PlayStation 3 dissected, drive upgraded

Being that the units are already popping up in Japan , it should come as little surprise that the PlayStation 3 has been cracked open and laid bare for all to see (sorry everybody, we pinky swore we wouldn't tear ours apart for your amusement). Even better, however, is the little trick to dismount the drive sled and replace the 20 or 60GB 1.8-inch drive with another more capacious model (as we heard you would be able to). One adventurous modder upped his unit to 120GB; see, maybe that $500 model can be of some use to us after all.

[Via PS2-SCENE and Engadget Japanese, thanks Christofer and Anno]

Read - dissection
Read - drive upgrade

[humpty @ Nov 11th 2006 9:51AM]

Really clean innards. 20 vs. 60gb just got harder.. i can live without card readers, but, not sure about WiFi.

[Billy Kincaid @ Nov 11th 2006 10:02AM]

I'm still gonna get the 60GB. I don't wanna void my warranty just to put a 200GB in there. And anyone with a 20GB in their system for 3 months probably wouldn't need any more.

[Matt B. @ Nov 11th 2006 11:44AM]

upgrading the drive does not void the warranty. sony, however, will not cover YOUR drive under their warranty, just THEIR drive.

[adam @ Nov 11th 2006 6:36PM]

The japanese model apparently comes with instructions on how to swap the drive, I think as long as you keep it in 2.5" format it should be fine, but even if u leave a 3.5" drive hanging out I don't know if that voids your warranty

[Ypoknons @ Nov 11th 2006 10:05AM]

Isn't the PS3 drive a 2.5" model, not a 1.8" model? I don't think that 1.8 drives come in 120GB models and it makes more sense for PS3's to have 2.5's since it's hardly a small machine.

[Shashwat @ Nov 11th 2006 10:07AM]

i dont think upgrading ur drive voids ur warranty because i remembr reading tht SONY actually allows it...u cud jus pop open the HDD cover and put in a bigger drive...if u go to the first link..u can see tht the guy can jus cahnge the drive with the drive cover...the dissection of the ps3 is later

[humpty @ Nov 11th 2006 10:20AM]

Well, apparently the Japanese PS3 manual has instructions on how to swap the HDD. I guess thats better than no instructions and people doing it anyways. woo!

[Jon @ Nov 11th 2006 10:36AM]

What about the software ? isnt that on the harddrive he took out ? then how does he transfer it over to the new drive ?

[saboola @ Nov 11th 2006 10:40AM]

It probably has commands built into the firmware to do a basic image of a new hard drive upon detection. The PS3 OS cant be very big, so I imagine this is the way it handles it.

[fox @ Nov 11th 2006 10:40AM]

http://tnpt.net/uploader/src/up4030.jpg
Hitach 320GB

it's easy to upgrade.

[Castle @ Nov 11th 2006 10:56AM]

Japanese site WatchImpress upgraded the drive to a 7200rpm 10MB cache drive and actually got "noticable" better performance from the PS3 during gameplay in reduced loading times from the HDD.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20061111/hdd.htm

[Castle @ Nov 11th 2006 11:01AM]

>>yeah, I just looked up that part number from the pic. It's definitely a 2.5 inch drive.

Yep. Any 2.5" SATA drive will fit in the PS3.

Once you stick the new drive in, it'll automatically ask you to reformat it.

[Jon @ Nov 11th 2006 11:02AM]

What about a External USB harddrive ? (not hanging out of that back like Fox's Picture)

[NaixJp @ Nov 11th 2006 11:10AM]

Yes, Any USB HDD/Memory is OK.

[Jason @ Nov 11th 2006 11:30AM]

Why would you want to upgrade the size of the HD???? This is where MS did the right thing... Who is going to copy their entire music and video collection to there PS3? You would still need them on your computer... to transfer songs to your player... if you use iTunes you need to use your PC to download your music, etc... it just doesn't make sense to put all your content on a drive inside the PS3... the only reason that modders upgraded the original XBOX HD was because you could copy the games to the drive... if you can't copy the actual games to the PS3 so you don't need to use the discs it doesn't really make sense to have a HUGE HD in your PS3.

Streaming from your PC is SOOOOO much easier... the 360 has it right there... now with the new update that allows you to stream HD video to your 360 there is NO reason to have a big drive in your 360! The downloadable content from the market place will be easy to manage with a 20GB drive...

[Storm9 @ Nov 11th 2006 12:17PM]

****Jason****get your head out of your ass.

I cant believe you are saying this AFTER MSFT did the HD movie download service.
Lets see u try and dl HD movies on to your puny 360 HDD.

The ps3 HDD will be used for many things..like storing PS1 games and HD content AND games will partially install to make games load much faster.

Not just music and video...
besides I'd rather have my collection on my PS3 than to stream it off my PC its more reliable.

[adam @ Nov 11th 2006 6:36PM]

Why don't you take your hard drive out of your 360, you don't deserve it.

20gb drives were a complete cheap out on Microsofts part, they put in a need to have a bigger hard drive and then intends to force them to buy extremely overpriced drives. You can go ahead and buy that $150 60gb drive when it comes out or whatever joke ms is willing to pull when it comes to the hd and the 360. Sony is clearly not playing the sell the blade/razors model of marketing with the ps3 hard drives, and I commend them for this.

[Pal @ Nov 11th 2006 11:41AM]

"Japanese site WatchImpress upgraded the drive to a 7200rpm 10MB cache drive and actually got "noticable" better performance from the PS3 during gameplay in reduced loading times from the HDD."

Don't get your hopes up. First of all, 7200RPM 8MB cache. Second, I can read Japanese so let me crush your dreams.

It says that installation times are exactly the same most likely, capped due to the slower speed of the Blue-Ray drive. Performance/load times in games are also identical across the three drives (even when comparing 5400RPM vs. 7200RPM, 2MB cache vs. 8MB cache). The only noticeable difference was the transfer speed of moving files between memory card reader to hard drive by a little over 20 seconds.

I don't know about you, but I'd go for capacity over RPM.

[Castle @ Nov 11th 2006 11:48AM]

>>Why would you want to upgrade the size of the HD????

Think the point is that you can do it yourself instead of having to pay Sony or MS for some proprietary HDD. You can just use any standard HDD you buy anywhere and do it yourself.

Also, MS and Sony plan on having downloadable HD movies (MS already started their service), I movie in 720p is around 6GB(V for Vendetta on the 360), the 20GB HDD can only store 3 movies with a little extra space for other things. If you want to upgrade you need buy the proprietary 360 HDD (20GB now cost $99) whenever they release it.

Atop that, the PS3 plans on having Downloadable PS1, PS2, games, and demos. Also, games can optionally be installed to the HDD to reduce load times. There are a lot of uses for the HDD.

If you're happy with the 20GB/60GB HDD in the PS3, then leave as is, if you want to upgrade you can do it yourself very easily.

[B1gC72 @ Nov 11th 2006 11:51AM]

ive been very curious about this PS3 HDD. it seemed to always get looked over on these overview/unboxing videos. so basically the hard drive makes no difference in picking your model. ill still get the 60GB model because of the WiFi and card readers (and i love the chrome ;-)) but ill more than likely upgrade the HDD as soon as i find a good deal on tigerdirect or newegg.

but the thing i still dont completely understand is the second OS. will it be used to make the PS3 like a regular PC when running the other OS? im probably overlooking something but other than that i really dont see the point of it.

[Jon @ Nov 11th 2006 11:56AM]

How big do 2.5 sata drives get ? anything larger then 120 GB ?

[SOCOMRAIDER @ Nov 11th 2006 2:51PM]

There are slow 4200 RPM 200GB drives out there.

[FB @ Nov 11th 2006 4:13PM]

I've seen up to 750GB... Should be enough space =).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148152

[futurepastnow @ Nov 11th 2006 8:00PM]

200GB is the largest 2.5" drive. Those cost a pretty penny.

[Castle @ Nov 11th 2006 12:03PM]

>>Don't get your hopes up. First of all, 7200RPM 8MB cache. Second, I can read Japanese so let me crush your dreams.

So I can I.

The article uses the compactflash as a quantitative form of comparison showing that HDD read speeds are not throttled and that any increase of hardware performance will equivalently improve the PS3s performance to the same degree.

Install won't be improved because its limited by BD-ROM read speed not HDD performance, however, however performance increased a full 20 secs off of ~5min(which they contend is very big boost in performance) for CF read speeds due to the HDD upgrade. Also, the article says the improvement in performance were felt from the increase in cache size, and that not so much from rpm. But during gameplay, anything that can benefit from higher rpm and cache should improve as well.

[Pal @ Nov 11th 2006 12:12PM]

So, basically the conclusion is...

If you want to pay more for the best, do so as always!

Too bad that the performance difference wasn't as dramatic as everyone had hoped. The games probably control the throttle in the games itself to ensure compatibility, so unless they deem the cap useless, those extra RPMs and cache will be good as dead. Unless you transfer files between the PS3 and memory cards. A lot.

[Castle @ Nov 11th 2006 12:06PM]

>>How big do 2.5 sata drives get ? anything larger then 120 GB ?

Right now 200GB have started to appear. Obviously they are going to continue to get bigger and cheaper down the line, 20-60GB are going to feel downright minuscule in a couple years.


http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/10/12/fujitsus_mhv2200bt/

[James @ Nov 11th 2006 3:38PM]

How can you say it's more reliable to stream content off the PS3? Have you gotten one? Have you used it much? Until you have used it for a while, you can say that the PS3 is more reliable than the PC. Maybe you PC is just a POS to begin with.

[crzyjamaican46 @ Nov 11th 2006 12:51PM]

2.5 sata drives currently go up to 160 gb but new 200 gb models should be out b4 the end of the year or very early in 07. companies have already announced plans for 250 gb hard drives as well. both new models use perpendicular recording

[bjay @ Nov 11th 2006 1:23PM]

Cool, one up for the PS3. I can only look on with envy. Dont intend getting the PS3 any time soon, will be going with the xbox360 for obvious reasons (still the next generation console dat delivers best bang for the money). Only if the 360 hdd is user upgradeable wit any 2.5 hdd. I could possibly hold out till d month runs out if the rumour 100gig ll be out and ll be bundled into the premium box.

[Riine @ Nov 11th 2006 1:28PM]

I welcome the fact that you can store things on your PS3. I currently have an Xbox running XMBC and I transfer all my media over to there to watch it on a better screen than my laptop. Sony is doing a very good thing if all the format support and 3rd party software is true.

[T.H. @ Nov 11th 2006 2:26PM]

I don't think this is going to do much to improve performance of gaming on the PS3. Rather, I think increasing the standard HD of the PS3 from the 20GB or 60GB models will benefit in loading up games to the HD. For instance, let's say you're an active gamer and through the course of 3 months you have 6 active games and roughly 5GB of data from each game is cached on your HD. On a 20GB drive, this is impossible and on a 60GB drive, half of your HD is taken over already. What about downloaded content such as game demos and video demos of games? Your 60GB can easily get filled up.

[Porsche 911 @ Nov 11th 2006 2:53PM]

Centon 120GB Notebook Hard Drive

5400RPM, Internal, SATA/150

$199.99

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=BROWSE&N=200112+4294967017+4294966898+502460+4294966761&Ne=301038&product_code=340703&Pn=120GB_Notebook_Hard_Drive

P.S.
(Xbox360 20GB*6=120GB=$600)

[Murc @ Nov 11th 2006 3:32PM]

I think that was a smart move by sony.
That wasn't as big on an issue for MS, because their of course going to make there products communicate with eachother (360 & XP/Vista), so all you need is big Hard drives on your PC...and your golden.
But now with all this downloadable content thats on the marketplace, there going to need to make a bigger HDD for the 360...they will likely start will an 80GB...and overtime continually make bigger sizes.

[Jason @ Nov 11th 2006 4:33PM]

FB:

Good luck trying to get that 3.5" drive in the space for a 2.5" drive.

J

[FB @ Nov 11th 2006 4:37PM]

It'll work if you leave it hanging like the Japanese guy did =). I mean, really, who moves their PS3 around enough to have to have the drive INSIDE the console... Well, that's just me though, I constantly have the side panel of my computer removed which makes all the innards visible... But okay, whatever, I'd take the 750Gigs either way =).

[Will @ Nov 11th 2006 4:47PM]

If you buy a 750 right now, you're either very rich or very retarded. The best value is 320GB hard drives. I have a 320GB SATA Seagate and it was shipped for $100.

[FB @ Nov 11th 2006 4:51PM]

I'll consider that when my bro buys a ps3... Which I won't think will be soon... I also really doubt he'll let me swap the drives... Oh well, whatever, I'll stick to PC Games =).

[Will @ Nov 11th 2006 6:07PM]

Amen to that. This console war is interesting and all, but PC will always hold my heart.

[_man1c_ @ Nov 11th 2006 5:33PM]

not bad for PS3 users at all. the thing is MS went about it another way. MS could allow you to transfer data straight from your pc and so forth allowing your pc to be the storage space and then stream it from there.. i like the idea what SOny did, but i see why MS if they do it this way should. they own 90% of the pc market and if they make it more easier to transer/stream all your content from 360/pc then maybe that 90% will eventually buy 360s instead.

[CM @ Nov 11th 2006 6:18PM]

So there's an entire PS2 chipset inside the PS3. I wonder if it can be harnessed while in PS3 mode?

[rv65 @ Nov 11th 2006 6:47PM]

Thats a great idea. Thats what I do someday when I fill up my future ps3's 60 gb drive :).

[CM @ Nov 11th 2006 6:59PM]

Dissection of PS3 Blu-ray drive, power supply, controller, etc.:

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/1111/ps3_2.htm

or (in Engrish)

http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2fdocs%2f2006%2f1111%2fps3_2.htm

Also, main dissection page in Engrish:

http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2fdocs%2f2006%2f1111%2fps3.htm

Interesting stuff.

[... @ Nov 11th 2006 8:05PM]

Anyone else notice that there wasn't a dedicated chip for the HDMI graphics? I always though that the $500 model would just be missing some chips off the board, but I didn't see anything worth more than a few $ anywhere near the hdmi port... So what made it worth not including (because as it is the only difference between the expensive/expensiver model that can't be solved without a little usb action is HDMI...

Someone has a new desktop background XD

[Will @ Nov 11th 2006 9:41PM]

... what are you talkin about? both the 20 and 60gb versions have hdmi ports on it, this has been known for a couple of months now. the main difference in the 2 models is that the 60gb version has a memory card reader and wifi built in

[Jon @ Nov 11th 2006 8:52PM]

So what do you think of this .... remove the PS# HD completely , Attach a USB harddrive lets say a external 750 GB 3.5 in ... I wonder if the PS3 would detect it and load info on it ... hummm

[choco @ Nov 11th 2006 9:05PM]

(*'-')/
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20061112/123441/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHS07EFGZ3g
watch?v=pcoEA69MuYM
watch?v=AdB2qQPv7LI
watch?v=qOf5m8XH4pY

[NaixJp @ Nov 12th 2006 4:03AM]

XBOX360
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2005/1210/xbox56.jpg

vs

PLAYSTATION3
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/1111/ps3_32.jpg

[L3ftonm3 @ Nov 12th 2006 4:26AM]

3.5in drive mod coming to you soon...

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o58/nesalang/ps3hdd.jpg

time for someone to add new Raptor drive to a PS3 and see how it performs then with 10,000rpm and 16mb cache.

[Dave @ Nov 15th 2006 8:48PM]

yeah, I just looked up that part number from the pic. It's definitely a 2.5 inch drive.