# Formatting external HD for PS3?



## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Just bought myself a Western Digital My Passport 500gb external hard drive and have copied over all my camcorder AVCHD files from my laptop running W7. Some are over 4gb in size.

On connecting it to my PS3 is doesnt show on my XMB. I realise it should be formatted FAT32 but when I tried to do so it only gave me the options of NTFS or exFAT. Should I use exFAT?

Thanks


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## silverback (Jun 18, 2008)

As far as I'm aware you can't use an external hard drive for video (if at all)


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## byrnes (Jul 15, 2008)

I have a HUGE PS3 hacks etc .pdf

This is what it says in regards to external drives

NOTE: Your external HDD MUST have a external power source, it cannot be DUAL USB. NOTE: ATA (LAPTOP) 2.5" EXTERNAL HDD's will not WORK on PS3!
Making sure the HDD is FAT32
Remember, the PS3 external drive must be FAT32 formatted, usually if your buying a store packed external HDD it already is, but if your making your own you might have to follow a few extra steps in order to make it FAT32 and PS3 compatible.
Once your external hard drive is connected to your computer:
●	Go to START ●	CONTROL PANEL ●	ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS ●	COMPUTER MANAGEMENT ●	Select DISK MANAGER on the left hand side options.
Getting your PS3 to recognize your External Hard Drive
●	Select the external drive and read the "File System" type. If it says "NTFS", right click the disk and select "Delete Partition".
Now you must partition your HDD to FAT32, unfortunately Windows XP does not do this itself, so we need to use a few tools to help us.
Symantec Disk Checker is a great solution to go for, but if you don't want to 'buy' the software, you can always download a few freeware that work equally as well.
Freeware Install for a Disk Manager
●	Go to DOWNLOAD.COM and search for "Swiss Knife". ●	Download the program that comes up (CompuApps SwissKnife V3 x.xx) and install it when the
download completes. ●	Once the install is complete, run the application and select the external hard drive you need to
partition. ●	On the top select the following settings: (Partition Type: Primary), (File System: FAT32),
and (Volume Label: [whatever you want]). ●	At the bottom, select "Create" and you're done.
You should now have a FAT32 partitioned drive, to check; open "My Computer" and double-click on your empty external hard drive.
Now, you will want to create a folder system identical to that on the Playstation 3. Right click to create a new folder and name the first folder "Photo". Do this for "Music", "Video" and "Game". When you are finished, you should have 4 folders total in the hard drive. Each folder should (at this point) be empty.
You can load all the music you want into your music folder, all the video you want into your video folder, and all the photos you want into your photo folder. Your game folder should still be empty.
At the bottom right hand corner of the screen, left click the green arrow in your icons list and select "Safely remove..." Once your computer tells you "XXX drive can now be safely removed", unplug the hard drive from your computer.
You can connect the hard drive to your Playstation 3 and use the extra space to save information and access all your extra content saved on your external hard drive.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Thanks byrnes, thats extremely useful info



byrnes said:


> I have a HUGE PS3 hacks etc .pdf
> 
> This is what it says in regards to external drives
> 
> NOTE: Your external HDD MUST have a external power source, it cannot be DUAL USB.


Perhaps this is part of my problem. My external HD is powered by the usb cable when connected to a laptop/PS3.


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## OvlovMike (Jul 19, 2011)

Won't work then.


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## Junior Bear (Sep 2, 2008)

I have a self powered usb external hard drive. Used easus partition software to format it to fat32 and it plays video files fine. Remember that the maximum file size per file can only be 2gb though


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## RobH69 (Mar 3, 2011)

my hard drive is usb powered and it works perfectly on the ps3 as well


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## OvlovMike (Jul 19, 2011)

Lord knows then. I go by what's up there, because my PS3 has an even bigger issue - whilst watching a film or playing a game, everything except the PS3 becomes nearly inaudible. It also takes up an incredible amount of space, I can't put anything on top of it and the controls are made for 10-year-old Japanese boys.

I got asked the other day if I wanted no birthday present or Hardened MW3 for PS3. I said I'll take no birthday present thanks...


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## jomo (Jul 31, 2010)

I have a 500Gb usb external HHD which i,v formatted to FAT32 and works fine with the PS3!

I used Fat32Formatter, or you could use the HP version!

FAT32Formatter link http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=162012&t=0&i=1

HP link http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=123786&t=4&i=1


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