So my brother is upgrading his PS3 HDD and is having me pick the parts and do the work for him. So far i've picked this drive(500GB 2.5 inch Caviar Black), and this 64 GB thumb drive to copy over his data to the new drive.

Questions:

1. Will this drive work with his PS3(It's a non-ps2 compatible 80GB model)? As in will it be compatible with that PS3, and work properly/all space be available for use(more or less) after formatting/setup/etc?

Also is it a good drive craftsmanship wise/durability wise?

2. The thumb drive...will it work for transferring the data from the above mentioned PS3 model's old HDD to the new one? And is it a good brand/reliable/long lasting? (I ask about long lasting as he or I may use it for other uses after this is done.

3. I know I need the PS3 firmware for the new HDD once I slot it into the PS3. Can I put it on the same thumb drive i'm getting to transfer the other data over? Or should I put it on a separate thumb drive from the one with the HDD data when doing the various operations/steps?

Thanks. Any knowledge from experience is appreciated over guesses, and thanks for any help in advance.

P.S. I am getting the thumb drive at Newegg btw, even though the link is TigerDirect. I just used that site for reviews for thumb drives as Newegg doesn't seem to have many written yet.

yeah the drive is fine any sata 2.5 inch will work

Well the sites say a thumb drive will work(And yeah.....obviously i'm going to do a full disk transfer to avoid doing it file by file. What do you think....I have a deathwish or something? -_-), so im going to transfer the whols of the old HDD data onto a thumb drive and then transfer it onto the new HDD(hopefully) after putting in the new drive and installing the current OS/firmware.So the drive is fine as in compatible & a lasting/reliable brand? Good......now I just need info on the thumb drive I chose(question 2), and question 3.

A thumbdrive should work as long as you have enough space on it to fit all the data. Why Sony, doesn't allow you to just back up portions of the data using that utility is beyond me, but if you're OK with all of it being transferred, then it should work just fine.

Any further info? You or anyone else have personal experience with that model or brand name of thumb drive? TIA

AFAIK it should work, but it's not something that I've ever bothered to do as I have a small enough number of games that I don't tend to bother backing up the saves. I just make new ones throughout the game.

I was asking more of using that brand of thumb drive for general usage...not just PS3 backups/etc....but thanks again.

Yeah my bro has a few games I can delete off the HDD to make room(AFAIK the 64 GB thumb drive only gets around 58GB actual space after formatting and 128 GB thumb drives are too pricey.), which I can always reinstall afterwards(saving the saves and just deleting the game data I mean.).

I had an extra question: I am guessing USB 3.0 thumb drives will be/are backwards comptible with USB 2.0 and will work with the PS3, but which of these is better, Mushkin or Corsair?

Mushkin

Corsair

The corsair is a bit cheaper but has less reviews(Only 1 written) to go on, while the Mushkin has more reviews but has a few troubling(albeit months old) reviews about the end of the stick popping off exposing the circuitry inside.

I need to pick one within the next 15 minutes or so so a quick answer from those who've used these brands(Not just of thumb drive but the name brands in question in general.) would be appreciated.

(I really am looking for transfer speed here, along with durability of craftsmanship...I guess both should work/be compatible with the PS3 so I don't need that sort of info.)

No one? I order/choose in about 10 more mins so I just wanted to see which to pick(it's down to a coin flip if no opinions present themselves.) before doing so. Both look good at any rate, but I wanted experienced opinions more than just random guessing/choosing if I could help it.

I don't know anything about their thumb drives, but I generally have a lot of faith in Corsair as a hardware manufacturer. My RAM and PSU are made by them.

In the end I picked Mushkin due to many on the net claiming they have good customer support/return policy if things go wrong, plus the Mushkin had a bit faster rated(dunno how accurate it is but we'll see.) transfer speed maximum for reads.

:Crosses fingers:

Now to wait for UPS(Sadly couldn't afford FedEX PLUS the parts I ordered, and UPS was free with it.) to deliver.

when you do the back up make sure the thumb drive is formatted to fat or else the ps3 wont read it, besides that sounds like you have everything in order

If I pop in the thumb drive(to the PS3 USB slot) won't it just format it for me? Also do I need to pre-format the new HDD or will the PS3 do that for me?

(I know about installing the PS3 firmware via the website and a thumb drive before copying the data over btw.)

Any 2.5" internal SATA HDD will work.

External USB drives must be formatted to FAT32 in order to be read.