Practically every Xbox 360 owner has grumbled and screamed over the $180 price tag connected to the upgrade price of the new 120GB hard drive. Microsoft explained the high cost as a function of its special drive having to meet higher standards than your off-the-shelf (cheaper) hard drives. We’re not sure if we buy that explanation (pun intended), but Sony evidently has left PS3 owners a loophole to not only upgrade their 60GB hard drive, but to do it for a lot less than Microsoft’s solution.
The bright and handy guys over at Spong did something that a lot of PS3 owners didn’t do — they actually read the PS3 Safety and Support manual. [Ed’s Note: Those are written in English?] "Hidden" on pages 16-18 is a very clear heading that states, "Removing and Replacing the Hard Disk." It doesn’t get any clearer than that, does it?
Gavin, from Spong, did the deed and explained, "You merely pop the PS3’s cover, unscrew a screw, pull to one side and slide out the current hard drive. You then unscrew 4 screws, take the cradle and put in the new drive, screw the 4 screws back on and pop the cover back on. Job done."
How much will upgrading to a 120GB drive for your PS3 cost? If you replace your current 60GB with a PS3 compatible drive, it should only set you back about $100 or so. Does upgrading your PS3 void the warranty? Sony says, "Improper removal or installation of a hard disk may cause damage to your PS3 system or loss of data and may void your PS3 hardware warranty…" So if you do the installation correctly, the warranty is apparently still in effect.
In the meanwhile, Microsoft has a lot of explaining to do as to why it couldn’t make it more cost effective for Xbox 360 owners to upgrade their disk drives. Oh wait, could it be because of profits?
Nahhhh.
