PS3 [GUIDE] SSD for PlayStation 3

Youtube guides show to replace the ssd, and then boot with a USB drive with a firmware update.
I'm on Evilnat 4.90.
So what firmware do I put on the usb??
Or should it work without the usb?
 
Your questions aren't related to thread at all.

Any fw which you want to install or which can be installed (i.e You cannot install CFW over OFW past 3.55; CFW older than current fw without QA flag; CFW on models with unified bootloader; CEX over DEX and vice versa). In your case, 4.90 or 4.91 Evilnat, probably CEX or PEX.

Only PS3 models with NAND memory doesn't need update package on USB, that's because fw on them fully residing on that kind of flash memory. On PS3's with NOR and eMMC, *.pup on USB is mandatory for VFLASH partition.
 
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The Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SSD (MZ-77E1T0B) shuts my PS3 down and ouputs an A0802022 error in the SYSCON logs when I start up a PS2 game with ps2_netemu. Not much of an issue as they work perfectly fine on ps2_emu since I'm using a CECHA01, but just a note for anyone wanting to use this SSD with their PS3.
 
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I'm currently using a Kingston SA400S37 960GB SSD on my CECHA-01.
It works mostly fine, except for a couple of things:
  • Sometimes when starting up , it won't be detected and complain about the missing drive. Turning off by the switch and turning on again solves this.
  • It won't play PS1/PS2 physical backups (I'm running EvilNAT 4.90)
Other than that, it works fine and I can play PS1 and PS2 ISOs using HW without issues, and those load very fast compared to using the original discs.
 
MrEWhite said:
The Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SSD (MZ-77E1T0B) shuts my PS3 down and ouputs an A0802022 error in the SYSCON logs when I start up a PS2 game with ps2_netemu. Not much of an issue as they work perfectly fine on ps2_emu since I'm using a CECHA01, but just a note for anyone wanting to use this SSD with their PS3.
Click to expand...
I'm using the same SSD, except it's a 500GB model.
Launching games with ps2_netemu works just fine (Slim 2504A).
A0802022 errors are completely normal when playing PS2 games, don't worry :encouragement:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/error-a0802022-and-ps2-emulation.43788/

Also, I remember someone having similar issues with ps2_netemu on a CECHA01, using a regular HDD.

So, even if a defective SSD is a possibility here, it might be something else.
 
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Mitsu™ said:
I'm using the same SSD, except it's a 500GB model.
Launching games with ps2_netemu works just fine (Slim 2504A).
A0802022 errors are completely normal when playing PS2 games, don't worry :encouragement:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/error-a0802022-and-ps2-emulation.43788/

Also, I remember someone having similar issues with ps2_netemu on a CECHA01, using a regular HDD.

So, even if a defective SSD is a possibility here, it might be something else.
Click to expand...
A0802022 and the console shuts off immediately, it doesn't just put that error in the log and continue on. Putting in a slower HDD (which had the problem I was experiencing here https://www.psx-place.com/threads/cecha01-hardware-bc-fmv-stutter.44712) allows ps2_netemu to work fine, so I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware problem outside of the SSD.
 
It is known, yet interesting issue. Some wise people actually hacking these emus to get some nice features to add, maybe it is possible to look into that deeper.
 
MrEWhite said:
A0802022 and the console shuts off immediately, it doesn't just put that error in the log and continue on. Putting in a slower HDD (which had the problem I was experiencing here https://www.psx-place.com/threads/cecha01-hardware-bc-fmv-stutter.44712) allows ps2_netemu to work fine, so I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware problem outside of the SSD.
Click to expand...
Update on this, for some reason it only crashes if I have upscaling set to off on the PS3. Setting it to normal lets ps2_netemu work on the SSD. Odd stuff.
 
Just bought second hand PS3 Super Slim couple of months ago. So quite new to PS3 world. Got 2 SSD after upgrade my 10 yr old pc with new one which got 2 TB NVME. So got myself 2 spare SSD. 500gb Samsung EVO 860 & 1TB Kingston KC600. Been trying KC600 with ps3hen. But the system keep freeze. Sometimes even Enable Hen would freeze the system. Even when Enable Hen was ok, starting multiMan is very slim chance. Even opening webman setup could freeze it.

After a while i give up n put spare HDD Seagate Barrucuda 1TB, n everyhing was fine. But then i realised i still hv 860 Evo. And it works. I can't confirm wether difference size (500Gb vs 1Tb) OR model/brand (Samsung 860 Evo vs Kingston KC600). But Samsung Evo 860 500gb works. The only time it hang were when i try start multiMan while 320gb Toshiba with external casing was attached. Apart from that at the moment as of November 2024, the system is fine. So far.
 
Berion said:
Although Solid-State Drives have been with us on the market for a very long time, it's only in the last few years that large capacities have begun to become attainable for the average consumer's wallet, and thus have become commonplace in use. Is an SSD suitable for an ancient console like the PS3 - which, after all, has always been sold exclusively with a hard disk drive (HDD)? It depends... And from what and why I will try to explain in this guide.

Speed
The internal storage interface is Serial ATA 1.0, or so-called SATA-150 (SATA-I). The maximum amount of data it can transfer is 1.5Gb/s (~188MB/s), or ~179MiB/s. From which it follows that no matter how fast an SSD you put in your console, you won't get read speeds above that barrier - and that's the theoretical value anyway - in practice it's even half that!

What makes it possible for games or their textures to load faster is a significantly faster sector access time than HDD and a much larger cache. This is especially important in the case of the so-called "JB format", copied files from the disc to the SSD (not to be confused with a copy in the form of a disc image *.iso), in games that have thousands of these files.

Capacity
As with HDDs, a relatively safe barrier is a capacity of 1TiB (~1.1TB). It's not clear what is specifically because the UFS2 file system, which is used on the user's partition, can handle up to zeta bytes of data. Above this size, file system checking stops working, useful, for example, when a game crashes while writing data and potentially corrupts UFS2. Then the next time the console starts, the firmware just calls the fsck and usually fixes it.

The second barrier is the limit from 1.5TiB (~1.65TB) to 1.75TiB (~1.9TB). Above this size, the media stops being detected by the console at all. It's not clear why this happens, nor is it clear why it's 1.5 for some consoles and/or fw and a little more for others.

If the SSD exceeds the size of, for example, 1TiB, you can limit it by setting up an HPA area, which will reduce the reported capacity to the PS3. For example, using hdparm.

SLC & MLC
The best type of NAND Flash, used in SSDs are SLC chips. Although the slowest, as you probably already know from the first chapter, it doesn't really matter for the PS3. The best because they are the least unreliable, have the most write cycles per cell and hold data the longest.

MLC stands for Multi-Level Cells, whether the write is single or multi-bit per cell. MLC, therefore, also covers so-called "TLC" (3-bit) and "QLC" (4-bit) which is what manufacturers painstakingly use in misinforming customers who are looking for 2-bit MLC.

New SSDs built with SLC or 2-bit MLC are unlikely to be found for sale today, and the used ones are by now mostly heavily used. What you can realistically buy is TLC and QLC. Avoid the last one, among others, because it can slow down to speeds even below HDD 5400rpm and is the most unreliable of all.

TRIM
To write any sector to the NAND Flash, that sector must be empty. If it is not, it must first be cleared to write other data there. The SSD groups sectors into pages, and during a write operation, the entire page is overwritten, so some of the data must be cached so as not to lose it, that is, written to the cache, which in the case of SSDs without DRAM is on the NAND. Calling TRIM, tells the SSD firmware which sectors are no longer in use and can be cleared without unnecessary caching.
As you can easily guess, this significantly reduces the amount of data written which in turn affects not only the performance, but also the life of the SSD.

The problem is that CellOS, does not support TRIM, or at least in version 4.90 (which is the latest currently available), and it doesn't look like Sony will ever add it. This can be prostheticized by periodically manually invoking TRIM from within NetBSD 6.0 on a PC, but it requires Linux, a virtual machine, removing the SSD from the console and, of course, reading the EID Root Key to be able to decrypt data on the fly, and it's unclear how secure this is (how compatible UFS2 on the PS3 is with the UFS2 supported by the tools in NetBSD).

There is another internal SSD firmware mechanism called wear-leveling, which works similarly to TRIM. To what extent it can replace it, opinions are divided, I would tend to lean towards the theory that the importance of TRIM is greatly overestimated.

DRAM
The presence of DRAM affects SSD performance - which in theory is irrelevant for the PS3, but in practice has a big one due to the lack of TRIM support.

Incompatibility
The biggest hassle in choosing an SSD is mysterious incompatibility. Many SSDs work flawlessly with the PS3, but on many, strange problems quickly appear that are difficult to diagnose and attribute to a potential cause. No one knows what the causes are, let alone how to determine which SSD will be compatible. And a compatible one is one on which none of the following anomalies occur, which - importantly - with almost all the space used (sometimes problems start only when the media is almost full).

The most common symptoms are (they do not have to occur all at once):
  • random lack of SSD detection at console startup
  • frequent UFS2 corruption (console startup with fsck, showing 0KB free space, etc.)
  • boot loop on file system check
  • PS2 games not launching on any of the emulators
  • very low read and write speeds
In addition, it is difficult to build a list of compatible, specific SSD models, because manufacturers sometimes change specifications without changing the model designation. In theory, it is feasible to prepare such a list, but in practice it is impossible to make it 100% reliable, even assuming that the user does not report any false positives resulting from problems other than with the SSD (all of the ones listed above may have a number of completely different causes).

Buy or not to buy?
Don't. :) Probably the best solution for the PS3 is SHDD, which is a hybrid drive where the cache is the "big SSD" and the data ultimately goes to the platters. It's not a popular media type, but I've also never seen anyone report mystical deaths.

Buy only if you know that someone plays heavily (that is, frequently uploads large amounts of games, and where the "dev_hdd1" partition is heavily used), then and only then, only this particular model.
Click to expand...

I will buy the samsung 870 EVO and try to disable the trim on windows via command, after that i will wipe out the disk with HDD LLF and them install it on the PS3 and test it. I will do this because a brand new HDD on the market is impossible to find because the HDD was replaced by the SSD during the years...
 
@HELLISH_WALKER Don't do that! Never for any SSD/NVMe! For wiping out data on them is Advanced/Enhanced Secure Erase, the build-in firmware feature. Not only it will clear all blocks/pages but also without transfer data from your PC.

HDD wasn't replaced by SSD... Both have different purposes and both are producing. In example, none of NAND Flash drives can be used for so called cold storage because cells are not stable without power in long period.
 
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Berion said:
@HELLISH_WALKER Don't do that! Never for any SSD/NVMe! For wiping out data on them is Advanced/Enhanced Secure Erase, the build-in firmware feature. Not only it will clear all blocks/pages but also without transfer data from your PC.

HDD wasn't replaced by SSD... Both have different purposes and both are producing. In example, none of NAND Flash drives can be used for so called cold storage because cells are not stable without power in long period.
Click to expand...
Thx for the reply. Them I will just put the SSD on the PS3 and test it. Hopes it works just fine and have a long life spam than a HDD. If we still have brand new HDD on the market I will don't need a SSD at all. I purchased one HDD from WD but on Gow 3 have some issues and when you first chase Hermes when you are climbing the chain of balance the game just loads and don't go any further. I think is the HDD.
 
Hey guys I was considering buying SSD for my slim (CECH-2104B) because my current 1TB SSHD starts dying ( I think, I've been having a lot of freezes as of late mainly when starting games or viewing trophies, and today when I tried to start a backup of game from PSN it gave me an error 80029519 and I had to activate my system first time since installing cfw a few years back) but now I'm not so sure. I will check my HDD with HD Tune or something else tomorrow and if it'll find any bad sectors I'm probably gonna buy another SSHD...
 
Hey all

I just would like to contribute with some SSD I've been using and installing on many consoles I've "revived".

I have installed without issues (so far! and fingers crossed):

Integral V Series S 240GB SSD - 8 (eight) installed
MSI SPATIUM 480GB SSD - 5 (five) installed
Integral V Series 1TB SSD - 1 (one) it was installed , now in a HDD/SSD enclosure and used externaly (formated as exFAT)
Crucial MX300 525GB SSD - 1 my oldest one - now in a HDD/SSD enclosure and used externaly (formated as exFAT)

I've installed them in many UK models:
- PHAT/FAT: CECH-C03, CECH-M03, CECH-K03, CECH-J03, CECH-L03
- SLIM: CECH-2103A, CECH-2503B

I never had an issue with the internal installed ones - tested adding games, removing, re-adding, re-formating, re-installing - all very consistant and working fine.

Full disclaimer: I recall one issue with my oldest one (Crucial MX300 525GB SSD) if recall, there was an issue installing it in a CECH-M03 (many years ago, I can't remember the full details, If I am not mistaken, it was very slow or such) , however, on the same M03 it worked fine as an external disk in an enclosure - formated as exFAT - I do use this drive today with many of the PS3s I test.

I hope the above is helpful.

Cheers,

M
 
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