PRESERVED FROM: http://www.myspace.com/playstaion3hddmod
   

Simple 3.5" HDD Mod Requirements

  • Your brain (or a borrowed one from a retarded baby monkey).
  • Enough of #1 to figure out how to remove the OEM HDD (If you can't figure this part out read this...)
  • 1 medium Phillips screw driver. (for removing the old drive)
  • 1 3.5" SATA HDD - find one yourself start here...
  • 1 3.5" SATA HDD enclosure. Like this one.
  • 1 Male SATA 7-Pin DATA to Female SATA 7-Pin Cable. (I'm using a 20") Maybe Get one here...
  • You may need a set of needle nose pliars, or a pair of snips.

Pictures & Instructions 

  • CoolMax CD-311-SATA COMBO - or an equivalent

    Reasons I chose this model

    • It's black, the PS3 is black.
    • Uses SATA or IDE drives.
    • Has a SATA connection which the PS3 uses.
    • Also has USB & Firewire.
    • It was cheap, only 50 bones at NewEgg. There are less expensive ones available, you'll have to look.

    A few other nice things, you can safely carry this unit over to your PC, Mac, & Linux boxes or another PS3. Take it with you to your friends' places, work and school. It will be easy to hook up; it has USB and Firewire as well as the all important SATA. There is little or no risk of ESD to the drive; in it's enclosure.

    So put your stinking 3.5" SATA drive in this, if you really have to; use the instructions that came with the enclosure, gosh!

  • Male SATA 7-Pin DATA to Female SATA 7-Pin Cable

    It should look like this. The male end goes to the PS3 and the female end to the HDD enclosure.

  • You will need to remove part of the male end as shown below. I used a pair of chef scissors and a small file to smooth it down flush. Use a utility knife if you like but don't cry to me if you trash the cable or your hand.

  • When you are done cutting it should look like the male connector pictured here. And if you look at this picture and say to yourself that you need to cut the connector from the cable, don't! If you do why do you have a knife to begin with? Maybe you should go play in the corner with a plush toy by yourself.

Notes

  • ***Important*** SATA is not Hot-Swappable, in other words turn off the PS3 or computer before connecting or disconnecting the drive.

  • ***Important*** If you plan to disconnect the drive a lot leave the extension cable plugged into the PS3. If you plan on hooking it up to another PS3 or computer via SATA buy another cable. SATA connections were not designed to be disconnected and reconnected more the fifty times, it will wear out. Buying another $6 cable and or $30-50 drive enclosure is much cheaper than having your PS3 repaired or replaced, so don't screw up your PS3.

  • The PS3 does not have the power to handle most 3.5" SATA drives. It is best that you get an enclosure like the one I recommend; it has it's own power source. Some people have suggested that you can use a 22 pin male to female power and data sata adapter(picture w/link below) with a 3.5" drive. Your 3.5" HDD will draw too much power from the PS3 and make it freeze up. These work great if you want to leave your 2.5" drive outside of the PS3 or if you are swapping drives all the time, otherwise forget it.

  • If you want proof of concept (i.e. pics) don't ask, it works. 

Thoughts

  • If you want cut, a hole in your PS3's HDD cover and run the cable through go ahead. However, I may at a later time make a male to male SATA cable. I will lilkely use the extension cable I already have and a cable from a SATA cable bracket like in the following pics. I will cut a hole of the appropriate size in the HDD cover and attach the bracket end to the cover. Figure this part out yourself.

  • An individual on Team Xecuter's forums asked about the use of RAID with the PS3. A Team Xecuter forum Mod said, 'No.' That is B.S. Let us look at it this way You can buy a RAID sub-system that has a single SATA channel and hook it right up to your PS3, Bam!!! Can you say Tera Bytes?  A RAID sub-system or DAS with have an embedded RAID controller. This embedded RAID controller will make the RAID array tranparent to the PS3, in other words the PS3 will see it as one device.

    Here is an example of a two disk RAID sub-system. This means that it has it's own RAID hardware and the Host (PS3) that you connect it to will see it as a single SATA device.

    Take note of the switch.

  • Attention!!!

    You say you're made of money and you need to make up up for the lack of something else. You want the most for your PS3. You want 3.75TB of local storage capacity for your PS3.

    Then this and others like it are for you, meet the MR5CT1. The MR5CT1 is a 5 Disk RAID sub-system costing roughly $1500 w/out drives ($1300 from Newegg.com). You can figure out how much you want to spend on 1-5 drives of the capacity of your choosing. At the time this page was created, 5 750GB drives at Newegg will run you about $3000 for 3.75TB storage device.

    Here is a RAID calculator for you.

    Here is the link to the manufacturer's web site.

    You will need a Shielded eSATA to SATA cable. Buy one here.

Tested USB Devices

(+) = working, (-) = not working, (*) = not tested

						XMB	Linux

SmartDisk USB 3.5" floppy			-	+
Atech Flash PRO-9 USB 2.0 MultiCard Reader	+	+
Logitech Wingman Rumblepad			+	+
USB Mass Storage**				+	+
Logitech Quickcam Pro4000			-	*
Sony PS2 IR remote via RadioShack USB		+	*
SonY PS2 Dual Shock controller			+	*
USB Keyboard and Mice***			+	+



**Multiple branded USB flash drives, 2.5" HDDs, 3.5" HDDs

***Dynex USB Keyboard and Mouse Combo, Logitech Cordless Duo MX, others.