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Big Stevie

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
1,241
676
UK
I can't get my ext HD to be recognised on my PS3 Slim.

Ive just bought a WD My Passport 1TB HD that I want to be able to use between my MacBook & PS3 for videos and photos. I understand I need to reformat it to FAT32, so my PS3 can recognise it.

In Disc Utility I get the options of reformatting to exFAT or MS-DOS. Ive tried both but I can't get my HD to be recognised on my PS3.

DiscUtility1.png


Ive tried creating partitions, but it still doesnt work.

Any suggestions please?
 

Big Stevie

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
1,241
676
UK
Thanks mankar4, I think Ive already tried that, but I'll give it another go to be sure
icon_thumbs.gif
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,540
941
In Disc Utility I get the options of reformatting to exFAT or MS-DOS. Ive tried both but I can't get my HD to be recognised on my PS3.

Ive tried creating partitions, but it still doesnt work.

Any suggestions please?
MS-DOS (FAT) is FAT32.

Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

Choose the appropriate format:

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
    • For Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.

exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
 

Stooby Mcdoobie

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2012
834
45
Thanks mankar4, I think Ive already tried that, but I'll give it another go to be sureImage

The external has to follow a certain file/folder structure for the PS3 to display the files (or press triangle -> display all, but this is better imo). You have to keep movies in a folder called VIDEO, pictures in a folder called PICTURE, and music in a folder called MUSIC. For example:

MUSIC
song1.mp3​
song2.mp3​
VIDEO
movie1.mp4​
movie2.avi​
PICTURE
pic1.jpg​
pic2.png​

Also, check out PS3 Media Server. It's a wonderful app that allows you to stream/copy stuff to your PS3 wirelessly.
 
Last edited:

Big Stevie

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
1,241
676
UK
Thanks, Ive got the PS3 Media Server working that streams content to my PS3, but I really want to copy files over to the ext HD for back up as well as copying over to the PS3, I shall give things another go tomorrow morning :)
 
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