Upgrading Hard Drive on PS4

Old Duck

Old Duck
This is kinda off-topic, but I don't see the separate "PS4 Off-topic" subforum anymore, and this is tangentially related to ED because I keep ED installed on PS4 despite not playing it much on this platform these days. My question is this - if I upgrade my PS4 hard drive to something much bigger (at least a terabyte), is there an easy way to copy the games on my current drive over to the new drive without downloading them from scratch? There are so many good games that I've added to my PS+ library over the years, yet I can't easily play them without uninstalling other games I like. It doesn't help that some of my favorite games like Red Dead take up half my hard drive for a single game!

I'm hoping I put in the new drive, format it, and then plug in the old drive via USB and just copy those games over like I would if I was using a designated external drive. BTW, I do have an external drive that I store games on, but playing games off of this drive has been problematic due to the controller losing sync for some reason.. Regardless, it would be more convenient to just have a big honking multi-terabyte drive with all the games I want on it. I just don't want to have to download 500 GB of games from scratch over my rubbish internet!

ps - Did I mention that Elite Dangerous is one of these games? You know, to keep this on topic!
 

[PS4] Filthymick420

[PS4] Filthymick420
Not that I'm aware of. I'd recommend doing starting the process before going to bed or work or something that will keep you busy so you don't notice the time it takes
 

Half-Lock

Half-Lock
1. Go to settings
2. Go to Storage
3. Select the PS4 or External, depending on the where the game is currently stored
4. Select on Applications
5. Highlight the game to be moved and press the option button
6. Select "Move to Extended Storage"
 

akey_uk

akey_uk
I currently run an external 1TB drive on my PS4, I was then able to transfer both the games and save storage over to the external drive, but it does take some time. I'm not sure if you can install a new drive and then pull games and save data from an existing formatted primary hard drive though, as not sure if the PS4 would recognise it. I'm not that technical so it may well work.

It was very simple to just connect an external drive and transfer from main storage to external storage though
 

stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
stormyuk
Half-Lock TheyTookMyMilk said:
1. Go to settings
2. Go to Storage
3. Select the PS4 or External, depending on the where the game is currently stored
4. Select on Applications
5. Highlight the game to be moved and press the option button
6. Select "Move to Extended Storage"
Click to expand...

Yeh basically this, move your stuff including ED to an external drive, upgrade your drive in the PS4 and then move them back.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
If I'm reading this right, I need to buy another 500 GB drive in order to upgrade my PS4 drive to a terabyte+ drive, after which I'll then have TWO 500 GB drives left over... Yeah, probably not going to do that.

Not the answer I was hoping for, but I appreciate knowing. You'd think Sony would let me access the current drive using a USB adapter (from my PS4 only, I get that), but I guess not.
 

Donaldi

Donaldi
You need to use the playstation copy process for it and your game cannot reside on two disks at the same time, you "move" it.

So the process is to move games from internal drive to external drive first.
Then install new internal drive, then move games from external to new internal.
Or keep the games on the external disk.

As for an external drive, the PS4 (at least the pro version I own) supports up to 8tb in one drive according to Sony.
So no NAS, no multiple drives although the PS4 owns several usb ports.
I use that one: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B076H6TZ7L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

An external USB3 drive can be faster than the internal 500GB of the standard PS4 (not of the PS4 pro, that uses a different kind of controller, negating the effect, sadly of internal SSDs too).
So I wonder why you have such issues with the external drive. I had used a 2.5 TB USB 3.0 without any issues since 2019. (And don't ask me what a PITA it was to move the files from the 2.5 to the 4tb. Three days.)

The internal drive is hampered by the height of the drive slot, maximum of 9mm. Which means this is the largest internal drive for a PS4:

Remember that you need the firmware boot from Sony for the new harddisk and you perhaps should consider buying a SSD for the standard PS4 (for the pro a SSD doesn't improve load times much).

If RD2 occupies half of your available disk space, this means you haven't installed ace combat7, horizon zero dawn and the witcher 3 ready to play, not to mention Control. Shame on you. :)

To be ontopic again: elite dangerous is a nice game.

Regards, Dirk
 

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pzykozomatik

pzykozomatik
Another working solution would be to just use the console's backup/restore function from the settings menu to backup all the content to an appropriate external drive and then restore to the new internal one afterwards.
 

pzykozomatik

pzykozomatik
Also, regarding a drive, I found that using a hybrid SSHD drive like the Seagate Firecuda can noticeably boost loading times for regularly played games. Not as much as a true SSD, but also without the high cost.
 

Half-Lock

Half-Lock
Can you swap out the old drive with the new one, copy from the external into the new drive, swap the old one back in, copy to external, swap the new one back in and then copy to the new one?
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Donaldi said:
So I wonder why you have such issues with the external drive. I had used a 2.5 TB USB 3.0 without any issues since 2019. (And don't ask me what a PITA it was to move the files from the 2.5 to the 4tb. Three days.)
Click to expand...
I'm using a standard SATA drive with a USB 3 adapter for my external, maybe this is the issue? What happens is after awhile I get weird controller latency, which is particularly ruinous with games like Overwatch. This happens regardless if I'm playing games off my internal drive or external drive, as long as the external drive is plugged it, this problem arises. I read somewhere it might be electromagnetic interference from the drive jamming the controller. Perhaps if I used a USB thumb drive instead, this wouldn't be a problem... I could also try wrapping it in aluminum foil!

On this note, I have close to a terabyte of games stored across two 500 GB drives (one internal, one external). Some of these are "regulars" like RDO and Overwatch, others are more "occasionals" like Spider-Man and Star Wars Battlefront 2. I'm very interested in playing my PS+ games like Control and the new Final Fantasy, but I don't want to delete these other games in order to do it. Now if I could get an external drive solution that worked, like a perhaps a dedicated USB thumb drive, I'd be happy using that instead of upgrading my internal drive. Exactly what external drive are you using that you're having success with?

BTW, my internal drive is an SSD, and it's a big improvement over HD. My PS4 loads games faster than my 24 hour PS4 Pro did with its default drive! But back when I bought it, terabyte SSDs were prohibitively expensive, nor were games as large as they are today (even ED was half the size that it is now).
 

pzykozomatik

pzykozomatik
I'd probably keep the internal SSD then for performance reasons (provided your new one will not be an SSD), get a new external one and swap my currently played games around.
Plug in the new drive externally, copy everything from internal to external.
Swap new external for old external. Copy contents to internal.
Switch to new external. Copy/Swap as needed / rinse and repeat.
 

akey_uk

akey_uk
It might be the SATA drive, my external is a solid state 1TB drive and once copied over, I don't notice any difference between games on the main drive and those on the external (both Elite and Snowrunner are on my external drive).
 

[PS4] Filthymick420

[PS4] Filthymick420
pzykozomatik said:
Another working solution would be to just use the console's backup/restore function from the settings menu to backup all the content to an appropriate external drive and then restore to the new internal one afterwards.
Click to expand...
Playstation doesn't allow you to install a new I ternary HD
Half-Lock TheyTookMyMilk said:
Can you swap out the old drive with the new one, copy from the external into the new drive, swap the old one back in, copy to external, swap the new one back in and then copy to the new one?
Click to expand...
Nope
 

Donaldi

Donaldi
Old Duck said:
<...>Exactly what external drive are you using that you're having success with?
Click to expand...

You mean the predecessor of the 4TB I'm using now and which I had linked in my previous answer?
That was cnMemory mistral 2.5 TB external drive with a very short (20cm) usb 3 cable.
Something like this:
<https://www.amazon.de/Memory-Mistra...a95c0&pd_rd_wg=rBOGD&pd_rd_i=B005P1LJJU&psc=1>

As for an USB hub, I always make sure that the harddisk is directly connected to the playstation, does not pass through any additional hardware.
But as you wrote, this does not help you either.
For an USB hub I nowadays use the console dock with holds the console upright and sports intergrated fans, two controller loading slots and three additional USB ports (thus adding two overall). Don't know the name.
Before I had that look-alike black usb port dock you attach to the front with similiar angles like the playstation body, but only one of its ports was usb 3. Gave that away as it did not sit very firm.
 

Donaldi

Donaldi
[PS4] Filthymick420 said:
Playstation doesn't allow you to install a new I ternary HD
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. :)
Swapping out the internal PS drive for a bigger one (max 2TB due to height restrictions) is even described on their website.

PS4: Upgrade HDD

This article explains how to upgrade your PlayStation®4 system's Hard Disc Drive (HDD).
www.playstation.com www.playstation.com
The main issue is to get the firmware to boot so the playstation system runs from the new drive. And finding a compatible hard drive. One of them I have linked in my first answer.
The firecuda is even better, but not as cheap, almost three times the price of the toshiba hdd.

I play to do this once my 4TB external drive is filled up. 1.5 TB left...
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
So I did a quick look and found this:

Holy cow, prices for these have come WAY WAY WAY down since last I checked! I think I will try this, since hopefully a thumb drive won't generate interference like a mechanical hard drive might. I don't need the fastest drive for my PS+ games (I doubt any modern thumb drive is slower than the default drive the PS4 comes with). Heck, at this price I could have a drawer full of these for ALL my PS4 games.

If it doesn't work, I'm barely out any money, and I'm sure I can use that drive for something else, like backing up my Steam games on PC.
 

pzykozomatik

pzykozomatik
Old Duck said:
So I did a quick look and found this:

Holy cow, prices for these have come WAY WAY WAY down since last I checked! I think I will try this, since hopefully a thumb drive won't generate interference like a mechanical hard drive might. I don't need the fastest drive for my PS+ games (I doubt any modern thumb drive is slower than the default drive the PS4 comes with). Heck, at this price I could have a drawer full of these for ALL my PS4 games.

If it doesn't work, I'm barely out any money, and I'm sure I can use that drive for something else, like backing up my Steam games on PC.
Click to expand...

that's.... supiciously cheap
 

pzykozomatik

pzykozomatik
Old Duck said:
I looked at other drives that had a ton of "This is a fake!" reviews, but this one didn't have that. I'm very tempted to grab one and try it out. If it's rubbish, Amazon should allow me to return it.
Click to expand...
Only four of those reviews are from the last year and specify the actual product variant ("1TB"), which probably means the seller has been listing different products under the same entry before (the reviews get as old as 2007 and speak of a 1GB stick). Three of those are one star and the fourth one screams fake.

My bet is it's a device with a faked shown capacity. And probably slow as hell.
 
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