Upgrading the Memory on Your Playstation 3 Made Easy

Hi guys,

Tonight I was able to upgrade the memory of my Playstation 3 to a whopping 1TB from a 250GB drive!  The upgrade took minutes and was super simple, but the research through partial and outdated information was a challenge and time consuming, so I'm summing up all I learned here so that you may have an easier go at it.

First and foremost, you cannot use an external  drive for this process on a machine that is not modded or jailbroken in some way.  Personally, I don't believe in doing such things, so I wanted to do the memory upgrade legitimately.  So before you format your external HDD and re-partition it, don't bother.  It wont work for anything other than for storing pictures, music and movies.  You can also back up save files, but that's pretty unnecessary with PS Plus' Cloud Saves.

The HDD I purchased was the WD Blue Notebook 1TB SATA 3.0 Gb/s 2.5-Inch Internal Notebook Hard Drive Retail Kit.

I found this drive at Fry's Electronics and they price matched the current Amazon price of $73.00 which made it an awesome deal!  This was the only retailer in my area that had this product.  You can buy different devices, but from what I gathered online, it's best to make sure you get one that runs at 5400RPM and is no more than 9.5mm in height.

This model was perfect in all specs and runs whisper quiet.

Step 1: Backup data you don't want to lose into an external drive.  

This step is a pain as you have to format and partition a drive.  A process which requires downloading software and requieres a lot of time.  I didn't bother with this, as all I needed is linked to my PSN account.

http://us.playstation.com/psn/

Step 2: Download PS3 System Software.

This can be found by clicking the link under the image to the left.

For this step you'll need an external drive, or thumb drive.  Go to the site on your computer and click the link at the bottom of the page for the latest version.  You'll need this to set up your new hard drive once it's in the PS3.  Make sure that on your external device you create the folders specified on the instructions, or your PS3 will not recognize the file.

Step 3: Remove the Old HDD.  This is much simpler than it sounds.  On the Slim console, you will first flip it upside-down.  There you will see a tab centered near the front of the console.  Pull this up with your nail and you'll discover a single screw.  With a small Phillips screwdriver, remove this screw.

Next, you'll remove a sliding cover in the front of the console which is now lose.  You will see the drive inside with a little metal handle.  Pull this handle to remove the HDD bracket.

On the bracket, you will find four small screws.  Remove these carefully to dislodge the HDD.

Now place the new drive inside, replace the four screws and reverse the steps to finish setup.

Step 4: System Set-Up.

Plug in your external drive with the latest system software in one USB port and your PS Controller in the other and then power on your console.  Now follow the onscreen instructions, beginning by pressing SEL and START together.  This will format the new drive and install the system software.

That's it!  Enjoy your new, robust PS3 and download all the games you want from PS Plus!!

I hope this helps, and please message me on my Facebook page with any questions you may have on installation.