Well, i'm pretty sure it's FAT32, but i'll do a quick test tonight...

oh yeah, that's correct...

what i'm trying to get at is that don't throw away your old PS3 hdds, you can buy a cheap casing and make it useful again

hey, i don't know man, personally, i don't use it (but didn't delete it, since i'm not a fan of deleting stuffs, that's why i need biggger hdd all the time). However, i sold the KZ2 Home costume code for $15 on eBay, i guess there are plenty "suckers" on Home dressing up as KZ2 characters

Speaking of harddrives for the PS3, has anyone removed the 1TB drive from a WD MyBook and installed it in a PS3 as an internal drive? Is it even possible? I have 2 of those drives... one, a dedicated external drive for the PS3, the other attached to my notebook.

I'm contemplation installing the 1TB drive internally and using the existing 80GB as a "tanker" to transport files from my notebook to the internal drive on the PS3.

Actually Fujishiq, the old 40gb PS3 hdd was not recognized by the computer at first (even it's in FAT32 already). It was not recognized by the PS3 either via USB. I had to manually use Manage Device in Windows to get it "recognized" again.

Well, this gives me an idea... i'm gonna hunt down those notebook hdds, especially those PS3 hdds people don't want after upgrading to the bigger hdd, eBay, here i come!

Well, i certainly want to try that next, since my 320gb is like 100gb left. I don't think they make 1TB notebook hdds at this point, so my answer is no. I believe the PS3 will display 300 gb total space for larger sizes...

Are the drives notebook drives? If they're not, they won't work, the PS3 takes only notebook drives. If they are, like Ocelot said, it will only recognize 300Gigs at this point, which means you'll probably have to partition it and leave the rest blank, or hope that there's some kind of file system upgrade later.

that's what i'm afraid of... it's like you have a big house, but not allowed to use the other rooms until further notice

I mentioned this on another forum and everyone told me I was wrong. One guy said specifically that he'd upgraded to 500GB and it worked fine.

And what forum is that, boy? You need to visit home more often.

If your PS3 breaks I advise you to NOT send it to Sony for the fix. You have to pay 149 (plus tax as I've been told) as well as lose all of your data. Depending on what is wrong with your unit you might not even get your console back. Without even attempting to repair mine they are just sending me a refurb and a cheap 90 day limited warranty. Look around on Ebay or message me and I can send you some info for repairs for half to two-thirds of the cost with no loss of hard drive data. I am so pissed right now at Sony at their lack of commitment to their customers that if I could shit through the phone I would.

Anyone know how to infiltrate my FAT32 internal hard drive with an external casing and at least recover some of the information on it? I would like to be able to get as much off the hard drive as possible and transfer it to my "new" refurb **YAY!**. Thanks a lot Sony for breaking your back to fix MY unit. Now go steal from someone else because you're not getting any more of my money.

Actually thats not true, it does recognize regular size drives. There is an adapter that is sold and I've seen them use a 750GB on it.

Hahaha!

Ah, reading up on it, it does seem like the only limitation is the maximum size of a compatible 2.5" drive.

The PS3 will recognize any hard drive that's 2.5''. Right now the biggest 2.5'' drive has 500 GB of storage.
There aren't any drives, that I know, above 500 GB.

I'm not sure how it works exactly, but there is a "backup" option that allows you to restore to a brand new drive in the PS3 system menu (you need an external drive big enough to house the backup). I'd think you'd be able to easily restore your stuff to the new PS3.

But the hard drive stays outside of the case, right?

The PS3 case only has space for a 2.5'' drive inside.

Maybe he can't put the old drive back in the PS3...

sorry, I wasn't clear.

You need a separate external drive big enough to hold everything. Then select backup to backup to that drive. Return the PS3 with internal hard drive. Get the new PS3 with new hard drive. Connect external drive to new PS3, and choose restore.

Exactly! If I put my 320gb hard drive in the craptacular refurb that I'm getting tomorrow it will reformat it first before I can do anything else. It is because Sony has the information locked to particular consoles rather than leaving it open for a system swap in the case of a system dying. Microsoft allows their hard drives to be swapped so why cant Sony?

My PS3 was dead in the water with the YLOD or flashing red light. You get no warning it is coming and it makes backing up the hard drive impossible. Also, even if you are able to do this you will lose all of the stuff that is copy prohibited. This includes games that you spend countless hours on like: Rock Band 1 and 2, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Guitar Hero, Mercenaries 2 and others to name some of the more popular titles. Excuse me while I go tear down the walls.

ah, sorry, should've read the original post more closely.

Also, didn't realize that the backup won't allow you to back up the copy prohibited files? Anyone know how this is restricted?

Yeah, that's why he's asking for a windows (I guess) program, that can read the old PS3 drive and backup the files. I haven't heard of something like that, my guess is that there should be something I've never looked for it.

sorry to heard that... i'll keep your advice in mind if anything happens to my PS3.