Regarding SATA hard drives.

Ok so my PS3's hard drive recently became corrupted (just as I got MGS4, of all times) so I looked up on the internet about what I could do. I thought I could format the PS3 hard drive on my laptop as that uses a SATA hard drive as well. Or I could just put my laptop hard drive in the PS3 temporarly and use my desktop computer for a while. Well neither could detect each others hard drive but I dont understand. They are both 2,5 inch hard drives so they should detect each other right? The bottom of the two hard drives is slightly different so maybe that could be the problem. Im just not sure.

Im concerned because I think my PS3 may be broken and not its hard drive. Considering its out of warranty (Ive already opened it up several times) it'll be a nightmare to replace it. Ive already teased myself playing MGS4 for maybe 5 minutes so im going mad just staring at the disc which I cant play.

Isn't the PS3 harddrive formatted in a certain manner with a specific set of files? Not sure, as I've never owned a PS3.

Perhaps this will shed a little more light on it:
Upsize your PS3 hard drive - Tips & Tricks - CNET Asia