PlayStation 3 (PS3) - External 3.5 HDD Mod Concept (1080p)

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3.5 HDD Mod: You are here


IMPORTANT - when connecting external power as shown, DO NOT connect default cables, cut out the 5volt cable, leave only 12v. why? because if you connect 5+12v cables to hdd, hdd will never spin down, it keeps spinning even when PS3 power is OFF, but if you connect only 12v cable, then HDD will spin down when PS3 shuts down.

Here's a little something for those who like to mod their PS3, i digged out my ps3 just to play GTA V, but i also had some other games there, like Gran Turismo 5, but my ps3 has only 40gb drive, so i needed more space and also ps3 is known to have heat issues, its getting quite hot and lot of people have had issues that ps3 just burns and won't boot again, so i decided to take one of my old HDDs and use it, instead of the original 40gb 2.5 internal hdd, i now have 320gb external 3.5 HDD.

Update: I finally managed to restore the backup from old hdd, but it seems like you have to delete game data and re-install, savegames, trophies..etc worked fine. As about performance, original hdd installed games at 5mb/s, this external one at 15mb/s (not exact speeds, i just counted the seconds), so i can say that this mod made hdd 3 times faster, its worth it, also keeps the heat down as i assumed.

Keep in mind that this is only a concept, that's why i could not bother with the cables, i could open up PS3 and measure the voltages, im sure i can find 12v somewhere in there, so i could attach those wires to my extension cable and then HDD would be powered by PS3. I just wanted to know if its possible and as you can see, it is !

I would recommend using SSD tho, SSD would take a lot less power, generates almost no heat (can't feel it with hand, its on room temp) and ofcourse its a lot faster + you do not need to defrag SSD, so its win, win, win situation, but costs a lot more tho.




If you don't know how to use custom programs on your PS3 (like FTP), then see this article:
http://sethioz.com/mediawiki/index.ph...

if link does not work, copy and paste it, if still doesn't work, simply take first part of link:
http://sethioz.com/mediawiki
and search for "PS3"