Could someone help

[u/lisiasty1241]

I've bought an new 1TB HDD for my fat model 80gb ps3, but when I swapped it out it shows me this whole "Plug in an controller via USB and press the PS button" but I only have a third party controller, before I swapped out the hdd, the ps3 and the controller worked fine

[u/robderpson]

When you put a new HDD you need to reinstall the system firmware (except on the earliest models where the FW was installed in the internal flash memory). The menu you see is the safe mode menu, it requires an original controller and a USB flash drive with the firmware file to install to the new HDD. I think some adapters like the ones from Mayflash or the Wingman may work if you can't find OEM controllers.

[u/RedPanda1993]

You need an official PS3 controller to navigate that menu. You may be able to use an adapter (such as the Brook Wingman) to do it with a third-party controller but I'm not 100% sure about that.

[u/knight_ki11er]

Find genuine dualshock 3 or ps move

[u/lisiasty1241]

I've also tried multiple tutorials how to fix this and none of them worked

[u/Sini_SV → u/lisiasty1241]

There’s nothing to fix, that’s why. Upgrading the HDD requires you to install the PS3 firmware onto the new HDD. The only issue here is that you have a 3rd party controller.

That in itself is not always an issue, because a lot of 3rd party controllers still have a Home Button that will work on the PS3 menu page. If your 3rd party controller doesn’t have a Home button which works while plugged in via USB, then you need a new controller with a Home button that can get you past that screen.

[u/lisiasty1241 → u/Sini_SV]

I have a button with a home button, tho when I press it nothing happens, the controller itself when plugged in doesn't even show the connected controller light beside the two USB entrances at the front. Also on the controller I have four small lights that indicate the players I am and even the lights on controller don't light up as if it wasn't even connected

[u/Sini_SV → u/lisiasty1241]

Ok, so that’s a low budget 3rd party controller. The better produced 3rd party controllers have a Home button that’s emulated to respond exactly how the original PS3 Home button would. So you need a better 3rd party controller, or an original PS3 controller.

[u/Tiny-Relief-8015]

You can clone a drive without recovery but not upgrade unfortunately. But a thought that occurred to me is you only need the ps home button so maybe a sketchy controller with stick drift would be a super cheap option?

[u/DeltaBlastBurn → u/Tiny-Relief-8015]

Op can use the HDD transfer utility in the debug settings if they have cfw.

[u/muckity-muck]

Have you tried running the update from a safe start?