PS3 HELPPP!!!!!

so i dug out my old ps3 to play it that already had cfw on it including a bigger hdd
but buy the looks of things now my ps3 hdd had died
ive placed in a new one but it tells me to use firmware 2.16 or above??

i did a little research and from what i can tell is i have to use the same cfw that was used on the ps3 to restore it with another hard drive

this lies my problem i dont rememeber what cfw i used?
is there anything i can do or is it game over now lol

any ideas? please