While multiMAN is the king, you have options:
PS3 HEN natively struggles with NTFS drives, but multiMAN has its own proprietary NTFS driver. This means you can load games larger than 4GB (like Gran Turismo 6 or God of War: Ascension ) from a single external hard drive.
: Use your PS3’s Blu-ray drive to copy physical discs directly to your console's storage. Installation Guide for Firmware 4.89
Installation is straightforward, provided you have a FAT32-formatted USB drive.