How to Attach an External Hard Drive to a PS3
The Playstation 3 system may come with a large hard drive, but it is easily filled to capacity with game downloads, videos and extra content. If you have run out of hard drive space, but don't want to delete any data, you can use an external hard drive for additional storage. You need to reformat the hard drive before the Playstation 3 can access it.
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Instructions
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Format the external hard drive to the FAT32 file system. Use partitioning software, such as Easeus Partition Master Home Edition, to do this. Connect your external hard drive to the computer and open your partitioning software. Right click on the name of your hard drive, and choose "format." Select "FAT32" when asked which file system to use, then click "format" again.
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Create folders on your hard drive where your data will be stored. From your computer's start menu, go to “My Computer,” then double-click on the external hard drive. Right click on the screen that appears, and choose “Create new folder.” Name the folders Game, Picture, Video and Music.
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Copy files, under 4GB in size, from your computer to the appropriate folder. Files over 4GB in size are not recognized by the FAT32 file system.
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Connect the hard drive to your Playstation 3 with a USB cable. From the system's main menu, navigate to the sub-menu you want to access and scroll down to find your connected hard drive. Press the X button to view the contents of the folder you created.
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Copy content that has been stored on your Playstation 3 to your external hard drive. Select the desired file and press the triangle button on the controller. Choose “copy,” and a list of connected devices appears. Select the external hard drive as the file's destination, and your files will be copied there.
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Tips & Warnings
If you already have data on your external hard drive, reformatting to FAT32 will delete it. Copy data to another hard drive before reformatting.
When reformatting, do not use the partition utility that comes with Windows XP or Vista, as this utility will only format up to 32GB of your hard drive.
Do not disconnect the external hard drive while data is being read or copied. This can cause data to become corrupted.
