PS3 eSATA interface mod

[MagikRevolver]

I'm planning on doing an inevasive mod to the ps3 that does not void its warranty to allow the ps3 to take esata interface external hardrives. What I'm going to do is split the sata interface in the HDD compartment, such that the HDD can still be slid into place, while another cable runs along the back side of the compartment and out of the gap on the right side of the HDD. I'll then create a custom cover for the HDD compartment that has a esata interface builtin that wil be joined with the cable. I know I can physically make this mod, but what I'm wondering is if anybody thinks that the ps3 will be able to recognize both drives, as in 1 being master and 2 being slave, either with or without jumper configurations. Once again, I know I can physically do this so I'm not looking for criticizms on that aspect. I'm just wondering if anyone thinks the PS3 will be able to recognize this in the XMB mode.

Thanks.

[Albut35]

I don't think the PS3 will be able to recognize both drives. I'm not sure if anyone has tried this before, but I doubt that it will read both drives. It'll be interesting to see what happens, keep us updated!

[OnA XM202]

Interesting idea, worth a try. Don't know if XMB will recognize the drive, maybe linux will though. In any case, try your cable mod and see if it works before you get too far in to building the enclosure case.

[MagikRevolver]

Originally Posted by OnA XM202 Interesting idea, worth a try. Don't know if XMB will recognize the drive, maybe linux will though. In any case, try your cable mod and see if it works before you get too far in to building the enclosure case.

Ya, I figured either way linux would recognize the drives, but I'm gonna certainly test this out to see if the additional drive is recognized. I think theres a possibility that both drives might seem like one fused drive to the PS3 OS. This mod will also allow cheaper and faster drives to be used on the ps3. There is an esata drive that's 320 gb for 88$ at newegg.

[Diverge]

um, is there even 2 sata ports inside the ps3? I hope so, since your thinking of adding an additional hard drive. Your not gonna be able to split one port to 2 drives.

sata (serial)= 1 drive per sata port
pata (parallel)= 2 drives per pata header (master & slave)

[MagikRevolver]

I'm exactly trying to split one sata port to two drives.

[Diverge]

i don't mean to burst your bubble, but it's not gonna work. if it did work like that, pc motherboard makers wouldn't need to add costs to their motherboard by adding additional sata controllers that are external to motherbord chipset (north/south bridge). It's not like a usb port where you can have 127 devices to one port.

and even if you don't blow up your ps3 or both your hard drives; how do you think the ps3 will decide which hard drive to talk to? It talks to the device attached to the port... it's not gonna talk to both drives. at best, each drive will be given the same commands - will read and write the same data. I say 95% chance you blow up your ps3 or kill the sata port.

some stuff for you to read: http://www.ata-atapi.com/sata.htm

SATA supports a single device per SATA cable

the above page speaks negatively about SATA, cause it is a PATA based site.

SATA stuff can be found here: https://www.sata-io.org/secure/spec_download.asp

but you need to buy the specifications if you want to read them.

Good luck on your experiment

[MagikRevolver]

Well I actually know the details of PATA and SATA, its like a fused drive project for the ps3. Its been done on the computer already. I forget the company name but they put two 250gb hardrives in on ext. case and fused their data flow to use one SATA cable. I'm just trying to replicate on the PS3. My main obstacle to overcome is whether it will recognize drive a or b, but not both together. Thanks for trying to spread the info though, anyone else reading the thread wondering what the difference is can now know. The Idea is it will be recognized as One drive, and two partitions on Linux and to experiment as to how this can be applied to ps3 os.

Last edited by MagikRevolver; 03-22-2007 at 11:41 PM. Reason: added bit of info

[akrondavinohio]

This sounds very cool!!! Go for it BRO!!!

[TuRDMaN]

If it doesn't work, maybe you could add some sort of switch to only have the PS3 try to access one of the drives at a time?