PS3 Largest External HHD/SSD Drive for PS3?

psy1

psy1

PSX-Place Supporter
Model = CECHA01 with custom firmware.

I'd like to add an external HDD/SSD.
I was thinking about getting a 20TB Western Digital NAS HDD. Either that or a 8TB Samsung 870 QVO. I'd like to fill it mostly with PS3 games but also some PS2 games.
Is there any limit to the size of the external drive?

I'd also like to find out will the games have to be any different to how they are on my internal drive and will they all work the same as having them on the internal drive.

Thanks
 
I could be wrong, but as far as I am aware, you can't put PS2 games on the external hard drive.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
 
Timbo9876 said:
I could be wrong, but as far as I am aware, you can't put PS2 games on the external hard drive.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Cheers for the info. Can someone confirm what Timbo said? I would like to be sure. (Does my PS3 model make any difference in that?)
And What about PS1 games? Can they be put on an external drive?
 
psy1 said:
Cheers for the info. Can someone confirm what Timbo said? I would like to be sure. (Does my PS3 model make any difference in that?)
And What about PS1 games? Can they be put on an external drive?
Click to expand...

PS2 emulator (ps2_netemu) only can play games stored in the internal HDD.

You can list on XMB the PS2 games stored on external USB drives. However the game must be copied to internal HDD before play it.
webMAN MOD can do this automatically, but it requires that you have enough free space on the internal HDD. Also you must wait a moment while the ISO is copied.

PS1, PSP and PS3 games can be played directly from external USB drives or from remote ps3netsrv.
 
Out of curiosity, why is it that we can play PS1, PSP and PS3 games from an external drive but we can't do so with PS2 games? Is it simply because "it's the way it is" or is there some other technical reason/shortcoming on the PS3?

Best Regards,

Desmo
 
Desmo said:
Out of curiosity, why is it that we can play PS1, PSP and PS3 games from an external drive but we can't do so with PS2 games? Is it simply because "it's the way it is" or is there some other technical reason/shortcoming on the PS3?

Best Regards,

Desmo
Click to expand...

The ps2_netemu was designed to play installed PS2 Classics from internal HDD. At the same time Sony removed physical disc and USB support to screw their customers and force us to pay again for our games.

Additionally LV2 kernel is replaced by the ps2 emulator. So Cobra payload is unloaded and path remaps are unavailable.

The other emulated systems have Cobra loaded and paths can be redirected easily.
 
I just done some experimentation.
I put 3 games on a 64GB USB stick that I have.
A PS1, PS2, & PS3 game.

I loaded the games through IRISMAN.

The system played the PS1 & PS3 game fine, but when I loaded the PS2 game, I only got a blank screen.

aldostools said:
PS1, PSP and PS3 games can be played directly from external USB drives or from remote ps3netsrv
Click to expand...

This is what I'm researching at the moment. It might be the best solution.
Can anyone direct me to some good information about streaming games to the PS3 remotely using ps3netsrv?
Or, I will try using webman...

Oh and btw, I'm still interested to know what the max external HDD size is for the PS3 (even if you can't play PS2 games off it.) I'm told that it's 2TB.
If that's the case, it might be worth it to pick up a 2TB SSD. Maybe put some PS1 & PS3 games on it.
 
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psy1 said:
Can anyone direct me to some good information about streaming games to the PS3 remotely using ps3netsrv?
Click to expand...
https://github.com/aldostools/webMAN-MOD/wiki/~-PS3-NET-Server


psy1 said:
Oh and btw, I'm still interested to know what the max external HDD size is for the PS3 (even if you can't play PS2 games off it.) I'm told that it's 2TB.
If that's the case, it might be worth it to pick up a 2TB SSD. Maybe put some PS1 & PS3 games on it.
Click to expand...

1.5 TiB is known to work fine on PS3. There are various threads reporting issues with 2TiB.

External USB drives can be up to 2TB MBR. On NET, the limitation is the same of the OS where you run ps3netsrv.
 
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Running a NAS on mine but you can load from USB with a BC system. You will need to use PS2 OPL. Now there is a small downside the app can only read from an FAT32 USB drive. This means any file larger then 4gb must be installed using the USB Advance tools to install larger files. I have not ever had any luck using the SMB shares but USB is fine with CECHA/CECHB doing as I just said. So that limits you to a 2tb external drive. As for NAS there is no limit.
 
atreyu187 said:
Running a NAS on mine
Click to expand...
Can I get some information on your NAS setup?
I'm still new to the NAS area, I was just thinking of buying a big NAS HDD (Western Digital probably) and just putting it into my PC and doing it like that.
But, I suppose you have a more sophisticated NAS setup?
 
4TB is the Max size external HDD you can use on the PS3, split into 2 x 2TB Partitions. Any more Partitions, or larger than 2TB Partitions, on a single drive and the PS3 will ignore them.

To get the maximum compatibility possible DO NOT use these sealed external HDD enclosures eg WD Passport drives etc as the extra software found on them does not play nice with the PS3 and often leads to the PS3 not recognizing them.

Best way is to simply get a 3.5 or 2.5 SATA HDD, same as you would put inside your PS3, PC or laptop, and buy a simple external HDD enclosure that is externally powered and use that.

Personally I use a Sabrent 2.5 HDD USB 2.0 enclosure, its cheap, reliable and does the job with a 4TB HDD split into 2 x 2TB [ 1x 2TB FAT32 MBR for folder format games, 1 x 2TB NTFS MBR for ISO Games ] Partitions and never had issues.
 
Cypher_CG89 said:
Personally I use a Sabrent 2.5 HDD USB 2.0 enclosure, its cheap, reliable and does the job with a 4TB HDD split into 2 x 2TB [ 1x 2TB FAT32 MBR for folder format games, 1 x 2TB NTFS MBR for ISO Games ] Partitions and never had issues.
Click to expand...

@ Cypher that's the best solution I've heard yet. Out of the 2 options: 2.5" or 3.5" the 2.5" wins out, as the 2.5" is smaller and more efficient.
Tell me, can the external be powered completely through the USB port?
I have a WD 4TB external that I have hooked up to my NVIDIA Shield that I have split into 2x2TB partitions and it is powered through a single USB port.
I will be testing out my 4TB external today on my PS3, if it works and I can access all the storage, AND if it can be powered by the PS3, it may well be the ultimate external storage solution.
 
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I tested my 4TB partitioned drive just then. (It's a 4TB 2.5" WD Elements.)
The PS3 powers up the disk fine and is detecting both 2TB partitions on the disk through Multiman.
I haven't fully tested it yet as I have the disk full of other media and I don't want it to delete it.
I'm about 95% sure it will work.
The format of my 4TB disk is GPT NTFS. I'm thinking about transferring the contents of the disk elsewhere so I can change the format and test it on the PS3, but I might have a better idea than this; streaming games through a NAS drive. I'm still thinking about which path to choose.

"To get the maximum compatibility possible DO NOT use these sealed external HDD enclosures eg WD Passport drives etc as the extra software found on them does not play nice with the PS3 and often leads to the PS3 not recognizing them."
Just delete the extra software. Those external drives are perfect AND you do not need an external power source to supply power to them, they will work fine on the power supplied by the USB port.

It might actually work as well with a partitioned 4TB SSD?
If it did, it would be better than a 4TB HDD.
 
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psy1 said:
Can I get some information on your NAS setup?
I'm still new to the NAS area, I was just thinking of buying a big NAS HDD (Western Digital probably) and just putting it into my PC and doing it like that.
But, I suppose you have a more sophisticated NAS setup?
Click to expand...
I have the Western Digital PR4100 24TB version. I have 2 partitions on it. A 16TB RAID 5 that is formatted with EXT4 and is an ISCSI share on my linux system. I have all my ISOs there and can run them via net_server.
 
Desmo said:
I have the Western Digital PR4100 24TB version. I have 2 partitions on it. A 16TB RAID 5 that is formatted with EXT4 and is an ISCSI share on my linux system. I have all my ISOs there and can run them via net_server.
Click to expand...
Long delay in replying sorry.
I ended up getting a NAS server but discovered that for some reason I could only load PS2 & PS3 through webMAN-MOD (not PS1 games.) I'm pretty sure this is because they are in .bin .cue format.

Desmo, have you managed to get PS1 games to load through your NAS set-up?
If so, how?
 
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