External Hard Drive – PS3 Slimline

Hey Guys,
I’ve just purchased a 1TB Western Digital External Hard Drive.
I’m trying to play it on my PS3 slimline.
What format does the hard drive need to be? I am aiming to play some 1080p movies off it, but mostly DVD Rips.
Any help would be great.
Cheers
Answer #1
FAT32 works better if i’m not mistaken.
Answer #2
Just formatted the HDD then to FAT32, will give it a go.
Answer #3
Yup fat32 format works on ps3.
Avi/mp4 files should play fine on ps3
Mkv files do not work on ps3
Answer #4
Just bear in mind that FAT32 will not allow files above 4GB in size, so you may want to create 2 partitions if using it for other things as well, eg half FAT32, and the other half NTFS. You can do this with any partition manager software, I use Acronis Disk Director.
Answer #5
So I gave this a go, it works perfectly fine on my Normal 1st Generation PS3 (latest Update)
When I plug it into my Cousins Slimline PS3 (latest update) it will not read the HDD at all.
Has anyone seen this?
Answer #6
Dec619 replied: So I gave this a go, it works perfectly fine on my Normal 1st Generation PS3 (latest Update)
When I plug it into my Cousins Slimline PS3 (latest update) it will not read the HDD at all.
Has anyone seen this?
External hardrive should work on ur cousins slimline ps3.
Have u tried both USB ports on ur cousins slimline ps3 ?
Answer #7
He may be doing something wrong, I’m telling him what to do over the phone. Will need to go down and check it out. Will let you know
Answer #8
Manage to take a look at my cousins PS3 Slimline, he wasn’t doing anything wrong.
I tried the External HDD formatted to FAT32, a USB formatted to NTFS. Will not read anything. It powered on the USB but wouldn’t read it.
What could the problem be?
Answer #9
You need to create a folder called PS3 (IN CAPS) open it up and create another folder called VIDEO (CAPS) dump you movies in there and it should play, PS3 for some reason likes FAT32 instead of NTFS as well
Answer #10
The PS3 doesn’t even read the HDD, it will not pop up in the PS3 menu.
Would it have any effect if i was to create those folders?
Answer #11
Theres no harm in trying, i had to di it with mine a few years ago and cant remember if it didnt recognise my HDD at first, all i did was split my HDD to 3 partitions, WBFS (Nintendo WII), NTFS (General) and FAT32 for PS3, created the folders on my PS3 drive and put movies in there, its still working to date and my PS3 only picks up the FAT32 drive
Answer #12
Is it possible that the Slimline PS3 can’t power the 1TB Western Digital External Hard Drive. Does the light go on when you plug it into it?
Might need a powered usb HUB.
Answer #13
wazz12 replied: Yup fat32 format works on ps3.
Avi/mp4 files should play fine on ps3
Mkv files do not work on ps3
mkv files are just a container, mkv2vob will convert without really converting and it will only take a few minutes depending on your hardware.
so back on topic, have you got it to work?
also another thing to try if you have good specs is ps3 media server or tversity