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How to Downgrade a PS3

The PlayStation 3 comes with a built-in hard drive for storing game saves, movies, pictures, music and other files. There are various sizes for the hard drives, from 20GB to 250GB. You may want to downgrade your PlayStation 3 if you decide you want to sell it but want to keep its old, larger hard drive, which may have some of your critical movie or music files. You can do this by simply installing a new, smaller hard drive, which are cheaper than larger ones.

Things You'll Need

PlayStation 3 hard drive
Precision screwdriver

Instructions

- 1
  Unplug the console's power chords and video cables. Let it sit for 30 seconds so all the power drains out.
- 2
  Flip the console over and look for the plastic flap labeled "HDD" to expose the old hard drive.
- 3
  Remove the blue screw on the HDD using the screwdriver and pull the drive out using the paperclip tab.
- 4
  Remove the metal frame from the HDD by removing the two screws on the same side where the blue one was.
- 5
  Position the smaller hard drive in the metal frame in the same orientation as the larger one.
- 6
  Screw the metal screws back in to secure the frame to the drive.
- 7
  Slide the hard drive back into console and secure the blue screw. Place the HDD flap back on.
- 8
  Connect the console to a television and power it on. Follow the on-screen instructions to format the drive.

PlayStation 3