can't read PS3 HD in a usb enclosure

[Kid Ice]

I removed the 80 gb drive from my PS3 and installed a 250. I would like to use the 80 gb drive to back up my PC so I put it in a SATA enclosure. My computer does not recognize the drive. I have used this same enclosure on 3 or 4 other laptop hard drives with no problem. Anyone?

[APE992]

The enclosure is probably fine and I'd wager the drive is too. What it sounds like is that you're trying to find the drive in My Computer and coming up empty (correct me if I'm wrong).

You'll have to format the drive to a file system your OS will be able to recognize to use the drive first.

Right click on My Computer, click on Manage. Then under "Disk Management" on the left it'll pop up a list of all storage devices attached to your computer. You should be able to find a ~76gb drive somewhere that doesn't look like the rest of what is listed. You'll need to format it from there. Assuming you're using Windows I'd suggest using NTFS over FAT32.

[otoko]

Here's a great program for formatting, copying, and resizing drives.

Easeus Partition Master (http://download.cnet.com/Easeus-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html)

[theclaw]

A reformat is almost positively needed. I don't know anything about the PS3 file system, but I haven't heard of anyone managing to make PCs read/write to it.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

The PS3 is just different enough that a simple plug and play won't let you access the files even though they're technically on a derivative of the FAT system.

I think there are programs out there that can let you access and set up a PS3 hard drive if your intention is to transfer your old PS3 data over.

[Kid Ice]

Thanks everyone! Reformatted, working fine now.