Bigger HDD, Less Space?

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Paulie

Paulie

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Hey I just got a 500 GB HDD for my PS3 (which according to my PS3 is only really 465 GB :rolleyes:), and was wondering:
I never backed up my files, and yet when I turned it on first thing it said I'd already used 50GB?:scared: How can that be possible when the new one had less on it than the old 40GB did to begin with?
Now I've just re-installed GT5:P and done the updates and automatically another 10GB gone? WTF? It is just figuring things out by percentage of total space gone or something?

Here's a small instructional piece in case you lost your PS3 manual. (Note doesn't include how to back up files, you may wish to do this first).

Wait until PS3 is cooled down, remove power cord at back
Remove HDD cover on left hand side of PS3
Unscrew blue screw holding HDD tray in place
Lift up wire handle and slide tray to the right
Carefully pull tray out
Unscrew 4 screws holding HDD to metal tray
Lift old HDD out
Place new one in tray and replace 4 screws (don't over tighten)
Slide tray back into PS3, and move left until HDD engages PS3 (you will be able to see hole for blue screw through hole in side of HDD tray)
Replace side plastic cover (turning on without this cover back on can cause overheating)
Voila!
 
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There might have been stuff already on the HD, like bloatware, but I doubt that counts for 50 gigs.

Oh, also, I have no idea about that last bit.
 
Would there be any way to check it while it's in the PS3?

Edit: Except of course, when I first turned it on it had to format the HDD which said would delete any programs on it.:confused: So it should have started from scratch.:odd:
 
It could be the way it's formatted Paulie, some disks are formatted as 2 disks(?!?!) for the purpose of running operating systems and the like. Your's may be formatted for windows vista or the like. You could probably reformat it although I'd see if there's anyone with more technical know how who can tell you exactly what to do.

If you haven't had an answer, my friend who is a network manager for my school is coming round tonight so I'll ask him, he'll know the answer!
 
andydavies297
It could be the way it's formatted Paulie, some disks are formatted as 2 disks(?!?!) for the purpose of running operating systems and the like. Your's may be formatted for windows vista or the like. You could probably reformat it although I'd see if there's anyone with more technical know how who can tell you exactly what to do.

If you haven't had an answer, my friend who is a network manager for my school is coming round tonight so I'll ask him, he'll know the answer!
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Thanks. If you can ask him that'd be great. I may call Sony tomorrow just to check, but boffins like that never really know. It said it formatted the HDD itself when I turned it on.
 
Well a 500gb hard drive will never be 500gb because of a little trick manufactures are allowed to get away with. They determine a gb as 1000mb, when it actual fact a gb is 1024mb, the same applies from mb to kb.
 
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ASH32
Well a 500gb hard drive will never be 500gb because of a little trick manufactures are allowed to get away with. They determine a gb as 1000mb, when it actual fact a gb is 1024mb, the same applies from mb to b. I will see if I can find something which explains it better.
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It should still be at least 488 GB then.:grumpy:
 
ASH32
No, not exactly as there are 1024 bytes to a mb too and I think the same applies from bits to bytes too, although I am not sure on that.
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Ah, chain reaction, well that is dodgy indeed. I'm still more worried about the space useage I'm getting. Does anyone know where I could find just how much space the GT5:P updates have taken over the years?
 
Paulie
Ah, chain reaction, well that is dodgy indeed. I'm still more worried about the space useage I'm getting. Does anyone know where I could find just how much space the GT5:P updates have taken over the years?
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Well I do know that the GT updates download a few things in GTTV go in there and delete the ones you don't want and that will save some space. Go to Game data utility click triangle on GT5p and select information, that tells me GT is using up 3697mb, I think it was about six before I deleted GTTV content.
 
The GT5:P update has always taken up 10GB on the hard drive as far as I'm aware as a friend and I were discussing about the amount of space we had used up on our hard drives and noticed that GT5:P took up 10GB or so.
 
Iv not checked but is GT file protected ie. game save cant be copied. My 60GB is nearing its last few mb...so i think a bigger HD is in order. Now i know im going to loose some game saves but i bought a PS3 for GT and in preparation for GT5 i want a bigger space as im sure GT5 will use many many GBs.
 
RattyMcClelland
Iv not checked but is GT file protected ie. game save cant be copied. My 60GB is nearing its last few mb...so i think a bigger HD is in order. Now i know im going to loose some game saves but i bought a PS3 for GT and in preparation for GT5 i want a bigger space as im sure GT5 will use many many GBs.
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No it's not I copied mine across accounts fine, so you shouldn't have any problems if you back it up to a memory stick and then copy it onto the new drive.
 
I have just started a download for the PS3, system update 3.01 (had to manually check for updates to find it). Perhaps someone else could do it too, checking before and after how much space they've used?

ASH32
Well I do know that the GT updates download a few things in GTTV go in there and delete the ones you don't want and that will save some space. Go to Game data utility click triangle on GT5p and select information, that tells me GT is using up 3697mb, I think it was about six before I deleted GTTV content.
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Interesting to hear.

TGM Tiddy
The GT5:P update has always taken up 10GB on the hard drive as far as I'm aware as a friend and I were discussing about the amount of space we had used up on our hard drives and noticed that GT5:P took up 10GB or so.
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Good to hear.
 
ASH32
No, not exactly as there are 1024 kb to a mb too and I think the same applies from bytes to kb and one byte is 8 bits. Using this http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/ it seems the actual size of a 500gb hard drive is about 465gb.
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+1:tup:

This is absaloutly corect, and why your PS3 thinks 50gig is used, the XMB sees it as a 500gig drive, then looks at whats available and then calculates the missing amount "must be used"
 
My PS3 only thought less than 20GB was used with all my games and saves on the old one. Now it thinks almost 60GB are used with just under the same amount of content. It shows as saying 465GB, 406/465GB is what I have now.
 
Maybe the PS3 operating system reserves a percentage of the available space,( 10%?? ) rather than a set figure. That could explain the difference, otherwise I can't see how you are using up so much space.
 
Paulie
My PS3 only thought less than 20GB was used with all my games and saves on the old one. Now it thinks almost 60GB are used with just under the same amount of content. It shows as saying 465GB, 406/465GB is what I have now.
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How difficult was it to do, Paulie? I'm thinking of chucking one in mine soon, as I don't want to have keep deleting old and useless saves all the time. I could probably only get 3 more games on it, and I'd rather not be faffing about with it.
 
Sureboss
How difficult was it to do, Paulie? I'm thinking of chucking one in mine soon, as I don't want to have keep deleting old and useless saves all the time. I could probably only get 3 more games on it, and I'd rather not be faffing about with it.
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It was easy as pie, any old bugger with steady hands could do it. You'll just need a phillips head screw driver with a fairly small and accurate head. Trust me, it's easy. Just look in your PS3 owner's manual for how to do it.👍 Because of fooling around getting saves back I've already done it 3 times.:lol:

drivatar
The PS3 reserves some space on the HDD. The bigger the HDD the bigger the "lost" space.
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Thanks for the explaination.:bowdown: Maybe now I can put my 406GB mind to rest.:sly:
 
How did you back-up your saves? USB stick?

I presume no one has heard of an FTP programme like Filezilla for the PS3, do they?
 
Sureboss
How did you back-up your saves? USB stick?

I presume no one has heard of an FTP programme like Filezilla for the PS3, do they?
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Well, somehow my PS3 remembered all its system updates and usernames and PSN names without backing up. I only copied my GT5:P save game to a USB and this week's WRS replay to a USB stick. I did have to re-install GT5:P and wait for the updates to that again though.
 
I installed a 500GB HDD in my PS3 about 2 months ago. Before I changed the HDD I backed up the PS3 to an external HDD (500GB) Western Digital. Yes this did take some time I have a 60 GB PS3 that was close to full. Backing up took maybe 1-3 hour (don't remember) After backing up installed 500GB HDD then Restored back on PS3. Restore also took a lot of time; but after the restore everything was on the 500GB HDD I mean everything The few pictures I had, the little bit of music I had{I have all my music on the external HDD(10GB of music)} and best of all every demo and all game saves were there. Yes it took some time but just think how much time it takes to download games again from the Playstation Store! Just remember after backing up your PS3 is going to be VERY warm after the work it has done so be sure to let the fans run long enough to cool it back down before you try to remove the HDD, same when you do the restore! After putting in the 500GB HDD my PS3 looked the same except the amount of free space. And yes my new HDD said 465GB as of right now it says 295GB free; Oh well I have 187 demo games installed Most I've never even opened the only reason I keep them is if company comes over and wants to try them, My PS3 is for Racing games.
As far as the GT5P game the game data says 7760MB as I'm typing this the only other game data that is high is the NFS Shift which is 3075MB. Most are under 100MB. These numbers can be seen on the XMB>Games> scroll to the top then Game Data Utility> hit X button here> List of game data shows up then scroll to any game>Hit triangle on controller> information.

Last but not least in honor of pirate's day I hope this helps because I ARR not a very good typer ARGG and I'm very slow with the keys (I think the keys on my keyboard move around because I can't find the right ones) Way too many numbers in the arrphabet:dopey:.
 
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I think it's because the FAT32 system isn't very efficient at storing data. This becomes apparent when you format a large disk using FAT32.
 
Yo Paulie,

Got your PM ;) unfortunately I've not experienced this before so I can't comment much. But I think what most of them are saying is true i.e. PS3 reserving space, etc... You'll never get 100% of the free space from the HDD. Most likely its due to the way the PS3 filesystem is created.

BTW, the PS3 also has a flash memory (256MB) that stores some essential data (e.g. PSN username/passwd, firmware, etc...) so that explains why your PS3 remembers some of your information.

ROAD_DOGG33J
I think it's because the FAT32 system isn't very efficient at storing data. This becomes apparent when you format a large disk using FAT32.
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The PS3 "internal" HDD does NOT use FAT32. Its a proprietary encrypted filesystem.

Cheers!
 
Just get a 16+ gig external drive, you can back-up your data, and reinstall everything in one shot.. it's in the "format utility" i believe.. although it's too late at this point.

I went through the same process yesterday..
 

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