question HDD advice, PLEASE?

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ecs2

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Jul 16, 2011
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Hello! I'm looking for the "best" HDD for my PS3 - cool, quiet, fast, & dependable. What should I upgrade my old fat60 to? Never had the first problem with my system, but I'm always out of space. Finally ready to change the HDD, but searching reviews I find as many pros as cons for just about everything. Some say Seagate, some WD, some Hitachi, etc. I know manual says 2.5" SATA 5400RPM, but what else?

Does 5400 vs 7200 really matter? I called Playstation tech today and they say nothing. A lot are claiming they use the 7200 with no problems, but...

I know this may be a proverbial "dead horse," but I just want to get as much advice as possible.

I also hear a lot who say, "I did this last night" and that is fine, but how about someone who can say, "I used this 5 years ago and never had an issue"? Like I said, I have the CECHA01 and never had the first issue...would like to keep it that way!

SSDs are still way too much for my budget, and capacity is my main concern. Any suggestions available from someone who actually knows HDDs?
 
The limited reliability information I've found suggests that Hitachi and Samsung 2.5" drives are more reliable than Seagate and Western Digital, but that statistic could already be out of date for all anyone knows.

It's probably not worth shooting for more than 500 to 750GB - all except the very latest Samsung are physically thicker and availability is patchy in any case.

Although 5400rpm should run cooler than 7200rpm, that only applies to comparable designs. As a rule of thumb, newer designs tend to run cooler.
 
I don't know if I agree about reliability. I've have more bad Samsung 2.5 inchers than anything, but they are OEMs. Seagate 2.5 inchers have given me grief too. Allmost all of my WDs are retail and I never have any problems.

I'm not sure what OS is used by the Sony, but you may want to avoid the Advancing Format drives, which are typically anything over 640GB or a new 2011 model.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

I am seriously considering one of these [or rather a 500+gb version] as it is about the only thing I'm finding still backed by a 5 year warranty. I'm not very confident in a drive that the manufacturer only backs for 1-2 years! But what are the basic differences in the Black, Blue, and Green Scorpios? To be perfectly honest, I might just back up my drive and pull it out so I can see what it is! It's going on 6 years and not the first problem out of it. Of course, it had minimal usage for a couple of those years.
 
Over a year ago I put an X25-M 160GB into mine. I know it is out of your budget and not big enough for you, but it is the only experience with drive swapping in PS3s I have. It did speed up loading in GT5 considerably, though ;)
 
What does anybody think about a WD AV-25 (or similar) WD5000BUDT, or similar? This drive is 5400 rpm (as recommended by Sony), but also offers a 32mb cache as opposed to the typical 8/16. Shouldn't the increased cache help with speed (load/save operations)? Also, being a 5400rpm drive, would it not run cooler than a 7200 and also spin less, hypothetically adding to the life of the drive vs a similar 7200 drive with 16mb cache? The two drives I'm seriously considering right now are the two below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136561

As far as reviews I've seen on both of these drives, anyone using these in the PS3 have said it went in and was recognized and formatted with no problems.
Any thoughts - Seems to me that the AV-25 would be the ideal candidate for the PS3?
Considering:
"specially engineered to offer cool quiet operation while providing maximum reliability in 24x7 always-on environments. With support for up to five simultaneous HD video streams, these drives are perfect for DVRs...and other demanding multimedia applications" (PS3, anyone?)
"perfect solution for a variety of multimedia applications and fanless environments where the drive operates below 65° C base casting temperature." (PS3 has a fan, but wouldn't that mean it would still be even cooler?)
"Optimized for High Definition Video (Again, PS3 is a Blu-Ray device!)...supports up to five simultaneous streams of HD video."
What would be the potential problem(s) with the Advancing Format drives, such as the AV-25?
 
We had one of those WD scorpio black in our HP laptop. It started developing bad sectors just over a year.
I have a seagate 500GB in my work laptop. Been running probably 2 years without issue, and that is with many hours of the day on it and daily transports between work and home.
 
My post hasn't been upproved yet, but I was thinking about a WD AV-25 - it has 32mb cache, but is still a 5400rpm drive...
 
There are many positive reviews at the newegg for that drive in the PS3 so it should work. The main use for such drives are for set top DVRs and surveillance video. The firmware/cache are optimized for multiple video streams, not OS performance. The error recovery retries are usually more limited and small unrecoverable errors may be acceptable in some video formats.
 
If what you claim was true, then A/V drives would be far more likely to cause crashes. The drive doesn't ignore hard errors after multiple retries, it reports a read error!
 
LunarMist said:
I don't know if I agree about reliability.
Click to expand...

My whole point was that I was quoting statistical data rather than anecdotal experience. People start to get superstitious about individual brands if they rely on their personal experience.

On the basis of one sample, the OP will not be able to discern any difference between any of the brands. The specs are pretty similar as well, although I note that Hitachi and Samsung quote a 14% higher shock rating than WD. :p
 
I have a 500GB Samsung in a fat40 and a 640GB Samsung in a slim (Can't remember the original drives size now as I never used it, I think 120), the fats been kicking along for years in fairly cramped, warm, quarters and the slim is constantly bathed in dust but both seems fine. Both drives are 5200rpm and neither system makes any more noise than with the stock drive.
 
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