I don't know specifically for the PS3, and as it does allow you to add and change over the HD in the system and it runs the OS within the firmware it might not be the same. Obviously the firmware version for the PS3s would need to be identical for any hope of them working with the HD.

But with other consoles such as the Xbox, the HD is formatted in a way that locks it into the specific system it is running on. So if you try to connect it to another Xbox the system and drive would not work as their locked serials would not match. Also the original Xbox HD was formatted into a number of partitions that held vital information for that specific system. If you tried to just put a different HD in the same console it would be dead and not even boot. You had to clone the HDs system partitions across from the old drive to the new using some underground PC software to make this work.
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With 360s you can transfer hard drives, but they are locked so that you can't really do anything other than what MS want you to - so there is little point (other than taking save games over to a friends, or replacing a failed console so you don't lose all the DLC, saves, etc).

It is a good idea though, if you could just dump the image onto the PS3 hard drive rather than faff about with all those steps. Maybe someone smart will find a way. The ingenuity of cracking/modding groups always amazes me.
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It definitely would be so much easier if that were possible. Or even if someone could come up with a memorystick installer that you could just stick a file download onto and it could set the lot up for you with a single click.
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