How to Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive - CFW & PS3HEN HDD Replacement Guide

This tutorial will show CFW and PS3HEN PS3 users how to replace the hard drive in any model PS3 to a new hard drive or SSD while keeping your data intact! There's a lot to cover here due to three different models, size limitations, and necessary steps to retain or restore a modification during the upgrade process. This video aims to cover as many bases as possible with the goal of increasing console storage, performance, and restoring any backed up data!

This method requires you to have either a jailbroken PS3 console running custom firmware or a console modified with PS3HEN. This video will assume you already own a modified console and have at least a basic understanding of how to navigate it.

#PS3HEN #CFW #PS3

This video has been made with Fair Use in mind and has been created as an educational piece of media.

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Timestamps!

0:00 - Intro
0:52 - Prerequisites
2:31 - Important Information on Internal Drive Sizes!
5:11 - Determining Mod Type (CFW or HEN)
6:31 - Updating CFW Before Upgrade (for CFW Users)
13:33 - Data Backup via FTP
19:26 - Replacing the HDD
22:47 - Initializing the New Drive
23:36 - Updating HFW Before Upgrade (for PS3HEN Users)
25:22 - Reinstalling Firmware
27:17 - Reinstalling PS3HEN
28:18 - Reinstalling Necessary Homebrew
29:20 - Data Restore via FTP
31:57 - Rebuilding Database in Safe Mode
34:19 - Unlock More Storage!
36:42 - Outro

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Buy a PS3 From Here! (Affiliate Links):

Internal Hard Drive:

Internal SSD:

USB Flash Drive:

Phat PS3:

Slim PS3:

Super Slim PS3:

PS3 Controller:

Mini USB Cable:

Video Hardware I Use:

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Downloads & Links!

PS3 Internal Hard Drive Maximum Capacity from PSDevWiki:

Rufus:

PS3 CFW Downloads:

PS3Xploit for HFW Downloads & PS3HEN Installation:

7-Zip:

MD5 Checker:

Upgrading Your PS3 Hard Drive from ConsoleMods:

WinSCP:

multiMAN:

PS3 Unlock HDD Space App:

How to Jailbreak Your PS3:

How to Install PS3HEN on Any PS3:

PS3 Channel Playlist:

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Social Media & More!

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Song Information
Artist: pyama
Song: snow fall
Soundcloud: literalbagoftrash

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Any links specifically listed as affiliate links give me a small monetary kickback at no extra cost to you and no influence on the content.

[SlypDisc]

HAHA! I tried putting a 2tb SSD in last week and found out you kinda can't, then you upload this video. Good timing xD

[Teknishun]

I like that youre super passionate about what you do and you take time to show and teach. Truly a gem among the elitist console mod community ❤

[DT-Nicky]

I'm glad I went to a 1TB SSD from the start. Although I'm more into using my PS4 with it's 4TB SSD for more games. Great tutorial on how to do PS3 modding step by step.

[josephcepi]

Thanks for the nice cherry on top at 35:00 with the +8%. I haven't been paying much attention to the PS3 modding scene for quite a few years now and didn't even know this was a thing! Yet another exceptionally well put together tutorial from Mr Mario.

[LHV]

I litrerally just got a 1 terabyte hdd this morning to upgrade my 160gb slim to back up my games. this video really came in clutch thanks.

[SynthRider]

THANK YOU!!! I asked this question in a previous video of yours, and ive been out of the loop for a while.

[Cold_Media]

Mario, I cannot stress enough how much your videos help. I legitimately just ran into this exact issue recently and you uploaded this today! Keep up the good work legend 🔥

[xpavpushka]

Thank you for this guide.
Thinking about replacing my old 120gb HDD by 1tb SSD so this vid is just in time!

[ringbling]

I found this out myself last week like a previous commentor also found - and am using a fanxiang 500 gb ssd from amazon and a 2tb on the usb. Since its so easy and cheap to also mod a ps2 - im doing a 512 on that cause games like hot shots golf among others i want just play like crap on emulation. Fantastic information your work has helped me a lot!

[mueihn]

Awesome. I had this new SSD laying around for some months now and was just too lazy to look up the exact replacement procedure. Looks like you uploaded the right video at the right time. 🙃

[Chris_]

Nice to see this PS3 Update. Have it done also and easy enough with the PS3 update. After that these days a new password is needed for the same PS3 and renew the license for going online on the PlayStation Store. Nice to see it has some PS3 games still. I've to download everything and the way this video to do at home is great.

[PlainRubbish]

just in time, was about to jailbreak my ps3

[roloq]

Great videos as always.
Having trouble backing up the games files, trying to install a 1tb ssd into my ps3. What are the essential files needed to copy from the old HD, if i dont mind loosing the games
Thank you

[TheSliderW]

I believe 1.6tb is safe. I formated two 2tb SSDs to 1.6tb following a guide about a year ago and other than some issues starting the console from cold boot (which I'm not sure what causes that but I remember people talking about some clock RNG) it has been working quite fine. Did that on two ps3 using CFW thanks to your original video.

[stephensweeney]

Great Video, I used this to change out my 320 GB drive for a 960GB SSD. Here are some of the issues I ran into, and what I did to fix some of them. Let me preface this with, I am new to PS3 modding, but have years in Retro and electronics and software in general. The "game" directory was a nightmare to backup, and I seemed to have lost some of my savedata from a pkg installed ps2 game even though all the directories were properly backed up for that. GT6 was impossible to backup from the HD. If I were doing this again.... and I may start from scratch. I would like to have all my games as ISO's, and I plan to convert them all to that.... much easier to deal with. Use the savegame utility in XMB to backup all your saves and progress. After doing all of this, I am having a lot of issues with starting homebrew software... it is a 50/50 change it will start or freeze, and this is with all the homebrew. Before the upgrade it was only the occational mmcm freeze... So this is the biggest driver to start from scratch. I am just going to rebuild, add Hen, and start each ISO so it can rebuild its cache and update, then restore savedata. Hope this makes it more stable.

[adrianb.]

I am about to receive a PS3 Slim 2001b, which is not modded and I want to replace the internal drive with a 1TB SSD. I do not know the firmware that's on it yet. Can I just place the new SSD in first and then continue installing CFW 4.91, or do I need to do other things before removing the internal HDD, like updating to the official 4.91 system? There are no backups, nothing that i need to transfer. I've never owned one before and am trying to keep up with your outstanding tutorials; congrats on what you do here!

[yourstillwithme]

What folder/location do you drop Movies from your PC on the ps3 when transferring files? I always do it from USB directly to the console because i dont know what folder i need to manually drop the files, as the console seems to split each Video file separately into like 2-3 split files. This would save me SO MUCH TIME if i could do like my 150-300GB files i need to transfer of movies.

[karan]

I installed a 128 gigs ssd in ps3 hen, it just booted straight up with some copying and formatting of ssd, when i checked the storage is said 111gb/119gb free space, did i do something wrong because hen is till there and i did not need to install it again like shown in the video.

*111gb because i have used the 8 percent storage method before

[myretronation]

Been using a 1.5TB HDD for awhile
Thankfully no problems yetm🙏

[charlyg]

Good day Mr Mario. Love your videos. I do have a question. I have a Seagate Video 2.5 hdd 1TB and I want to upgrade my Ps3 Slim's internal storage. Will it work just fine on my Ps3?