FORUMS!
Actually I'm curious about this.

Any laptop-sized hard drive will work.

Back up like 6 times to an external drive. The PS3 has a back up utility which a google search will find you.

It would be super hard to screw up the PS3 with this, it's a simple procedure. Again, google search.

If you have an external hard drive, plug it in and go to settings then 'back up utility' or whatever.
that should back up all your settings, save files etc.

If you dont have one, back up all your save files to a memory stick. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, DO THIS!

new hard drive:
AT LEAST 320GB!
2.5" (laptop size)
Brand isnt a big deal, any one will do really
speed matters not either. but go with 5400rpm just to be safe

then once youve got it, open the slot on the bottom of your ps3, slide out the old drive, unscrew it, then replace the new one in there, screw it in, slide it in, close the flap.

turn on your ps3, and it will start installing the ps3 firmware system. THIS WILL TAKE AGES!
320gb takes roughly 10 hours
I dont know why it takes so long, but it does.
worth it though
so plan your time accordingly
once its installed fully, set up your account and transfer your saved games from your memory stick, or plug in your external hard drive and go to settings - back up and extract all the data on

and youre done!
its really quite easy, just make sure that your saved games are backed up.
your old hard drive that you took out still has the ps3 firmware on, so you can always swap that one back in and get any save games you may have missed.

sorry for the disjointed guide, i can;t be bothered to type it up nicely. says everything you need to hear anyway.
have fun

if you can afford it, get a solid state hdd. it will take a little longer to install stuff but after that it will decrease load times by 10%. it would take 3 seconds off the gta4 load screen. might not be much but if i could have found one, i would have bought it instead. i got a seagate 2.5 250 gig and have linux and over 65 psn games on mine with a ton of music, movies and tv shows and i still have over 130 gigs left. don't get something too big but not too small either, i think the 250 is right in the sweet spot area.

We have a forum? What???

@JACK OF NO TRADES

All of your friends list is linked to your account in sony's servers, you won't have to add them again.
Same with trophies.

@corican

Thanks man!!

@Pedro Yes, it is. I lost a lot of stuff in my upgrade. I was lucky to keep my save files.

Man I didn't know it took that long when a new one gets installed, 10 hours? Hell.