Jesus Christ. Asuka has just about revealed a 90% working solution to this lag fix. I am so happy to hear this news!

Thanks to you I will put off buying a 360! I will buy Skyrim and a SSD . Anyone with instructions on how to back up my HDD and restore it to the SSD? I already know how to remove the HDD from my PS3 slim.

It's actually pretty simple. Here's a pretty simple tutorial on what I did. If you ever get confused with my explanation of how to install the latest PS3 OS on your new SSD, you can always consult http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/pc_update/index.htm. I can't guarantee the accuracy of navigating the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XrossMediaBar as I'm writing this guide from memory.

WARNING
Some steps found within this guide have the potential to break/ruin parts of your PlayStation3. If you need help, or simply don't know what you're doing consult these forums or someone with experience before taking action.

What you'll need

• A SSD
  
• A USB (200MB+)
  
• An external hard drive (to backup your PS3's files)
  
• Your PC/Mac

Backing up save files
Do this. No questions asked. If anything goes south, at least you'll have your saves.

• Insert your USB key into the PS3
  
• Follow the menus into the game save folder [ Games > Saves ]
  
• Copy the wanted saves onto the USB key (remember that you'll need to copy all of the individual saves that you want to keep)

Creating a backup

• Connect your external hard drive to your PS3 via USB cable.
  
• Then you're going to back everything up. To do so, turn your PS3 ON and go to [ Settings > System Settings > Backup Utility ] (not sure if 100% accurate, but you'll find it)
  
• Wait until the backup is created then turn your PS3 off and disconnect every cable.

Downloading the "PS3 OS"

• Download the latest http://dus01.ps3.update.playstation.net/update/ps3/image/us/2011_1018_077a6a0a9abf3622373e3daa53f3ec70/PS3UPDAT.PUP (can also be found on the page above)
  
• Place this file inside a folder named " UPDATE "
  
• Place the " UPDATE " folder in a folder named " PS3 "
  
• Your USB key should look something like [ PS3 > UPDATE > PS3UPDATE.PUP ]

Switching hard drives
I'm using the first generation "fat" PS3 so things might be a little different for all of those who have the slim

• You're going to remove the cap that covers the HDD/SSD. You can find this on the bottom of the PS3 (if placing PS3 vertically)
  
• Remove the screw using a star head screwdriver (don't strip this)
  
• Carefully remove the tray holding the HDD.
  
• Remove the screws that are on the side of the drive and replace the HDD with the SSD (keep the HDD in a safe place so you can retrieve wanted information later)
  
• Screw the SSD in the tray and the place the tray back into the PS3. Put the lid back onto the bottom of the PS3

Installing the PS3 OS on the new SSD

• You're going to reconnect all the cables to your new PS3 and turn it on
  
• When you're prompted to, insert the USB key containing the PS3 OS into the PS3 and follow the instructions to load it onto the SSD

What now?

• Configure your "new" PS3 the way you like it or load from the backup we made earlier
  
• Reinstall Skyrim
  
• Once you're finished installing Skyrim, copy your old save files onto the new SSD

-

I've currently been playing for roughly three hours and I have yet to experience any sort of lag. Closest I came to lag was while fighting a dragon breathing fire on me while I launched ice missiles at it. Other than that there's the auto save feature that activates every now and then that causes lag however that's to be expected.

Francais your explanations are on point. Thanks! Will definitely get this done asap.

I've updated it containing the rest of the information needed to get Skyrim running from a new SSD.

I have a 500 GB hard drive on my PS3. Switching to a 480 GB (closest number) Solid State would cost me ~$1,250.

Yeah....








no....

Before upgrading (downgrading?) I had a 90GB HDD. I can tell you right away that I did not use nearly 1/4 of it. Most games are ~1.5GBs. RPGs like Skyrim can come up to ~5GB. With a 60GB SSD, I've got all that I need. If you find that the SSD is not cost effective then by all means, stick with your HDD. We're merely discussing a temporary workaround to the lag and FPS drops.

I'm using most of my hard drive. I think I have ~50 GBs or so left empty. I have 14 downloaded PS3 titles (Red Dead Redemption, most of the Assassin's Creeds, Dead Space 1 & 2 just to name a few). I would switch to a Solid State. I've been wanting to. I just can't afford the change.

That is quite the lot of games. I usually tend to focus on a single game when I play PS3 which is why in my situation, a SSD is ideal. I can understand why getting a SSD in your position would not at all be cost effective for the amount of data you need to cover.

Do you play all of those games? You can always keep the HDD and/or backup your games on an external hard drive and transfer them when you want to play them.

The solution in your case, unless you are here to only voice your discontent with the slight awkwardness of this solution, is a Seagate Momentus XT that has both a 4 gig SSD and a large harddrive to boot in a hybrid setting. The stuff which is currently frequently accessed is moved to the SSD and dumped to the HDD in the background, allowing you to get close to "true" ssd performance. It basically "learns" what you are often accessing and lets that stick on the SSD part of the drive while the rest of it holds your other data. I've only seen some tests performed on the PC, but since it slices down boot times the more often you boot up your PC, I imagine Skyrim just gets better and better the more you play it (since it gets shuffled to the front of the drive).

It's one of these I'm talking about. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

Unfortunately I haven't tried one myself in this setting, but since a 7200 RPM drive will improve skyrim, I imagine the Momentus would at least sort out a lot of the quirks, though if you want a pureblood experience I'd stick to pure SSD. It would be great if anyone who has a Momentus XT could chip in and comment on their experiences someday. Here's to hoping that they find this lil slice of the beth forums.

Kickass guide by Francais.

You can also use your small USB pendrive to just copy the saves over instead of making a full backup, but doing a full one is by all means better if you have access to an external harddrive.

If you have an older phat model and the latest system update (CECHC-CECHG phats I think) you also do not need to put the update on a USB-stick and install the OS anew when a new harddrive is installed. The PS3 keeps all that data on it's internal NAND.

LOL Bethesda should sticky this

This topic is extremely usefull and I am seriously considering purchacing a SSD.

I just have a simply question for those of you who know more about SSDs than I do. I have a PS3 SLIM 320GB and am reading around that PS3 Slim (or any other) doesnt support SATA3 so any benefits from buying a SATA 3 over a SATA 2 are non existent.

Is this true? I want to know before buying a SSD. If there is improvement with SATA3 and PS3 supports it then, by all means I will buy a SATA3. but if PS3 Slim doesnt support it then I could go with a SATA 2 and get more GBs on a better price.

Your help is much appreciated!

None of the current generation PS3s support SATA3 drives. This won't be an issue as most SATA3 drives are backwards compatible and will use SATA2 if the device you put them in can only support SATA2. You should also note that transfer rates on most SSDs are ~250MB/s(w/r) and that the PS3's hardware limitations only allow up to 150MB/s(w/r). If you're only experiencing ~150MB(w/r), that's why.

This is what I did. I had multiple users using up a lot of data. I just backed up essentials using a USB key and loaded them up on the "new" PS3 once it was ready. I'll edit my post for clarity.

^^Thanks so much for all this, I am going to buy a SSD i think... a SATA 3 would do fine since it doesnt really matter from what I can gather. One question if I may, if the maximum the PS3 will allow is 150mb (w/r), the conventional HDD inside the PS3, how fast is it compared to that?

Also, would it be too much to ask Asura, or any of the other guys playing with an SSD now to record a video of gameplay out in the open world map? Especially during daytime everytime something is streamed my game stuttering and it is annoying me sooo much. Especially sprinting is almost.... a no go....

So if you could record a video running in the wild during daytime to see how the game behaves i would be grateful!

Thanks again for all the help!

I can't quite record a video of myself playing the game, but I can assure you that running in the wild is not an issue.

Whiterun is usually much much worse than any wildrunning. O.o.

I mean, sure, recording a video in the wild isn't really much of a hassle I suppose, but I assure you it's floating fine for me as well. If there's a real demand, I'll stick one up later (girlfriend is hogging the PS3 right now).

I appreciate all the work you've done and I know you was as frustrated as I am about the lag issue. But if it wasnt too much of a problem whenever you have the time I would appreciate a video like this one. Nothing grave just running around during daytime.

This is the most frustrating thing for me to be honest. Because every single time a rock in the background is "loaded" or "streamed" the game lags.... even if it is just a small tree...

I just want to be sure that forking all this cash is worth it. I really dont care about the load times that much to be honest. I just want to make sure that the game doesnt lag... it wont lag each time a person wants to say something, it wont lag when trees pop up in the background, it wont lag if I pan the camera in the opposite direction, when I am riding the horse etc etc etc

I dont want to sound bossy and I can understand totally if you dont have the time to do this at all. But nonetheless I think a lot of us will appreciate it. I was this close to buy a 360...if this can fix my game I am willing to pay. I just need to see it.

Thank you again for all the help you provided!

I only wish SSDs where cheaper, I kind of need a large hard drive, so I would have to spend quite a bit of money.

Even not in terms of Skyrim I think it would be cool to have one in anyway though.

Does anyone know if it installs the same way as a HDD ? silly question I know but I have to ask if I don't know. I have installed a 500GB HDD in there and dont mind downsizing for the SSD but is it the same installation process.

I'll upload a video by the end of the day.

I can't record a video, but I can tell you that the game runs perfect with an SSD. Whatever you do, whenever you do it, however you do it, and for as long as you want to do it. The game runs perfectly! I have probably put about 15-20 hours on my game in the three days since I installed my SSD and it has never lagged for more than one or two seconds, and this has only happened in crazy mage battles and it hasn't even happened very much. I play for 4-10 hour periods. It doesn't effect it at all.

The game is such a pleasure to play now that it's running smooth. If you are going to get a SSD stop playing the game and wait till you have your drive installed. If I wish I would have known about this fix earlier, as I probably played 15-20 hours on my corrector in terrible conditions. Not enjoyable for such an amazing game.

Hey folks, just registered to get in on this.

I'm going through the process myself right now, on the USB drive step, and just realized I was formatting in FAT but not FAT32 lol. About to try loading the system update again. I got the Intel 510 series 120gb SSD. Kinda a silly amount of money but I actually got intrigued by the concept of upgrading a console.

I do have Skyrim, but haven't played more than a few hours due to being in the middle of Fallout 3 GOTY. I know once I get into Skyrim I'd stop FO3.

So this scenario is slightly different but may shed light on whether it's the engine combined with the slower/hotter harddrive read for bethesda's sake. My FO3 save is up to roughly 7mb and while not game breaking, it was after the 5mb mark that I started getting freezes and one solid crash. Noticeable framerate drops, etc. In Skyrim I experienced mouselag for lack of a better term, as in the look joystick feels like it's delayed or hanging up. I also experienced the audio crackle intermittently.

So we'll see what happens once I get this puppy up and running, but I'll be playtesting most of today with FO3 GOTY. If this is a fix, and what I believe is true, then not only would this fix the Skyrim issues, but also FO3, FONV, Oblivion (not suffering from it terribly) and Skyrim.

Another fun thing it does for you is give you the feeling of pimping out your PS3

I was actually keen to go back and check out the DREADFUL red ridge canyon thing in New Vegas now that I sorted out the SSD stuff and see if it's solved. I'll add that to my to do list, along with making a movie of outdoor footage, once the ladies are done hogging the PS3 for skyrim.

Just a quick note on the system reinstall portion of the HDD replacement for those choosing to go through this.

My first USB stick (32gb) had both the updtae file and the backup from the other HDD on it. The PS3 didn't recognize it. I think it's possible that I formatted it in FAT and not FAT32 as well, but can't redo that one now because of the backup.

The second USB stick (250mb) I formatted correctly and named the files right and the PS3 STILL didn't recognize it.

So I just burned the update file in the right folder combination to a DVD-R and now the PS3 gives me the beginning of the sequence, reformat the HD etc.

So back in business but I had to use a disc due to.. I guess flash drive incompatibility?

Thank you so much guys for everything and for taking the time of your precious gaming to help us take the step! I cant say how much I appreciate this. Once I see your impressions-videos I am going to the store to pick mine!

BTW on the USB stick thing in order to get the firmware inside the PS3 Slim, it doesnt have to be a USB stick specifically right? Any external hard disk will do the job as well right?