• 10Feb 08

  PlayStation 3 Hard Drive Upgrade

  With all the games, videos, and demos that I have downloaded and all the CDs that I have put on it, I was about out of free space. It was time to upgrade, and by that I mean go big!

  I replaced the original PS3 60GB with a huge 320GB drive that resulted in 298GB available after the formatting. It was an easy process, and the new drive rocks. Thanks to Sony for the forward thinking to allow us to upgrade our own hard drives, and doing so now, will allow you to get the new 3Gb/s SATA interface too.

  GameSpot's 'How to Upgrade Your PlayStation 3 Hard Drive' was helpful, however I strongly suggest that it incorrectly states "Both 5400- and 7200-RPM drives should work fine." Technically the PS3 will be unaware of the spindle speed of the hard drive, so yes, a 7200 rpm drive would work. However, 7200 rpm drives generate more heat, and will not be as quiet. The PS3 was designed to dissipate the heat generated from a 5400 rpm drive, for that reason alone I strongly suggest that people stick to the 5400 rpm drive specification.

  The original PS3 60GB is a Segate Momentus 5400.2, which has an SATA 1.5Gb/s interface. 8MB cache, 12.5ms average seek and 5.6ms average latency. The Segate can sustain 150MB/s transfer rates. It is a nice 2.5-inch hard drive.

  The new drive is a 2.5-inch Western Digital Scorpio model WD3200BEVT. It has a faster SATA 3Gb/s interface, which will allow for sustained transfer rates of up to 300MB/s! 3Gb/s is the next generation of SATA interface. The WD Scorpio has an 8MB cache, 12ms average seek and 5.5ms average latency timing. With the 3Gb/s interface, the transfer rates will have better performance without question; however it does get very technical as to where this performance gain can be realized, particularly on our PS3's. That said, small (8MB or less) sequential reads and writes should be much faster. Will we notice it when playing, or using the PS3, that is hard to say?

  The WD Scorpio claims to have one of the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market, and I'd have to agree with them. You can't hear this drive over the fans, as you couldn't hear the Segate. The PlayStation 3 remains nice and quiet.

  Before I began the upgrade, I used the Settings >>> SystemSettings >>> Backup Utility to backup everything I had. After that was complete I followed the 'How to Upgrade Your PlayStation 3 Hard Drive' found here on GameSpot. It really is as easy as it looks, as long as you use the right size of Phillips head screw driver. Once the new hard drive was in the system, as the guide says the PlayStation 3 will format the new drive for you. Once that was complete, and after a reboot I went back to the Settings >>> SystemSettings >>> Backup Utility to do the Restore of the data I had backed up earlier. Everything went back into place just as it was on my original 60GB. Upgrade complete, and everything checks out and works as it should.

  Want more information on the new SATA 3Gb/s Interface, get it from the specification organization itself at http://www.sata-io.org/3g.asp

  Want to check out the drive that I bought, it's here at newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197

  • Posted Feb 10, 2008 12:27 pm GMT
  • Category: Technology
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• 8Dec 07

  On Gerstmanngate

  I've been a GameSpot member since mid 2002, and I frequent the site on a daily basis. I feel like these guys are my younger cousins, fellow gamers, somehow people that I give a damn about.

  When I started to read about this, I thought I might be done with this site, but after thinking it over and spending a few hours researching the rumors I have decided against that for several reasons.

  I read through a lot of the comments by my fellow gamers in Spot On: GameSpot on Gerstmann. From there I ended up at sites like valleywag.com, kotaku.com, and joystiq.com to read about the anonymous "gamespot" poster who talks about being in a meeting with the new "suit" Josh Larson from CNET who oversees GameSpot. If Josh Larson is in fact the CNET executive that oversees GameSpot, then I hold him accountable for this Disastrous Situation! I read the Kane & Lynch: Dead Men review before and after edits. Finally I listened to the Dec 4, 2007 HotSpot to hear the rest of the GameSpot guys talk about what happened.

  1) Legally CNET will not tell the general public why they let go an employee, that is common practice. No conspiracy there.

  2) I don't know why they edited the Kane & Lynch: Dead Men review, because it certainly is not a total white wash. If K&L was considered a "AAA" title it doesn't seem to live up to those standards and therefore deserves the score that it got. However short the video review was, its audio quality was fine; it shouldn't have been pulled down.

  3) After the review went up, Eidos could have pulled their advertising early, or it may have just run its course, we will never know. Did Eidos lie about reviews on its K&L website? yes I found that to be true by screen shots at the above named sites.

  Creditability, and integrity are important things for GameSpot, and CNET should recognize that since they own so many websites. I have been using CNET for tech type reviews for a long time, now I am wondering.... How much say does the marketing department have on the editorial department? It is a problem. However, for the time being it is a CNET problem, and I am not going to abandon MY GameSpot community.

  I will be suspicious; I will be checking other sites which I don't particularly like to do (GameSpot Webmasters Rock!). I will be watching closely to see what happens and I expect that the CNET overseer makes damn sure that the marketing department has no say in what the editorial writes. If that does not happen, then the GameSpot community needs to join together and call for the CNET overseer to step down.

  • Posted Dec 8, 2007 12:43 pm GMT
  • Category: Opinion
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