Ps4 external harddrive capabilities?

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ksdixon

Member
I know that since I upgraded my ps4 internal hdd a few years ago, Sony have done something with the harddrives plugged into ps4 on usb wires, but I am unsure what exactly. I don't think you can install games to and run games off the external hdds, can you? I think its more like a backup solution so you didn't have to re-download games from pstore? Brother is interested in this external hdd:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TKFEE5S/
 
"but I am unsure what exactly. I don't think you can install games to and run games off the external hdds, can you? I think its more like a backup solution so you didn't have to re-download games from pstore? Brother is interested in this external hdd:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00TKFEE5S/"

No, you can run games of it. It functions exactly like the internal drive would, the only catch is that when you connect a second drive to the PS4, you have to select where games will install into. So say your internal drive is almost full then you have the pick what Sony calls the "extended storage" to download your games into. And if say you want to install something into the internal than you have to go back and select the internal drive again.

And yes, that drive will work. The only requirements are that its a 3.0USB drive of at least a 250GB, and it cant be over 8TB
 
cozomel said:
"but I am unsure what exactly. I don't think you can install games to and run games off the external hdds, can you? I think its more like a backup solution so you didn't have to re-download games from pstore? Brother is interested in this external hdd:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00TKFEE5S/"

No, you can run games of it. It functions exactly like the internal drive would, the only catch is that when you connect a second drive to the PS4, you have to select where games will install into. So say your internal drive is almost full then you have the pick what Sony calls the "extended storage" to download your games into. And if say you want to install something into the internal than you have to go back and select the internal drive again.

And yes, that drive will work. The only requirements are that its a 3.0USB drive of at least a 250GB, and it cant be over 8TB
Click to expand...

Really? I was under the impression you couldn't which is why i havent bothered with one.
 
Yes when you plug a new HDD or format existing ones, PS4 will recognize them as extended storage and you can even run game from extended storage.
 
You can use both you just have to change the destination before installing. Get a bigger drive and use the external for games and the old internal drive for apps, saves, videos etc. It's just easier that way.
 
Are there certain external drives that perform better than others for games installed on it?

I'm wondering if I pick up a drive that can maybe load games a little faster.
 
I don't think you can install games to and run games off the external hdds, can you?
Click to expand...

I have the 4TB version of that and it works fine for playing games off (haven't tried using it for back-up).

Aklamarth said:
So you cannot have games installed on both internal and external drive at the same time ?
That's kind of lame....
Click to expand...

If you use an external it'll prioritise installing on that from what I can tell, but you can still play games you've got installed on your internal.
 
After you plug an external in, your internal is mostly used for screen shots, saves, ect. unless you move games from the external (if you set this as your primary place for downloads) to the internal. Though I'm not sure why you would even bother touching it.

External seems just as fast, if not faster, than stock internal - at least to me. I use the 4 Tb Seagate Backup Plus, myself.
 
I just did this. I just filled up my 2 TB internal so I added a 2 TB external.

Was pretty seamless but one annoyance was that you can only use the external for games & apps OR you can forego formatting and use it only for media. I listen to my own background music off a USB drive most times Im gaming so I now have to have 2 hard drives connected even though I could easily just add my 235 gb's of music to that 2 TB external I just added.
 
ksdixon said:
I know that since I upgraded my ps4 internal hdd a few years ago, Sony have done something with the harddrives plugged into ps4 on usb wires, but I am unsure what exactly. I don't think you can install games to and run games off the external hdds, can you? I think its more like a backup solution so you didn't have to re-download games from pstore? Brother is interested in this external hdd:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TKFEE5S/
Click to expand...

like the others said, you can install and play games on the external hdd that is plugged via USB. The PS4 needs to format the external hdd though and it wont be usable for other datas.
I bought the same hdd you linked, just the 4 TB model so I can carelessly buy digital games.
 
martinstraka8282 said:
I just did this. I just filled up my 2 TB internal so I added a 2 TB external.

Was pretty seamless but one annoyance was that you can only use the external for games & apps OR you can forego formatting and use it only for media. I listen to my own background music off a USB drive most times Im gaming so I now have to have 2 hard drives connected even though I could easily just add my 235 gb's of music to that 2 TB external I just added.
Click to expand...

The X1 is exactly the same way, the drive is either games only but no media or media only and no games. Media only and no games doesnt need to be formatted, whereas "games only" does just like on the X1.

But people, say you have a 2TB internal and its say halfway full then you add say another 4TB external drive. The system will ask you which of those drives you want your games installed onto. So if you pick the newly installed external drive then your games will start being downloaded and ran from the external and wont touch your remaining 1TB from your internal drive. But you can choose your internal drive instead and it will continue to fill up the rest of the remaining space (a 1TB in this example), then when say its getting full just switch to the external and BOOM! you've got plenty of space left (4TB). Btw, you can copy/moved games back and forth between drives. The only thing the X1 does better here, is that when you are running out of space on the original internal drive it'll automatically tell you that it will start filling up the new drive. Whereas i dont think it does that on the PS4, I think it'll just tell you the drive is filled up even though you have 4TB left on the external drive. So then you have to manually go in and change it to install games on the external drive yourself.
 
I actually just bought that exact hdd just about a week ago. It works like a charm too. Easy to format with the PS4, and you can play installed games off of it. You can choose to download games to it directly, to your internal hdd, or move games between the two.
 
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