Do PS3s not like those SSD/HDD Hybrid Drives?

[0_obeWAN]

@0_obeWAN has a SSHD, when he made some videos for me before, and it was very noticeable the difference in speed in copying files in the XMBM installer and installing pkgs, I don't know how it performs for loading games.

Of course some drives might not be compatible, but it seems he has one that works ok, and is faster for at least some operations. maybe he can tell us more?

My san's PS3 is 1TB SSHD and my test PS3 is 128GB SSD (better performances)
It's a gain for game loading and very fluid the XMB
Edit:
Seagate 1000MB SN: W3817Y3V (1TB)
ADATA 500Series S596 (128GB)

 

[Silk]

What about the speed differences for an external drive? I'm debating getting a dedicated drive to use external for my game library, and I'd rather it be bus powered so I don't have to plug/unplug power every time I move between consoles. Since the PS3 can only be USB2, is there much advantage to an SSD over a standard laptop drive? Would there even be any difference of 5400 vs. 7200 RPM?

 

[umart666]

no.don't use ssd,waste of money for ps3.better find external drive or enclosure that works well on usb 2.0 and it's hitting near usb 2.0 theoretical limit.my 3.0 usb enclosure is capping at about 30 mb/s (where's usb 2.0 max theoretical speed is about 60mb/s) when connected to usb 2.0 regardless of device is connected to,so it's due to it's design or whatever (in 3.0 however works very well,even with ssd's).it's a cheap chinese one and i use it mostly with usb 3.0 devices so i'm not complaining,just something to keep in mind.

60mb/s is acheavable by near all 2,5" hdd's,so if i were you,i'll just buy cheapest option.

 

[Silk]

Fantastic, that's basically what I was thinking. Probably not even much point to a 7200 rpm. 5400 will run cooler plus be cheaper!

 

[umart666]

not really,there's no real difference in 5400 and 7200rpm drives in this scenarios,and i had really hot 7200 rpm drives in plastic enclosures and not even single problem i had with thermals.mostly these cheap enclosures break at contact points (cable,usb port) and it would break there long before thermals would have any impact on drive.if priced similar and you have usb 3.0 port and good chipset on your PC i would rather buy faster drive just for uses other than on ps3.

that being said,i wouldn't give more than 5 bucks more for faster drive.find good enclosure and slap in cheapest 1tb drive or buy cheap and good already finished external usb drive,just check first how it performs in usb 2.0 mode.

 

[0_obeWAN]

Yes its possible it is limited to the BD speed anyway to avoid read errors or something like that. On the other hand, maybe the early SSDs were not as good as emulating a normal HDD, and also its possible that with ISOs they would work better, those tests were most likely before ISOs?. A game like GTA V that drops textures when driving at high speed (off internal hdd) might be good for some up to date tests. A compatibility list would be good too if SSHDs/SSDs are quicker.

Another thought I had, SSHDs/SSDs might effect NANDS and NORs differently, as there is a virtual flash partition on the HDD in NORs, and SSHDs are meant to put files accessed most often onto the flash partition in the SSHD, at least I think that's how they work, well in that case those and SSDs might help with XMB loading times and other FW related reads if it works as it should.

Off topic: Also would love to know if there are really some 2TB standard drives that work internally, I have read it but never seen it confirmed properly, maybe its just a myth.

If you have idea of difference between PC with SSD vs PC with HDD performance, is the same
Exemple GTA V 1.27 from XMB (X) spown in game (playable) is 01:03 minute (stopwatch)

 

[Silk]

If you have idea of difference between PC with SSD vs PC with HDD performance, is the same
Exemple GTA V 1.27 from XMB (X) spown in game (playable) is 01:03 minute (stopwatch)

OK now I'm confused - this sounds like you are contradicting what's been said by others above. Are you talking about an *external* SSD? That's specifically what I'm looking to do, I'm not going to change the internal drives on my consoles at this time.

 

[bguerville]

If you have idea of difference between PC with SSD vs PC with HDD performance, is the same
Exemple GTA V 1.27 from XMB (X) spown in game (playable) is 01:03 minute (stopwatch)

Sure you gain a little in loading time.. But the game play does not improve however.
Once your console is setup, games installed & file transfers done, it's an expensive setup to gain 30s on loading an average game especially considering the issues that the OS experiences in dealing with a tech it was never meant to support. Instability of certain features is paying much for gaining seconds in daily gaming usage.
1TB equivalent SSDs are still far too expensive to justify its internal use in a ps3 anyway. And using an affordable one like 120 or 250 Gb will most likely require you to rely on an external hdd to store your game isos as well.

As to external drives, it's slightly different but amounts to the same thing. Usually one uses an external hdd to store iso files. It means a big hdd unless you only own a few games. So here comes the price again, you should not get any issues with the OS, unlike with the internal hdd, but a 2Tb external standard hdd is cheaper than a 250Gb SSD! Unless you have money to burn, I don't see much of a point...

It's only my experience & opinion of course.

There is maybe one thing that could be substantially cheaper & offer a significant performance boost on external usb. Although it's impossible to predict whether any USB solution will perform better than another tbh as the tech performance boost might be cancelled by a dodgy USB controller for instance...
I have not had the opportunity to test it until now, an external USB RAID 0 array... It's older tech but it works well.
Say 2x1Tb on RAID0 including the external box, that would cost about the same price as a SSD 250Gb.
Not advising to invest in it, just saying it might be worth considering the option if performance is paramount to you & budget is an issue.

In any case, read this paragraph on usb2 & ssd performance... It sums up the situation pretty well.
https://www.quora.com/Is-the-performance-of-an-external-SSD-decreased-by-USB-limitations

 

[umart666]

and you'll be wasting ssd speeds on a ps3 theoretical maximum of 150mb/s,which good hdd would come near to.there's near null benefit on ps3 for response time of ssd.

ssd bottlenecked by usb 2.0 is even more pointless.

 

[Silk]

Yep, all confirming what I already suspected. I'm going to stick with a standard older laptop HD that gets as close to the USB2 spec limits as possible. Thanks everyone!

 

[DeViL303]

I think SSHDs which are not that expensive as SSDs are a nice compromise, going by 0_obeWANs videos it would seem worth the little extra expense for the performance improvements. (if you have one that works well with PS3 of course)