zekere

Saturday, Aug 2, 2008

New upgraded PS3 A.K.A. Killer Station 1

So I've turned my PS3 into a killer machine being able to play Crysis full-specs with one subcore of the cell alone !!! How did I do this, you ask ?

Simple...I didn't . So while waiting to do that I decided to improve my hard drive . Main reason was Siren : Blood Curse, the downloadable horror game series on PSN . Being 9,2 gigs, my 40Gb PS3 would become very crowded, so I started looking around the net to find info about upgrading the HDD . I went to my local Saturn shop and bought a Samsung 250GB 2,5" 5400rpm drive for 90 euros (around $120) . Not so cheap, I know, but hardware costs a lot more in Europe than the US . My first intention was to buy the Western Digital Blue 320gigs HDD but it wasn't available anywhere near my place (and it was way more expensive , btw ) so it became the Samsung one .

Anyway, when I came home I dismantled my PS3 and removed the disk drive and replaced it with my new one, after moving my save games from the existing drive to my 4 gig USB card . I was pleasantly surprised to find this operation really simple, as the "dreaded screws" came out easily . When turning the system back on (holding my breath there) it immediatly recognised the new drive and started formatting it . After a few minutes the sytem rebooted and ....that was it . There was my menu screen again with everything there the way I left it . Of course my installs were gone and my demo's and video's too, so I reinstalled my save games again and started playing a session of Burnout Paradise .

I was gladly surprised by the simple and professional way Sony has made the PS3 "upgradable" and look forward to the time when I can install a new video card into my PS3 and change it into the afore mentioned Killer Station 1 .

One minor point though was the fact that once formatted my HDD was only 232gigs instead of 250, and of those 232 gigs only 209 were available for use . Anyone who has an explanation for this , I await your responses ...

209 still is ridiculous much for a PS3 today . I downloaded the Siren game this morning and reinstalled MGS4 and GTA4 after that . Let the installs come...I'm ready for it !!!

Posted by zekere, 5:57am

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Atheno

Well, usually, when an OS is installed on something, like for instance when I use my HP recovery discs for my one HP laptop. I'm suppose to have 120 gigs. But the recovery discs also install a "back up" partition so if I need to, I can easily reinstall XP and everything, not even having to use the disc. The thing is, that takes up quite a lot of space. Then you have the OS alone, that takes up space. So in the end, I only have about 100 gigs. Same thing goes for PS3. the OS system is installed, and you also have the recovery partition on it, in case you wanted to do a full system restore.

Posted Aug 8, 2008 10:32 pm PT

zekere

Hey thanks .

Posted Aug 9, 2008 2:42 am PT

Atheno

No problem, I know its annoying, isn't it? To get a HDD and find out that, 20 or so gigs go down the drain automatically, but hey, you still have 200 something GIGS.

Posted Aug 9, 2008 11:48 am PT

zekere

Yeah, it's a relief . I really was surprised by the easiness it took . 200 gigs is good indeed .

Posted Aug 10, 2008 11:44 am PT

Lyphe2k

I'm glad to hear it's so easy. I do have a question though. I have a 40 gig. I only have like 7 gigs left so I need to upgrade before the year is over. If I change hardrives, will I lose all my save game data? I have a 40 gig so there's no SD card slot. Also, what if I get an external hardrive? My friend tells me all i need to do is plug it into the USB drive and that's it. Is it really that simple or what?

Posted Aug 16, 2008 8:36 pm PT

zekere

I put my save games on a USB memory stick . It's a easy as putting the stick in an USB slot en start copying the save files to the drive . The PS3 automatically recognizes the stick and puts the save files in a seperate directory . When the HDD is swapped , you put the stick in again, go to the correct menu and start copying the saves agian . I was a little worried for games like GTA4 and Burnout, but everything went without a problem . I put the game disk in again, the install went all over again, and my save game was automatically loaded, allowing me to continue my games where I left off . I hope this solves your question a bit, Lyphe2k, also, I don't know about an external HDD . I heard you can put your save files on them without a problem but you cannot install game data on it... WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T SWAP HDD WITHOUT MAKING A BACK-UP OF YOUR SAVE GAMES !! THEY WILL BE LOST !!!

Posted Aug 17, 2008 4:47 am PT

Lyphe2k

Ahhh so good to hear that man. I was dreading the day I had to upgrade because I was always afraid that I would have to lose all my save game files. Thanks a bunch, z. You've been a great deal of help to me.

Posted Aug 17, 2008 8:04 am PT

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