PS3 Hard Drive Upgraded To 250GB

I recently decided to upgrade my Playstation 3 hard drive just for the fun of it. I had an original 40GB model and bought a 250GB replacement on Newegg. If I had known it was so easy to upgrade the hard drive, I would have probably done it a while ago since I like messing with computers and hardware.

First off, you have to make sure you get a 2.5″ SATA hard drive (the size they put in laptops) because it is the only size that will fit. Also, you can choose from 5400RPMs or 7200RPMs. The stock hard drive is rated at 5400RPMs, so it is probably best to stick with that type for compatibility issues. In addition, tests comparing the two showed only a marginal difference in the 7200RPM model. Check out this GamePro article comparing a 5400RPM hard drive to a 7200RPM hard drive in the PS3.

I went with a 250GB 5400RPM Western Digital Scorpio Blue. It was on sale for $50 when I bought it at Newegg.

Depending on the model of your PS3, the required steps for replacing the hard drive are a little different. I read this GamePro PS3 hard drive replacement article to get the gist. It turned out I had a newer model, and the drive bay was different. The only problem I ran into was having to download a PS3 update file that was 3.10 or higher onto a flash drive, since I was prompted to upgrade before I could format the hard drive.

If you haven’t thought about upgrading your PS3 hard drive, I recommend you do it since it is extremely easy. Sony allows you to buy a third party hard drive unlike Microsoft, so a hard drive from Western Digital or Seagate will work fine. The stock hard drive is a Seagate model for reference.

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