How to Upgrade your PS3 eSATA Hard Drive
Thought I might share how I upgraded my 60GB PS3 up to a 500GB PS3. My main reason for the huge amount of space is to store HD films, without me having to stream them from my PC. Also, I couldn’t just buy an external USB hard drive because when formatted to FAT32 (the required format), there is a 4GB file size limit, and as most of you know, most HD films exceed this size!Sponsored Links
Below is a list of hardware and tools I used:
- 500GB My Book External Hard Drive (Home Edition) with eSATA connectivity
- HD XT Hard Drive Extender
- SATA to eSATA Cable
- Screwdriver (Philips and Flathead)
- Drill with hole saw attachment (Optional)
I began by backing up any information I needed off my PS3 to a USB memory stick, such as my photos. My music could be restored off my iPod and films copied over at a later stage.
Next, I disconnected my console and laid it flat so I had access to the hard drive bay. I used a flathead screwdriver to remove the plastic covering from the bay, not using too much force so I didn’t break it. As other hard drive upgrade tutorials show, you remove the small blue screw, lift the metal clip, slide the caddy to the right and pull it out. You can feel when the drive has been disconnected.
After removing the caddy, I took the Xecuter HDXT, pushed it into the caddy slot and installed it the same as you would the hard drive. (It’s the same size as the hard drive caddy, and has a SATA connector on a chip that effectively move the female SATA connection to the face of the bay) I noticed as little more force is needed when installing this to ensure a good connection. To finish this installation, I fitted the provided caddy slot cover that has a removed section to allow access to the SATA socket.
Not particularly in the order I did this project, but I found the SATA part of the cable was not long enough to make a good connection to the Playstation. I was a bit impatient so I took out my scissors and a Stanley knife and hacked away about 3-5mm of the plastic. Probably not recommended but it worked for me!
I connected my new external drive to the mains and hooked it up using the SATA to eSATA cable. The drive powers on automatically with the PS3, so I powered it up and on my TV I was walked through the installation and formatting of the PS3 software and firmware etc.
After I knew everything was working correctly, I still wanted my console to stand vertically, so consequently I made some modifications to my furniture. 5 minutes later using the drill with a hole saw attachment, I had a hole in the base of my cabinet and one in the rear of the cabinet. A good idea to use the vacuum cleaner now! Dust and wood shavings everywhere!
I fed the SATA cable through these holes, connecting it to the Playstation, and the other end back to the Hard Drive. This gave the appearance of a standard PS3, as the hard drive is hidden from view. However, the hard drive does look good if you wanted it in view as it is matte black with a curved face and a long white light that changes depending on usage.
The total cost of this project was roughly £100, well worth it in my opinion knowing what I am going to use it for. As for transferring large video files, I use an Ethernet cable connected to my PC and use Nero MediaHome. It only takes 15 or so minutes to transfer around 8GB. I completed this project around a month ago and delayed in posting to ensure everything continued working well. Also, I forgot to take pictures at the time, which is why they are not that great! (And these are taken on my phone – hence the quality)
Any questions, please ask! I hope this helped someone.
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Originally Posted by cdragomir 
