PS3 Hard Drive Replacement - Will a 3.5" ATA Hard Drive work?
I got some 250 GB Disks from an older server. It must be a weird server because these disks are 3.5" MaxLine Plus II, 250GB ATA/133 HDD disks, but nevertheless here they are. Do they fit in a PS3, 60 GB version?
Solution 1:
From How to upgrade your PS3 internal hard drive:
Things you will need
- Larger SATA notebook (2.5″) hard drive (hd), 5400rpm or 7400rpm.
So unfortunately with your 3.5" hard drives you are out of luck - they won't fit into the PS3 and they are the wrong type (ATA vs. SATA).
However, all is not lost. From the same site there's a post on How to add an External USB hard drive to the PS3
If you have amassed plenty of videos, music and pictures on your computer over the years then why not stick it all on an external hard drive and hook it up to your PS3. Easier, and much quicker, than streaming files over your home network this is an ideal solution for users with massive hard drive needs.
With the advances in the PS3 software, many video types can now be played and nearly all music and picture formats are also available.
So if get hold of a 3.5" enclosure with a USB interface you should be able to use the drives like this.
Solution 2:
Even more important than the lack of physical space (which, like all problems, could be worked around with a long cable and some duct-tape) is the fact that the hard drive is ATA, not SATA.
A 3.5" SATA Hard Drive certainly should "work" with the PS3, if you can figure out someplace to physically put it :)
Solution 3:
If its a laptop hard drive it will fit. That's what we have done, me and my partner. When our 250GB laptop's motherboard died, we used the hard drive from that in my 40GB PS3. Saves having to trade in and rebuy the bigger PS3. Probably be upping again soon.