The impression I got was that it should give you an option somewhere/somehow from that screen.

Same here but, i never got that screen. backed up everything on an externals harddrive and then switched the drives out and...nothing.

Do you have access to the "OS"/interface at all? Is there anything under the System tab that looks like it'll help?

According to this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4qoR...eature=related it should be the first prompt you get when the machine is turned on. Perhaps the HD is bad or the connection was not made properly. Have you tried re-seating it?

I have access to everything with the orig. drive in place but nothing when swapped.

Very odd... have to tried the drive in a PC to double check that it works?

I have tried everything including getting another drive only to be met with the same situation. It's asking for the latest update material to be loaded. I have my external drive that has all the copied info on it hooked up to the PS3 as well and no joy to date. Gotta keep tryin' tho!

I have done it to my system. I have one of the original 60GB systems and I upgraded to a 320GB drive I picked up from Amazon. The MAJOR complaint I had was that the screws that hold the drive in place are so tight that I ended up stripping three of the Phillips heads because the screws themselves were very soft. I had to use a wire stripping tool I have to get them out by using the tiny "teeth" on the end to grasp the sides of the screw and get them out. I called Sony and they replaced the screws and the cage for the drive for free. I'm glad I made the upgrade - be sure to have a drive that is FAT32 formatted (at least 30GB) to start the backup process with. The PS3 only recognizes that format which unfortunately is limited in disc size (37 GB) but file size ($ GB max).

How do you determine whether or not a drive is formatted "Fat32"? Also, how can you format a drive as "Fat32"? I had the same problem with the screws. I stripped them out so badly I had to go to bestbuy and have the geek squad remove them for me.

You'll need to use the Disk Management tool in Windows to access the back up drive and delete the partition. Once you do that, make a new partition of about 30 GB, and at that point you can select file type (FAT32 or NTFS). You can always reformat the drive so that it is NTFS if you want to use it normally. If you have any questions, PM me, OK?

Took a bit of doing but I am happy to report that I finally got it done and am now the proud owner of a bouncing baby PS3 320GB console! The step I was skipping was the creation of the folder within the PS3 file and the correct naming of the file. Thanks for all the help <b>neimen</b> & <b>RockyMtnBri</b>.

Just so we have a record of it while it is still fresh in your mind, what file/folder naming are you talking about? I haven't seen any of the other sites mention anything like that yet. Was this during the backup, the initial format or the restore step?

TIA

After formatting my external HD as fat32, I had to then DL the latest update for the PS3. place it in a sub folder w/in the PS3 folder and name it simply "update". not PS3 update, just update and ensure that it was a .pup file as well. Once that was done, I updated my system's orig 40GB HD from the external HD via the "Storage Media" prompt in system settings just to see if the files took and they did. I exchanged the drives and then started up the system with the EXT HD already attached. Instead of the "this drive cannot be formatted" screen, I got the format screen that everyone sees on the CNET video and from there it was all done.

Hmmm...

I just bought an Iomega Ego 250 gig external USB 2.0(i like this drive) drive for some space.

This replacement sounds interesting, does it void the warranty for Best Buy and Sony? Anyone know?

Anyone?

Bueller?

As far as I know it doesn't, at least none of the sites/info I've found mention that it does. The drive itself is behind a panel that makes it easily user serviceable so I'd be surprised if they make a fuss. I guess if you are really concerned just make sure you leave the old drive around/untouched. If something goes wrong change drives to see if it starts working again and if you still have whatever problem is going on take it in w/ the old drive in place.

Danke.

So, can anyone recommend me an EASY external drive to open. I have Best Buy Gift Cards, so I would like ot purchase one there. External is a LOT cheaper. Here are my 3 choices for external drive....I'm assuming all are SATA, correct?

I'm looking for something that is somewhat easy to open without damaging the case (since I would put my 60GB in the case)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1210378378013

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1198286609141

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1202649958670

Me too. The screws were a huge pain!
Thanks for the heads up, I'll try this today.

DJ_Longfellow...

Are you looking to swap drives and use the new external drive's case like an enclosure? Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a SATA drive enclosure and just buy an internal replacement drive? I don't know how much "surgery" you'd have to do to those externals, but they don't look "tool friendly."

Yes, that would be the IDEAL way to go, but I have Best Buy Gift Cards/RZ coupons and I wanted to limit myself spending $0.

Best Buy sells the External Drives for about $125, but the Internal 320GB 2.5" Drive is $199.

Thus, it would be cheaper to buy a mini-external drive and just swap the 320GB into the PS3 and but the 60GB in the enclosure.

Gotcha.

Well, looks like a WD 320 is on sale for $120 this week at Best Buy (the passport external drive). I watched some videos and it looks easy to open. I'm debating if I need 320 or 250GB...I guess it's only $100 vs $120. Is that extra 70GB worth $20?

Anyways....I hope to upgrade this week.

Well, I have a 320 GB drive in my PS3 and right now have 250 GB available. Take in consideration that, yeah it's a 320 GB drive, but in reality is going to be 290 GB.
I put all my music there and download all the videos and demos I want from the PS3. I have also put a few kids movies/tv shows for my daughter.
Will I ever be out of space? Most probably not.
So it depends on what are you going to do. I haven't played a lot games that require installation either.

I purchased the 320GB drive....waiting to install it until I get my backup drive formatted to FAT32.

Finally got around to doing it and overall it went off w/o a hitch :D The biggest problem was the screws (in particular the blue one). Once I found a decent screw drive though that wasn't too bad either. So I guess the next step is to get registered w/ the PSN and start looking for things to fill up the space w/ ;)

Thanks for all the help everyone...