PS3 slim 12gb - HDD upgrade

[briareos_kerensky]

The drive on my PS3 fat died so I went shopping for a replacement, but could only find the 12GB model (no HDD, only flash memory) in the nearby superstore, so I skipped it, as I have around 100GB occupied on the current console.
However, with the old PS3 out of commission, I would have a spare drive to use. The slim 12GB model accepts extra HDDs, but the manual mentions a dedicated support that apparently it's no longer sold by Sony itself (it's not on their online store). I searched online a bit more, and the support is not really needed, though it looks like the HDD would stress the SATA connectors with a horizontal console.
So, question time: will the support used in the fat PS3 fit into a slim PS3? Can the lack of the extra support in the slim create problems in the long run?

[speedlolita]

You mean a caddy? I just picked up an OEM one by Sony for ?5 on eBay. Also picked up a super slim vert stand for another fiver.

Used a cardboard wedge for support for over a year with no issue though.

[briareos_kerensky]

Yeah, I meant a caddy. Slims don't stand up on their own, or the stand is just for added stability?

[speedlolita]

Stability. It doesn't weigh much after all and is about 2cm thick.

[ste]

i found the official ps3 slim hd caddy in game for like ?4.99 a couple of months back

[speedlolita]

Not sure if briareos has Game stores in Italy/Switzerland.

[briareos_kerensky]

There are similar stores in italy, and I'm sure they are in Switzerland as well, but not near where I live. I'll see today if I can use the fat PS3 caddy or resort to more "rustic" options to secure the drive.

[briareos_kerensky]

To answer my question: no, the fat PS3 HDD caddy won't fit in a slim. But the speedlolita-approved cardboard works fine.

[S3M]

So the Slim can have a second hard drive? That's interesting to know I'm thinking of upgrading my PS3 hard drive as despite it been 120G it's been totally full up for sometime now and I'm sick of having to uninstall one game to add another Does the PS3 have a HD size limit or can I add in a 1TB drive without a problem.

[briareos_kerensky]

The 12GB slim doesn't come with a HDD, only internal flash memory. You can install your own hard drive and the PS3 will start to use that instead of the flash memory. So, just one HDD.

[S3M]

The 12GB slim doesn't come with a HDD, only internal flash memory. You can install your own hard drive and the PS3 will start to use that instead of the flash memory. So, just one HDD.

Really only flash memory? Man that sucks....

[speedlolita]

Same as the 4GB Xbox 360!

And it is dog slow, not like an SSD.

[briareos_kerensky]

I feel that the BR drive is also noisier, or probably the large (and heavy) chassis on the PS3 fat absorbed more noise: with no sound, I can hear the disc spinning up.

[speedlolita]

Probably just weren't able to hear the one in the phat PS3 over the internal fan.

EDIT: Begun the process of upgrading PS3 HDD.

EDIT2: Cloning the HDD works perfectly.

[S3M]

How easy was it in the end to transfer data by the way, I saw the previous thread about the whole get a PSN account to use the cloud.

Some suggestion on other forums that you can move the data across via PC and the PS3 also supports on the fly hard drive swapping so long as the drive is setup for that PS3.