PS3 - 160GB or 320GB ?

[Jax]

I am getting a Playstation 3 in May but I would like your help in deciding what version of the slim Sony console to get.

* First of all can you install games to the HDD like on the 360? and then whats the typical size of the a PS3 game since its on Blu Ray, designed to hold bigger games.

* I hear they are putting PS1 and PS2 games on PSN for download? If so what are the typical size of these games

* I assume PSN has an Arcade type platform like Live does for the 360.

* Has anyone here even gotten close to filling their 320gb HDD?

 

[Bishop76]

I haven't even come close to filling the 60gig drive that came in the launch console. As to the other questions, PS1 games are about the size of a CD, PS2 the size of a DVD, and PS3 obviously blu-ray sized. I don't remember those numbers off the top of my head. Usually, I say just go with the bigger model but if the price difference is an issue, you should be fine with the smaller model.

Oh, and there is an arcade equivalent.

 

[Servo]

* First of all can you install games to the HDD like on the 360? and then whats the typical size of the a PS3 game since its on Blu Ray, designed to hold bigger games.

Most games install a certain amount of game data to your HDD. This can be anywhere from a few hundred Mb, up to 3 or 4 GB for games like Fallout and Oblivion, so you don't need to install the whole game.

* I hear they are putting PS1 and PS2 games on PSN for download? If so what are the typical size of these games

Depending on the game, anywhere from a few hundred Mb, to a few GB.

* I assume PSN has an Arcade type platform like Live does for the 360.

Yes. PSN has arcade games like the 360. It also has PS1, PS2, NeoGeo games and the minis, as well as HD remakes of stuff like Wipeout and Super Stardust.

* Has anyone here even gotten close to filling their 320gb HDD?

I've had a 120GB slim model for almost a year, and I have about 60GB left. I have several games "installed", and I'm a PS+ member, so I get free PSN/PS1/minis every month.

 

[clint g]

You should be fine with the smaller model. I have an older 80 gig model and I'm not close to filling it up.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Any size will do, i personally installed a 320gig into my 120gig simply because it was cheap and easy to do....but i don't think in the PS3 lifespan i will come close to using the whole 320gig.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, I just got a 160GB version myself. I think the 320GB version is rarer. I had found a 320GB Home Theatre Bundle, and there was only one available online at BestBuy. I had ordered it and waited and waited only to have my order cancelled on me. Futureshop even had a similar bundle at one point the same price as the 160GB bundle! I wondered if that was possibly an error because the price was just too good. But they weren't available online or in my local store. Was originally going to try to get BestBuy to pricematch Futureshop's price as they were basically the same bundle with the difference being a different movie with Futureshop bundling Alice in Wonderland vs Bestbuy bundling The Karate Kid remake.

 

[Jax]

Cheers for info guys AMAZON UK has the 160gb Model for £229.99 and the 320gb Model is £269.99 with LBP 2...

Originally I was looking at the 320gb Model because it came with Move starter pack for free but they have replaced that offer with LBP 2 and that doesn't interest me. I might go the £230 route so I can spend the extra money on several games and a headset right away.

My budget will probably be around the £300 mark come mid May though a little price cut by Sony would be nice.

 

[Yoda]

I got a 20gb model at launch, I barely play it, and it is practically full from the very meager assortment of games I have

Sony really took a dump on early adopters... I'm pretty sure the mandatory install shit came later... there was no hint that you'd have to have massive hard disk space for that... and then they shipped 'em with the fucking Sixaxis claiming that rumble was over only to release Dualshock 3 a little down the line.

I guess I have full PS2 compatibility. Whoopety fuckin' do. I picked up God of War 1 + 2 and Shadow of the Colossus only to see the HD upgrades for PS3 coming out before I got around to playing 'em. If I'm going to play em I'm going to play em in better resolution with a solid resolution for fuck's sake.

Anyway the Move starter pack sounded pretty nice, I hated LBP so I'm not going to change your mind on a copy of LBP2... but a 320gb hard disk to upgrade the 160gb model runs like 50 bucks in the US. So I say get the 160gb and upgrade yourself down the line if you need to.

 

[firehawk12]

The ability to play PS2 games is nice though. I still do it from time to time with old JRPGs.

But yeah, it's mostly trivial to upgrade later on. The only problem you'll face is that the PS3 can only read FAT formatted drives, which means you need to do some trickery to format an external hard drive in FAT format in order to back up your data.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^^I got by with a 8 gig USB stick when i moved from 120gig to 320gig, removed all the mandatory game installs, and used the back up feature to do a full backup...it all came to just about 7gig with gamesaves, music, pics....only thing is you have to download all your arcade games and patches again......but at least even my copyright games were restored and its nice to have that spare room for future stuff.

 

[Jax]

Doesn't the PS3 have a Transfer Kit like the 360 does for moving data?

I so wish it was May today because on the brilliant Shop TO website they have the 320gb PS3 for £239.99

 

[Brikar99]

Doesn't the PS3 have a Transfer Kit like the 360 does for moving data?

I so wish it was May today because on the brilliant Shop TO website they have the 320gb PS3 for £239.99

There's no "kit" that I'm aware of, but you can find instructions on how to upgrade the HDD on Sony's website (or on any number of tech blogs if you just do a google search).

 

[firehawk12]

Hah, a USB stick is a good solution if your footprint is small enough. I didn't even think of that.

But yeah, the back up process is fairly easy except for the FAT thing. Unlike the MS process, you can use your own hard drives and create your own backups whenever you want.

The only potential problem is locked saves, but they introduced the Cloud service for that.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Couldn't you format the drive using Windows and format it using FAT32? Or does it have to strictly be FAT? You would think that the Playstation would detect a new drive and offer to format it using its own system. It would surely make things easier.

 

[firehawk12]

It's been a while, but I remember part of the problem was that I was using a 500 GB external drive and Windows won't format that in FAT natively (might have been FAT32, now that you mention it). I remember needing to do some trickery to format it.

 

[clint g]

I had format something into fat32 once as well. I remember it being a pain in the ass. I think you need a third party software to do it on new versions of windows

 

[BillJ]

I've got a 20 gb model that I haven't filled up yet.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Ahh, I see. So, there's no way for the PS3 to do it itself? That seems rather odd.

 

[BigFoot]

I have a 320GB drive in my PS3 and I only have about 80GB free. I do game quite a bit though. And I also a ton of other things on my PS3 (episodes of Qore, demos, and PS+ trial versions).

 

[Jax]

Just another quick question for all you PS3 owners

The 320gb Deals I was looking at are gone at the moment but I've seen some great 250gb slim deals, especially one at £228 with free p&p from Hitari Trade web site. Now the 250gb version of the slim ceased being produced last year with 160gb and 320gb being the norm so I was wondering...

Is there any difference in terms of hardware design inside the 250gb slim, when compared to the 160gb slim and 320gb slims ???