My PS3 is one of the original 60 GB models. Right now it's upgraded it to a 250 GB, 5400 RPM hard drive. I just placed an order for a 500 GB, 7200 RPM, Solid State Hybrid Drive. It's basically a 500 GB drive, with 4 GB of flash, and the smarts to copy frequency requested disk sectors into flash.
I was worried about moving up to a 7200 RPM drive, because of the warnings about extra heat. But this drive draws less power than the original 60 gig model. So its thermal load should be able to be handled without any problems (I also upgraded the heat sink compound to Arctic Silver 5 some time ago).
I'm getting this drive mostly for the extra storage, but if it improves performance of some games, that would be nice too.
That'll be an interesting experiment. I've been interested in those drives, but seen differing reviews online.
Yeah, let me know how that works out. I'm using a 500 GB WD Scorpio Blue drive in mine. I think the performance may be suffering.
When you upgrade, how do you move the data like game saves?
The PS3 has a very nice backup utility built into it.
When I first upgraded I had bought a 2.5" HDD, Firewire/USB enclosure which I planned to put the old 60 GB drive in when I was done. But I used it in the process like this:
Put the new 250 GB drive in the enclosure.
Back up the 60 GB drive to it.
Hook the 250 GB drive to my PC and copy all the files off.
Install the 250 into the PS3, and the 60 in the enclosure.
Copy the files from my PC to the 60 (now FAT formatted).
Restore from the 60 to the new 250 in the PS3.
Now I have a new 500 GB external drive so I just back up and restore from that without all the swapping.
Speaking of PS3 backup. I did a complete backup of my unit in prep for sending it in for repair. When I finally got around to calling their help desk to make arrangements I happened to strike a seemingly very knowledgeable agent who troubleshooted to the point where he could confirm what I already pretty much knew. I needed to replace the BR laser assembly. It is going to cost me upwards of $140 plus shipping so I'm thinking over $200 after taxes and such are applied. That's getting close to buying a new one and having warranty again. (but losing SACD playing ability).
My question is, I have a considerable investment in Rock Band songs downloaded. I know I'll keep the rights to download them again but I see days of work there. If I were to just purchase a new unit will my full backup reinstall my games or more importantly, all my game data including my songs? That might be the decision maker.
If you can get your old system online, and use the account management settings to deactivate the system before going to a new one, that would be absolutely best.
A few things come up when doing a back-up on one system and restoring on another, that don't happen when restoring to the same system.
On the same system, everything gets restored. But moving to a new system some copy restricted data will not. In some cases you can re-download the copy restricted data and it will function on the new system, as long as you've not reached your limit for simultaneously active systems. You can only deactivate a system from within the XMB interface, which sucks when the machine completely dies. But as long as you have network access you can do it. Speaking of, if the network is functioning, there's a option to transfer all the data from one machine to another using their gigabit interfaces (just plug on right into the other), without having to back up to a disk, and then read from the disk (it cuts the time in half at least).
As for my report. I got the hybrid drive yesterday, and after 7 hours of back-up and restore (3.5 hours for each) I had my PS3 working again. Didn't really get into playing any games, just started it up a few times to try to get the disk portions of the OS in flash, and entered and then exited a few games and video discs. The XMB definitely comes back up faster now. Instead of a few seconds, it's pretty much instant. As I try more, I'll report more.
Awesome info. Thank you Chris. That was extremely helpful!