How To Set Up An External Hard Drive For Ps4

Best Ps4 External Drive With Modest Storage: Seagate Portable 1tb

Not everyone needs a ton of space. If you have a more modest game collection, consider the Seagate Portable 1TB for some additional storage. Early PS4s came with 500GB of space included; modern models have a 1TB drive in the box. This means 1TB will either double or triple what your system came with.

Like the WD drive, this is a portable unit, so there’s no separate power cable required. It measures 4.6 x 3.15 inches. You might see a version of this drive that’s marked as an “officially licensed product” for the PS4. We recommend avoiding this, as it costs more than the above but is essentially the same product. You’ll get better value by avoiding the overpriced official drive.

How To Replace Or Upgrade Your Hard Drive On Ps4

Materials:

• USB Flash Drive
• 2.5 inch serial ATA hard disc drive

Directions:

1. Go to playstation.com, and find the most recent system software. The current page for this is here: or here: . Scroll down and look for this section:

Download the 700-800 MB system recovery/new install software. The most recent download is this one, if you’re having trouble finding it on your own.

2. Test your USB drive with your PS4 first. Make sure it plugs snugly into one of the USB ports on your PS4 — some drives are too fat and can’t be inserted all the way. If your drive works, move on to the next step.

3. Plug your USB drive into your computer. You can use a PC or a Mac, but you have to make sure the USB flash drive is formatted as FAT or FAT32 to avoid issues. Most flash drives come preformatted and should be ready to go, but if you want to be sure note that erasing and formatting your drive only takes a few seconds and the system may return an error with other formats. On a PC, right-click the drive and select Format from the menu. On Mac, use Disk Utility and erase and reformat using MS DOS and Master Boot Record scheme.

3. Create a folder titled PS4 on the flash drive. Create another folder titled UPDATE within that PS4 folder.

7. Remove the left side of the PS4 case by simply depressing it and sliding it to the side, as shown.

That’s it! Congrats.

How To Use An External Hard Drive For Extended Storage On Your Ps4

ByIain Wilson19 December 2019

Increase your Playstation 4 storage by up to 8TB with this guide to setting up an external hard drive

Once of the great things about the PlayStation 4 is how easy it is to add an external hard drive to expand the storage space you have available for games and apps on your system. Previously you could only increase system storage by replacing the internal HDD, but thanks to various system software upgrades all you need to do now is hook up an external hard drive to one of your USB ports and you’re away. The HDD you use for this must be USB 3.0, and the PS4 will supports sizes from 250GB all the way up to a whopping 8TB! Read on and follow these simple steps for set up, and you’ll be boosting your PS4 extended storage in minutes.

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First, you need to format the drive to make it compatible with PS4 storage. Plug in your HDD then head to Settings > Devices > USB Storage Devices and select it. Choose the Format as Extended Storage option and follow the prompts to prepare it for use.

Once formatted, the external hard drive will become the default install location for any future downloads, as well as any games you install from disc. Note that only games and apps can be stored on the external drive, with saved data and captures remaining on the system storage.

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How To Disconnect Extended Storage From Your Ps4

If you currently dont need the connected external hard drive in your PS4, or you want to use another hard drive for your PS4, you can disconnect the external hard drive from your PS4. There are two ways to do it:

Note

Way 1:

1) Go to PS4 Settings>Sound/Device.

2) Select Stop Using Extended Storage on the quick menu.

3) Click Yes to;Confirm the disconnection.

Way 2:

1) Go to PS4 Settings>Devices.

2) Select USB Storage Devices.

3) Select Stop Using This Extended Storage.

4) Click Yes to;Confirm the disconnection.

These are the easy instructions to connect the external hard drive and configure the corresponding setting on your PS4. Its pretty easy, isnt it?! Feel free to comment below if you have any questions, and well see what more we can do to help.

It’s Easier For You To Lose An External Hard Drive

External hard drives don’t take up much space, which is great. It also means you can lose them pretty easily.

This problem is worse if travel a lot with your external hard drive. You could misplace it somewhere, or it could fall out of your bag and disappear forever. You could also just lose it in your house, and it never appears again. If you’re prone to losing things, keep this in mind.

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How To Format An External Hard Drive For Ps4

Formatting is required whenever you connect a new external hard drive to your PS4. Once the formatting process is complete, you can use it as a plug-in game drive on any PS4.

Follow these steps to format your PS4 external hard drive

• From your home screen, select the Settings menu
• Scroll down to the Devicestab
• Scroll down to the USB Storage Devices
• You will notice that your PS4 has automatically detected the HDD
• Here, click on the Format as Extended Storage
• Follow the prompts and click on Format

Your external HDD will be ready for use once the formatting completes. To do so

• Navigate back to the Systemmenu
• Select the Storageoption just below the Devicestab
• You will find your internal system storage. And you will find the new external drive displayed separately

After formatting completes and your external hard drive is recognized by the PS4, this external drive will automatically be renamed as Extended Storage. Your external storage will be designated as the default Application installation location. You can change the default storage drive right from the Storagemenu.

After you have installed the game, you can unplug the device and use it on any PS4 device without having to go through formatting and re-downloading.

Whats the best part?

This will allow you to plug and play on your friends PS4 as well.

All of your PS4 games can travel with you, allowing you the flexibility to carry your games without having to carry the entire PlayStation or re-downloading the games.

Restore Your Game Data

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Two: System Of Playstation 4 Should Be Version 450 Or Later

The system of your PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro must be updated to version 4.50 or later. That is simply because Sony added the external HDD support to PS4 when the 4.50 version was released early in 2017.

If you have an older system on your PS4, youll need to update it to the latest version before you can add a PS4 hard drive externally.

How To Set Up An External Hard Drive On Ps4

Once you’ve got your PS4 external hard drive ready, it’s easy to get it configured. Your PS4 must have system software version 4.50 or newer to use an external drive.

First, connect your external drive to the PS4. Sony states that you must plug it in directly to the system, so avoid using any USB hubs. Once connected, you’ll need to format it .

To do this, turn on your system and go to Settings > Devices > USB Storage Devices. Select your device and choose Format as Extended Storage. Hit the Options button on your controller to show this option if it doesn’t appear automatically.

That’s it; you’ve successfully added external storage to your PS4. The system lets you keep games, apps, downloadable content , and game updates on the external drive.

However, save data, themes, and captured screenshots/video clips will always save to the internal drive. The system will use your new storage automatically, but you can make a few changes per your preferences too.

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What Are The Best External Hard Drives For Ps4 And Xbox One

The good news is that you dont need a specialized external hard drive for a PS4 or Xbox One; just about anything will work. As such, what you should look for in the best external hard drives for PS4 and Xbox One is exactly the same as what you should look for in a hard drive, in general. You want the appropriate amount of storage space, a fast read speed, a small profile and a reliable brand name, just in case something goes wrong.

As such, our top pick is the Western Digital Elements 4 TB Portable External Drive. If youre familiar with WD, youll know that the company has been in the storage game for a while, and generally makes durable, high-quality products that work exactly as theyre supposed to. With 4 TB storage, youll be able to store dozens of games, and at less than five inches across, it wont take up too much space in your entertainment center.

If you want something a little more stylish, and you have an Xbox One, consider the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox. This hard drive distinguishes itself from a lot of the competition by coming in a white chassis with an Xbox logo, just like an Xbox One console. Combined with its fast read speed, you could place the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox right next to your console, and itd look good as a permanent fixture in your living room.

How To Install An External Hdd On A Ps4 And Ps4 Pro

• Guides

PlayStation Now, Sonys online game streaming service,; to subscribers, similar to how you can download shows on Netflix. Once downloaded, youll be able to play those games anytime, even when offline. Even play online without requiring PlayStation Plus. A welcome addition for players without internet connections capable of regular game streaming. But with so many games, youll need so much more space.

PS Now already allows you to stream PS4 and PS2 games but starting today, youll be able to download them too. Full details:

PlayStation

If youre interested in taking advantage of this new feature, you might consider connecting an external hard disk drive for much-needed space. If you have an earlier model PlayStation 4 system, you likely have only 500 GB of hard drive space to work with, which is enough for only about 12-15 games . Heres everything you need to know about connecting and using an external hard disk drive with your PlayStation 4 console.

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Select The Greatest Ps4 Exterior Arduous Drive For Your Gaming Wants

Whereas they do have some faults, exterior laborious drives supply some nice advantages and function a unbelievable storage choice in your gaming wants.

Should youre set on shopping for an exterior laborious drive in your PS4, be sure youve achieved your analysis. Theres an entire vary of exterior laborious drives that go well with completely different wants. Select the suitable one for you.

The 6 Greatest Exterior Arduous Drives for the PS4

Listed below are the very best exterior laborious drives for the PS4, plus recommendations on how one can use the exterior storage together with your PS4 system.

Learn Subsequent

An Exterior Ssd Is Good For Each Your Ps4 And Ps5 Video Games Library

Whereas the PS4s base laborious drive is a sluggish HDD , the PS5 boasts a lightning-fast SSD that may boot up and cargo video games inside seconds.

Should you purchase an exterior SSD in your PS4, you may expertise the advantages of loading up your video games a lot faster than ever earlier than, and youll switch these video games onto your PS5. You will additionally be capable to bridge the hole between your PS4 library and your PS5 library as you retailer PS5 video games in your exterior USB drive.

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How To Use An External Hard Drive On Ps4

After almost two years on the first release of PS4, Sony finally enabled its worlds most popular game console to accept the addition of an external USB storage to it, whether its a USB flash memory stick or an external hard disk drive .

Since this new feature is relatively new to PS4 users, many of them would like to learn how to properly use an external hard drive on PS4. For this class of users we make this plain and short guide.

How To Upgrade Your Ps4 Hard Drive To 4tb Or More

– When the PlayStation 4 was first released, 500GB of storage seemed ample. It soon turned out not to be, however, with game file sizes expanding at a fair rate of knots.

Games, like , can easily top 100GB. That doesn’t leave too much space on your default drive for many other games.

Even if you have the enhanced version of the PS4 or the PS4 Pro, each with 1TB drives, they will struggle.

Luckily, there are two options for increasing the storage space on your PS4 or PS4 Pro. One is blindingly simple, the other slightly more complicated. They both work very effectively though and aren’t too costly.

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What Can You Do With An External Hdd On Ps5

You may be wondering why you should buy an external HDD for PS5. The answer is simple: if you’re planning to play a lot of PS4 games on your next-gen console, then you’ll need the additional storage space. With the SSD being relatively small and required for PS5 playback, offloading your backwards compatible PS4 games to an external HDD gives you a dramatic amount of freedom. It also helps with the following: How to Remove Other Storage Space from PS5.

At the time of writing, you can use an external HDD to store and play PS4 games only. All of your Create button Media Gallery content and Saved Data will be stored on the PS5’s SSD. It’s also currently impossible to transfer PS5 games for safekeeping. If you don’t currently have an external HDD you can use, then check out the following link for some recommendations: Best PS5 and PS4 External Hard Drives.

For Playing External Media Files:

This is also a simple process, all what you have to do is the following:

See the image below:

Thats everything you need to know. Hope this guide was easy to follow and clear to understand.

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Install The Ps4 Software Update

You’ll now follow the same steps you had to take when you originally purchased your PS4 such as setting the date and language preferences.

Seagate 2 Tb Game Drive For Ps4

Made specifically with the PS4 in mind, Seagate have produced a neat and inexpensive hard drive thats best checked out at its 2TB option. Its quiet even when dealing with bulky processes and certainly on the small side; it will fit on top of your PS4 nice and smoothly. They say that its space will allow you to download 50+ games, but its really a lot more than that if you spice it up with some indies.

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Will Ps4 Games Installed On An External Hdd Benefit From Ps5 Game Boost

You’ll still benefit from the additional power of PS5 Game Boost when games are installed on an external HDD. You can find a list of several titles taking advantage of this feature through the link: PS5 Game Boost: All Major PS4 Game Improvements.

Loading times will be slower compared to the SSD, but you’ll still see smoother framerates and higher resolutions, depending on the game. In the case of Days Gone, for example, the title will run at 60 frames-per-second in dynamic 4K, regardless of whether you have it installed on an external HDD or not.

Are you planning to use and external HDD on PS5? Take a look at our PS5 guide, and let us know in the comments section below.

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