PS3 Slim OEM HDD finally gone bad. Need replacement advice.

Noxillio

Noxillio

Member
Hey fam, long time no chat. I pulled my PS3 out (formerly running REBUG D-REX 4.84.2), did some research on CFW in 2022, then converted it back to CEX (REX) and updated it to Evilnat since that's the only up-to-date CFW anymore. RIP REBUG.

Anyway, after restoring the system and performing initial setup, my HDD has finally gone bad.

Tried reseating it. It just appears to have finally bit the dust. He was a good and reliable soldier to the very end. But now it's time for new blood and having said that I would like to know the following to use during my search for the perfect replacement:

  1. Can I use an SSD?
  2. Should I use an SSD?
  3. What is the maximum capacity I can use?
  4. At what capacity will I start to encounter issues?

I do know what to look for in regards to form factor so I'm good there. If anyone has answers for me I'd love to hear them. Thank you.
 
1.) yes, some work fine
2.) no, some will start to have problems eventually. they seem okay at first but will force a format later on.
3.) i reccomend 1 TB to be safe but AFAIK 1.5 TB is ok.
4.) i think 1.75 TB is the max on recent firmware (but again I reccomend 1or max 1.5 TB)

good luck!
 
Ad1/2. Yes, but not all works ok for unknown reason.
Ad3. 1.5TB, if You have larger, You can limit his space setting up HPA region. CellOS doesn't lifting it, so can be safely used.
Ad4. Safe size is 1TB (some people report it works 1.5 but not all).
 
Noxillio said:
Hey fam, long time no chat. I pulled my PS3 out (formerly running REBUG D-REX 4.84.2), did some research on CFW in 2022, then converted it back to CEX (REX) and updated it to Evilnat since that's the only up-to-date CFW anymore. RIP REBUG.

Anyway, after restoring the system and performing initial setup, my HDD has finally gone bad.

Tried reseating it. It just appears to have finally bit the dust. He was a good and reliable soldier to the very end. But now it's time for new blood and having said that I would like to know the following to use during my search for the perfect replacement:

  1. Can I use an SSD?
  2. Should I use an SSD?
  3. What is the maximum capacity I can use?
  4. At what capacity will I start to encounter issues?

I do know what to look for in regards to form factor so I'm good there. If anyone has answers for me I'd love to hear them. Thank you.
Click to expand...
You can use an SSD. in my ps3 I use an SSD (120gb Kingston v300) from 2016 without any problems and I never formatted it.
 
Get the "best" from both worlds: go fetch a SSHD.
  1. Yes, you can.
  2. It's not advised as the SSD performance will be capped out by the console (the PS3s don't implement nor use any of the SSDs performance features).
  3. Beyond 1.5TB people reported issues with partition creation and detection. At the end of the day, the had to resize partitions while using 2TB disks, for example.
  4. 1.5TB or more.
 
Seems the general consensus is no SSD (either HDD or hybrid), 1TB-1.5TB. Should I take RPM of the drive into account here as well? What interface should I look for? (3Gbps or 6Gbps)
 
It doesn't matter as the SATA standard is compatible between all it's versions. The PS3 uses SATA I, that's why a SSHD gets the most performance out of it.
 
GuilloteTesla said:
It doesn't matter as the SATA standard is compatible between all it's versions. The PS3 uses SATA I, that's why a SSHD gets the most performance out of it.
Click to expand...

I'm aware of the compatibility, but the purpose of my question was to save a couple bucks. No point in spending a little extra money for a higher standard if there's no actual benefit.

What about the rotation speed though?
 
The only benefit from SSD You get are:
  • lower heat radiation to the console but higher heat vulnerability from the console
  • significantly faster block access time, which means games with a lot of files take advantage from it (especially if You will not play from disc image)
  • no mechanical parts, so You can drop the console on the ground and she will not took data to the grave
SHDD have replaced cache by micro SSD but once this SSD died, whole disk will die.

The faster HDD is, the faster sector access time, but more vibrations, sound and heat radiation. Stick to standard laptop's 5400rpm.

SATA type doesn't matter. You will rather not exceed ~60MBps in write anyway.
 
Berion said:
The only benefit from SSD You get are:
  • lower heat radiation to the console but higher heat vulnerability from the console
  • significantly faster block access time, which means games with a lot of files take advantage from it (especially if You will not play from disc image)
  • no mechanical parts, so You can drop the console to the ground and she will not took data to the grave
SHDD have replaced cache by micro SSD but once this SSD died, whole disk will die.

The faster HDD is, the faster sector access time, but more vibrations, sound and heat radiation. Stick to standard laptop's 5400rpm.

SATA type doesn't matter. You will rather not exceed ~60MBps in write anyway.
Click to expand...


Thanks for this. I think I've made a decision.

Cheapest 2.5" at my nearest Best Buy is a 240GB SSD so I will start with that and if I have problems then I'll return it and go up. Moving downward from 320GB stings a little bit though.
 
Alright so I've got the new drive in there but the system will not boot. I figured it's because it's a clean drive and hasn't been formatted or anything yet but I tried using "Restore PS3 system" and "Restore file system" and neither is working. It does recognize the drive, otherwise it would say it couldn't find system storage, but for some reason I cannot get past recovery. Does anyone have suggestions for me or am I going to have to update to OFW?

On normal startup I get "The system software cannot be run correctly. Press the PS button to try to restart the system."

When attempting to reinstall Evilnat 4.89 it tells me no applicable update data was found (it worked normally when installing from XMB, but obviously I can no longer reach XMB).

UPDATE: Chose software update from recovery screen and it went to the "preparing to update" step. Looks like it's gonna work.
 
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That's odd. The PS3 will try to format a new disk regardless of it's technology. Are you sure that the disk was installed correctly?. What happens when you turn on the console without a harddrive?.
 
GuilloteTesla said:
What happens when you turn on the console without a harddrive?.
Click to expand...

Didn't think of that. But I assume it would say something among the lines of "the system storage was not found" or whatever I was getting at first when the HDD died... Right?

I'll try it when it's done doing whatever it's doing right now. I got it to the "preparing to update" screen, it got to 100%, and then it restarted. But now I have no video signal (but the console is running - with no HDD indicator). Will wait a bit for it to restart and then provide more information.
 
I've still got no video signal. Console is still running. But no HDD indicator (there was one before but after the "preparing to update" restart there is none). Should I hold the power button and shut down the system to try again?

Another update: I forced a shut down and I'm still just outright getting no HDMI signal. Recovery menu doesn't show up, no black screen, just nothing. I'm starting to think I need to go grab my composite cables out of storage. Does anyone at all have further advice or input before I do that?
 
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Noxillio said:
Didn't think of that. But I assume it would say something among the lines of "the system storage was not found" or whatever I was getting at first when the HDD died... Right?
Click to expand...

It should "No storage found on the system", or something like that. If that message appears, then the HDD might be the guilty one here.

Noxillio said:
I've still got no video signal. Console is still running. But no HDD indicator (there was one before but after the "preparing to update" restart there is none). Should I hold the power button and shut down the system to try again?

Another update: I forced a shut down and I'm still just outright getting no HDMI signal. Recovery menu doesn't show up, no black screen, just nothing. I'm starting to think I need to go grab my composite cables out of storage. Does anyone at all have further advice or input before I do that?
Click to expand...

Very weird behaviour. If you go into recovery menu you should get HDMI video signal. Try to get a composite cable if you have one.

Also, shutdown the console and unplug it from the wall. Let it discharge for about 5 minutes or so. Got some issue once after formating the HDD while trying to update my console with CFW and it wouldn't work from the recovery menu.

I've spent the entire afternoon trying to make it work, so I left it until the next day and everything worked out perfectly.
 
GuilloteTesla said:
It should "No storage found on the system", or something like that. If that message appears, then the HDD might be the guilty one here.



Very weird behaviour. If you go into recovery menu you should get HDMI video signal. Try to get a composite cable if you have one.

Also, shutdown the console and unplug it from the wall. Let it discharge for about 5 minutes or so. Got some issue once after formating the HDD while trying to update my console with CFW and it wouldn't work from the recovery menu.

I've spent the entire afternoon trying to make it work, so I left it until the next day and everything worked out perfectly.
Click to expand...


Behavior is becoming more weird.

With the SSD in, system won't do anything. No display output, seemingly does nothing with the drive itself, and power to USB ports disappears (as seen from lights on controller stop flashing).

With no hard drive in, I get the same error I was getting when the hard drive died. No applicable system storage was found (my wording might be slightly wrong).

With the OEM hard drive in, I get the usual hard drive failure errors, rather than it saying there is no storage.

I'm going to Best Buy again and I'm just going to get a hard drive instead of an SSD. That should address this issue, I think. Will grab a 1TB (it's cheaper than 500) and if that size gives me issues I'll grab a 500GB. EDIT: Ouch, Best Buy is closed for the night. I'll either hit Walmart or get something tomorrow.
 

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Success! Brand new 1TB WD Blue HDD did the trick and I am now seeing 931GB total available to the console. Thanks for the assistance, everyone.
 
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