If you've ever thought to upgrade your PS4 hard drive, it may be due to the issue of constantly deleting games to make space. Thankfully, upgrading your PS4, PS4 Slim, or PS4 Pro hard drive isn't as tricky as it sounds. And our step-by-step guide has been written to make the process as stress-free as possible.
A key benefit to upgrading your hard drive is adding extra storage space to your PS4. There's only 500GB of space on the standard PS4 and PS4 Slim and a larger 1TB on PS4 Pro. On base hardware, it'll only take a few big games to completely fill up your hard drive. Games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Marvel’s Avengers need over 100GB of hard drive space, making upgrading your PS4 hard drive very tempting.
Going beyond the extra space a hard drive provides, if you slot a super-fast SSD into your console, you'll also see a significant speed improvement. Although you'll want to read up on the pros and cons of using an SSD before you do that.
There's two ways to expand your hard drive capacity on PS4: replace the internal drive or attach one of the best external hard drives. These are both good options, but fitting a new internal drive is undeniably a cleaner option. Especially if you don't have much space in your gaming area. However, if you've got a shiny new PS5, you can only upgrade internally with an SSD, but PS4 games will run off an external HDD. This guide will show you how to upgrade your PS4 hard drive, including instructions for the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro and a video to walk you through everything.
How to upgrade your PS4 hard drive
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Best hard drive upgrades for PS4
Before taking your PS4, PS4 Slim or PS4 Pro apart you need to have a replacement drive ready – which means doing a bit of research. We’ve done the numbers to find out which drive is the best option, whether you’re looking for an all-round option, a budget product or a super-fast SSD.
Best hard drive for PS4
Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSHD 2TB
If you want to upgrade your PS4 hard drive and are looking for the best hard drive option right now, then you should seek out an SSHD. These drives combine platter-based storage with smaller, faster portions of flash memory, and they learn which files you use frequently and move them to the faster flash storage – so they can be loaded faster.
If you play the same games frequently, you’ll see a performance improvement. The 2TB capacity means that you’ll get loads of extra space even if the games you install don’t benefit from the flash memory portion of the drive, and it’ll certainly never be slower than the PS4’s internal drives. It’s not particularly expensive, either.
Best budget hard drive for PS4
Seagate Barracuda 2TB
If you’re on a tighter budget then you can ditch the hybrid portion of the hard disk and opt for a conventional drive. This won’t deliver much of a performance boost over the PS4’s normal hard disks, but Seagate’s drives are certainly no slower.
They’re available in loads of capacities, but 2TB is as high as you can go before the drives become too thick to fit inside Sony’s consoles. The prices on offer are tempting: a 1TB model costs just $50, and the 2TB model is the best-value option thanks to a price of $77.
Best SSD for PS4
Samsung 870 QVO
Samsung is the king of consumer SSDs, so it’s no surprise that the firm’s solid-state products are the best options for slotting inside your PS4. The 870 QVO offers great performance levels that are several times faster than the PS4’s hard disks, and you’ll see noticeable upgrades to loading times and performance in the PS4 and PS4 Slim, plus speed improvements in the PS4 Pro, which has a better storage interface.
Samsung’s drives offer great speed and reliability, and their consistent 7mm form factor means you can choose a drive with 1TB and 8TB capacity, depending on your needs – SSDs don’t have the same physical size restrictions are hard disks. As ever, SSDs are more expensive than hard disks – the 1TB and 2TB models cost $110 and $224 respectively, and the 4TB and 8TB drives sit at hefty prices of $450 and $899.
Best budget SSD for PS4
Crucial BX500
Crucial’s drives don’t quite have the performance levels of Samsung’s drives, but in the PS4 that is less important thanks to their older storage connectivity systems. Drives like the Crucial BX500 still deliver a good performance boost over the PS4’s internal drives, and they’re just as reliable as Samsung’s products.
The BX500 is a little cheaper, too. It’s possible to get a 480GB drive for 9 if you’d like to give your PS4 a speed boost without any extra space – handy if you often play the same selection of games. Its 1TB and 2TB models come in at 0 and 9 respectively.
What you need
- 1x PS4
- 1x Phillips screwdriver
- 1x 2.5-inch SATA HDD or SSD
- 1x USB stick or 1x FAT32 USB HDD or SSD
- 1x laptop or PC with internet
- 1x PS4 controller
- 1x microUSB cable
Step one: find the right replacement
When it comes to wanting to upgrade your PS4 hard drive, the first thing to do is to buy your replacement hard drive or SSD. The PS4 uses a 2.5-inch SATA format for hard disks and SSDs, and it’s quite an archaic design now – it’s generally only used for more affordable drives.
Any drive you install into your PS4 needs to be under 9.5mm tall thanks to the size of the caddy that lives inside the PS4, which protects the drive and keeps it in place. This is no problem for SSDs, but it does prove to be a little limiting as many 4TB hard drives are a shade too chunky.
When looking for a new hard disk or SSD there are plenty of things to bear in mind – click here to read our guide on the pros and cons of hard disks, SSDs and solid-state hybrid drives.
There are a few rules of thumb if you’re in a rush. Hard disks are the more affordable options but even 7,200rpm drives won’t have great performance – at best you’ll get a slight speed boost over the console’s existing drive, at worst you’ll just equal it while improving capacity. A 1TB or 2TB hard disk will cost you around 0 (around £50, AU0) or less than 0 (around £100, AU0).
An SSD will deliver a more significant improvement to loading times and game performance, especially on a PS4 Pro console, but SSDs are more expensive – 1TB and 2TB models tend to cost around twice as much.
Step two: Back up your PS4
Got the hard drive? The next step is to backup anything you definitely don't want to lose on your PS4. The bad news is that you can't backup game installs. Your home internet will just have to take a beating to reinstall the lot.
You should start by syncing your Trophies first since they won’t be included in the backup data. Simply press the 'OPTIONS' button on your controller and select ‘Sync Trophies with PSN’. Your Trophies will now be safe and sound.
