u/Few-Manufacturer7109

Hello fellow PS3 enthusiasts,
I wanted to write this post to clear up some misconceptions about external harddrives (HDDs), MBR and the 2TB barrier. There is so much speculation and half-truths circulating on this topic, so let this be your proven and tested guide:
Some facts before we start (as of writing this in May 2026):

1. there are 2 main ways partition tables are organized on any HDD: MBR (old) and GPT (new). This is completely independent from the filesystem (FAT32, NTFS, exfat,...)
2. the PS3 can only register external USB-HDDs with MBR. Even with a hacked system and homebrew, GPT is not possible
3. HDDs have both a physical and a logical sector size (ss), which can differ
4. physical ss is usually either 512 bytes or 4096 bytes (4 kB); modern high capacity HDDs have 4096 afaik
5. external HDDs have either a removable SATA to USB board (eg. Seagate) or a USB port directly incorporated on the HDD's circuit board (some Western Digital drives)
6. the SATA to USB converter can change the logical sector size, so hooking up this HDD to a PC via Sata or USB might show different numbers.

Now what does all this mean?
If a HDD has a logical ss of 512, formatting with MBR, the maximum partition size is indeed 2TB. Even if it has a physical ss of 4096, many (most) HDD controller boards or the Sata to USB adapter board will emulate it to be ss 512, sometimes called 512e. Afaik the main reason is compatibility. I am unsure if the opposite exists, a 512 physical ss drive having an emulated ss of 4096.

HOWEVER, a HDD with a physical & logical ss of 4096 formatted as MBR can be as large as 16TB and will be perfectly recognized by the PS3 (as long as it is formatted to FAT32; if you have a hacked system and can execute the prepISO homebrew, you can also format to NTFS).

The issue is, that it is not always possible to set the logical ss to 4096. I only tested a 4TB Seagate drive (2.5") and a 4TB Western Digital drive (2.5" - WD40NMZW). Even with the SeaChest utilities and connecting directly via SATA, I was unable to change the ss settings on the Seagate drive, thus being unable to make it work.
Luckily the WD drive, which has a native USB port without an adapter, is capable of this feature with the official WD_quick_formatter tool from WD. I couldn't find any list of HDDs which support the change of logical ss or maybe have ss 4096 by default, so please share your drive models and whether it works or not. Hope this helps and let me know if I missed something.

Hello fellow PS3 enthusiasts,
I wanted to write this post to clear up some misconceptions about external harddrives (HDDs), MBR and the 2TB barrier. There is so much speculation and half-truths circulating on this topic, so let this be your proven and tested guide:
Some facts before we start (as of writing this in May 2026):

1. there are 2 main ways partition tables are organized on any HDD: MBR (old) and GPT (new). This is completely independent from the filesystem (FAT32, NTFS, exfat,...)
2. the PS3 can only register external USB-HDDs with MBR. Even with a hacked system and homebrew, GPT is not possible
3. HDDs have both a physical and a logical sector size (ss), which can differ
4. physical ss is usually either 512 bytes or 4096 bytes (4 kB); modern high capacity HDDs have 4096 afaik
5. external HDDs have either a removable SATA to USB board (eg. Seagate) or a USB port directly incorporated on the HDD's circuit board (some Western Digital drives)
6. the SATA to USB converter can change the logical sector size, so hooking up this HDD to a PC via Sata or USB might show different numbers.

Now what does all this mean?
If a HDD has a logical ss of 512, formatting with MBR, the maximum partition size is indeed 2TB. Even if it has a physical ss of 4096, many (most) HDD controller boards or the Sata to USB adapter board will emulate it to be ss 512, sometimes called 512e. Afaik the main reason is compatibility. I am unsure if the opposite exists, a 512 physical ss drive having an emulated ss of 4096.

HOWEVER, a HDD with a physical & logical ss of 4096 formatted as MBR can be as large as 16TB and will be perfectly recognized by the PS3 (as long as it is formatted to FAT32; if you have a hacked system and can execute the prepISO homebrew, you can also format to NTFS).

The issue is, that it is not always possible to set the logical ss to 4096. I only tested a 4TB Seagate drive (2.5") and a 4TB Western Digital drive (2.5" - WD40NMZW). Even with the SeaChest utilities and connecting directly via SATA, I was unable to change the ss settings on the Seagate drive, thus being unable to make it work.
Luckily the WD drive, which has a native USB port without an adapter, is capable of this feature with the official WD_quick_formatter tool from WD. I couldn't find any list of HDDs which support the change of logical ss or maybe have ss 4096 by default, so please share your drive models and whether it works or not. Hope this helps and let me know if I missed something.

Hallo Schwarmintelligenz,

ich habe eine Frage zum Elterngeld. Wenn ich Elterngeld Plus beantrage, kann ich noch etwa 1500€ brutto dazuverdienen um die 900€ EG Höchstsatz zu bekommen.

Jetzt wüsste ich gerne ob in dieses brutto auch steuerfreie Zuschüsse wie AG-KV-Zuschuss, KiTa-Zuschuss fürs 1. Kind, etc. reinfallen, die ja auf dem Lohnzettel das Brutto erhöhen aber kein Arbeitslohn sind?

Würde mich freuen wenn das jemand aus eigener Erfahrung weiß.

Danke!