space does it have and if I buy the hard drive on link and I choose 2 TB can my ps3 install lots of games

[@naughtydog9843]

@@ShadowMods221 1 tb is the max official size but there are some 1.5 drives that are said to work unofficially.

[@edwardlujan1325]

@@naughtydog9843 1tb is plenty and a safe bet

[@o0o0o0sam0o0o0o]

Can you add a 2tb HDD or more to the ps3? And if you replace the HDD do you have to re-jailbrake it?

[@ertity]

I think the official maximum drive size for PS3 is 1 tb. Unofficial sixe is 1,5 tb, but since it's unofficial you can guess that a lot of 1,5 tb drives won't work.

[@Daytrader922]

No I tried it I have fatt 60gb ps3

[@demoh2o]

I have a 1.5 tb installed in my ps3 and it works without any issues. I honestly wouldn't go any higher than that tho

[@ruffruffgrr]

guess the update on the usb wasn't picking up on my ps3 oh well was a nice thought

[@ILikeSoda229]

Do you need to backup your data before replacing the hard drive, or is it okay to just not back it up and replace the hard anyways without doing it?

[@josephhall7317]

I just did it and my saves and stuff like that were gone, I didn't back it up to anything

[@zevox3394]

No u need to backup first then replace ur hard drive

[@rodrigoarguetaalba2526]

Is it a straightforward “clone the current HDD’s data to the new one” and done? Does it keep the CFW and Homebrew I have already installed?

[@davidgill7412]

I can show you a method to do that. Just give me a little time, at a dental visit right now.

[@pandierik8346]

@@davidgill7412 you could do it, yes. I'm interested about this method.

[@9hundred67]

is this the same method for jailbroken systems? I want to keep it jailbroken with the custom firmware.

[@theroyalaustralian]

I have a CECHLO2 Phat model PS3 which does not have the extra ports.

[@forge7581]

Hi Balin , I have just jail broken my ps3 based on your video . But now I see this hdd upgrade .. Will changing my hdd remove my jailbreak or it that another part of the memory?? Thanks

[@nachingow007]

Hi Forge. Did you found out about this? I'm about to do the same.

[@aaronmartinez9877]

Did you find this out? I want to do that too

[@nachingow007]

@@aaronmartinez9877 Not yet. Had some problems with my PS3, if I do it I'll update here.

[@naughtydog9843]

@@aaronmartinez9877 I'm in same boat please share if you learn anything.

[@Kopreni]

The upgrade from 60gb to 500gb Is for sure going to be worth it

[@awhvex7188]

What happens if i move one HDD from one PS3 to a different PS3 ? Also what would happen if i put a HDD in a PS3 that isnt jailbroken but it came from a jailbroken PS3?

[@josephhall7317]

If it's already formatted for PlayStation, it'll work fine , don't know about the jailbroken question

[@andyvideo3504]

Is this the same process if I have installed Ferrox?

[@thepwrtank18]

I followed your advice, and all the screws got stripped. Is there a replacement caddy?

[@bozolozo21]

What’s the name of the 1 TB Hard drive you used?

[@rzone317]

I try to follow your steps then it had say that my ps3 does not compatible. Is there anything I can do about that

[@gabebautista2978]

Hey Blaine if i dont have any of my physical games saved on my ps3, i only have digital games on it. Would i still have to get a usb drive to transfer my digital games or can i just install new hard drive, and just reinstall my digital games after install? once new hard drive is in do you have to install new system update to new hard drive?

[@mitchbattles2139]

I attempted to install it but it didn’t work for me, when I turned my ps3 on I received message saying “the system software cannot be run correctly press the ps button to try to restart the system if the system cannot be restarted the system partition of the storage must be reformatted” I wasn’t really sure what to do. And also I have cfw on the old hard drive, how do I implement that hardware to my new 1tb ssd? Is someone can give some assistance with this Inwould greatly appreciate it.

[@xX6SLA6YER6xX]

You need the updated pup file for the cfw. Create a folder labeled PS3. Click on that and create another folder labeled UPDATE. Then copy the pup file into that folder. Put the USB into the PS3 and follow the steps it asks for by pressing start and select.

[@johnsanderson183]

I replace the hard drive with 1tb it been restoring forever about 40 hrs how long should this take or is something wrong it’s been stuck at 98% for two whole days

[@zoroacuna3915]

If you have home brew will this carry that over to the new hard drive or would you need to reinstall multiman?

[@Hikikomorisama]

So, I've heard copy protected saved game data will NOT transfer via the USB back up utility. My question is, what kind of games copy protects their game save data? For example, my metal gear solid 4 data is precious to me and so is some other games like silent hill downpour, final fantasy X, Loli pop chainsaw and metal gear trilogy to name a few.

[@CoolLaidBackk]

When you do this will it save your account even if it’s not signed in and your games saved?

[@outermeowven]

easier than i thought thank u !

[@ericsigginssr]

the 20 gig is the 1 with all original ps2 and ps1 chips inside

[@oh2446]

I need help, the backup utility is stuck on "Preparing... Please wait"

[@vintagepennies6899]

Mine is stuck on this too

[@oh2446]

@@vintagepennies6899 I had to bite the bullet and restart from scratch.

[@1martymcfly298]

Question for you Blaine or anyone else, will doing this also make it to where I can use hen without installing it again or will I have to install hen again?

[@kingstarscream3807]

Thanks for the tips, sir.

[@CHESHIREFOXRECCORDS]

Is there any difference of upgrading the hard drive to a terabyte if it's not modded or it's modded with a smaller hard drive

[@arvillenoe2542]

Wish I could send you mine for that upgrade

[@ashtonferris7725]

i have custom firmware already installed but i want to upgrade my storage, is the process the same as this video or do i have extra steps?

[@kpere9694]

On a modded ps3 will this erase the jailbreak?

[@MyReviews_karkan]

Will this remove the jailbreak and I'll have to re-jailbreak? Second question, can an SSD be used, or does it have to be an HDD? Thanks for making such detailed videos

[@ilajoie3]

As long as the ssd has a sata connection it should work. This ain't the PS5 with its fancy M.2

[@monkeyboygchannel6985]

When I put the new hard drive in, it says, "the system software can not be run correctly. Press the PSS button to try to restart the system. When I tried that, it still did not work. So I'm stuck on that page.

[@josephhall7317]

Can you get into safe mode? I think you can force it into safe mode I just don't remember how, but if you get there, there should be options to get you finished from there

[@ilajoie3]

​@@josephhall7317safe mode is enabled by holding down the power button until it cycles on and off then holding it down again until it beeps twice in quick succession

[@Gamer4lyfe00]

Just installed my 1tb western digital hdd. Now i have to jailbreak again 🤦🏾‍♂️ oh well let me get started 👌🏾

[@Souljaboy260]

can you update your ps3 software with out patching it first? i see a lot of videos that apparently do/don't do that

[@bjoernschumacher5852]

what is the maximal capacity the PS3 can take? What about SSDs?

[@MassiveBarbaricMonkey]

You are awesome, ty!!

[@SnaxOnSnaxOnSnaxOnSnaxOnSnax]

does this back up of a system also back up the current update? or will I need to install my cfw again?