Your PS4 is a bang-up games panel, simply its base of operations hard drive might not satisfy your requirements. Meager storage space, slow load times, and frequent crashes might be plague your console. If y'all're experiencing any of these, or other bug, and then it could be time for y'all to upgrade your PS4 hard drive.

If you're thinking of getting an external PS4 hard drive, hither are the pros and cons to assistance inform your decision.

You Should Purchase a PS4 External Hard Bulldoze Because…

A white PS4 with a white PS4 controller on top of it.

First, let's start with some wonderful benefits a PS4 external difficult bulldoze will give y'all.

1. You Get a Portable Gaming Library

An external hard drive is the perfect portable gaming library. With it, you can take all your digital games and installed game data wherever yous get.

This is a win-win scenario if you use concrete games, digital games, or both. If you lot utilise physical games, you can take your save data to a friend's house, and you won't have to endure the long await as their PS4 installs the game information if you use an external hard drive.

If you want to play a digital game, yous can merely plug in your external hard bulldoze, log into your PSN account on your friend's PS4, and play. Just call back to log out after!

two. You'll Take a PS4 With Tons More than Storage Space

The PS4 can support up to 8TB of external storage, which is manner more than than its base 500GB hard bulldoze.

If you're having to delete games on your PS4 to gratuitous up space, an external difficult drive would solve this trouble. You'll notice and appreciate the difference immediately, as your PS4 tin can suddenly concur more than five games!

This is especially handy if you have a big digital library: deleting and re-downloading digital games tin be incredibly fourth dimension-consuming.

iii. A PS4 External Hard Drive Is Very Easy to Set Up

Three different storage devices with two internal one external

Unlike with an internal PS4 difficult drive, it'southward very quick and easy for y'all to gear up up an external difficult bulldoze for your PS4.

There's minimal hassle and you'll exist ready to use your new hard drive within a few minutes. What's best is that you don't have to open up up your PS4 or worry about getting the right dimensions for your hard drive.

All you need is an external difficult drive betwixt 250GB to 8TB that uses USB three.0 or college and a USB-A connectedness.

four. An External Hard Drive Makes Up for Its Physical Infinite With Its Benefits

While an external difficult drive is a separate device from your PS4 and therefore takes up physical space, it's really not that big of a deal, especially when you consider its benefits.

The fact that yous tin can store dozens of games on an external hard bulldoze and take it anywhere you similar outweighs the fact that it takes up some more real estate in your living space. You can easily put it side by side to or on pinnacle of your PS4.

5. An External SSD Is Perfect for Both Your PS4 and PS5 Games Library

A black Samsung portable SSD

While the PS4'south base of operations difficult drive is a slow HDD (Hard Disk Drive), the PS5 boasts a lightning-fast SSD (Solid State Drive) that tin can boot up and load games inside seconds.

If you buy an external SSD for your PS4, yous'll feel the benefits of loading upward your games much quicker than always earlier, and you tin can transfer these games onto your PS5. Y'all'll also exist able to bridge the gap betwixt your PS4 library and your PS5 library every bit you store PS5 games on your external USB drive.

6. You Can Utilise Information technology to Back up Your PS4's Internal Storage

If you're happy with your PS4'south internal storage, yous should still consider using an external hard bulldoze for your PS4 to dorsum upwardly your data.

No i likes corrupted data. In gaming, this tin mean losing all of your game progress, or re-downloading and installing a game from scratch, software updates and all. And, with the increasing size of games, that won't exist fun.

You can bypass all of this by backing up your PS4'due south internal data to an external hard drive. It's a smart movement.

You Should Not Buy a PS4 External Hard Drive Because…

A person putting their hand up

External hard drives are swell but aren't without their faults. Here are some downsides to consider if you desire to use an external difficult drive for your PS4.

1. An External PS4 Hard Bulldoze Is More Exposed

As the name suggests, external hard drives are… well, external.

This means that your hard drive is more vulnerable to damage than an internal difficult drive. Though this might non be a big trouble, everyone'due south gaming setup is different, and so information technology's something you should take into account.

2. You Risk Corrupting Your Information if You Don't Properly Disconnect It

If you disconnect your external hard drive from your PS4 without following the proper procedure, you risk corrupting your information and losing your game files.

Thankfully, it's very easy to safely disconnect your PS4'south external hard drive; taking these steps ensures that you won't take to worry nearly losing countless hours of gaming progress.

3. Information technology'due south Easier for You to Lose an External Hard Bulldoze

External hard drives don't accept upwards much space, which is smashing. It also ways you lot tin 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 but lose it in your house, and it never appears once more. If you're prone to losing things, keep this in mind.

four. An External SSD Is More Expensive Than an External HDD

A person holding a box for a Samsung SSD

External SSDs are incredibly fast and will amend your gaming feel. Just, this comes at a big toll difference betwixt the two.

SSDs should become cheaper over time. But, right now, if you were to determine whether to buy an external SSD or HDD at the aforementioned storage level, the cost is much, much higher for an SSD.

Choose the Best PS4 External Difficult Drive for Your Gaming Needs

While they do take some faults, external hard drives offering some cracking benefits and serve as a fantastic storage option for your gaming needs.

If you're set on buying an external hard drive for your PS4, make sure y'all've washed your research. There'southward a whole range of external hard drives that suit unlike needs. Choose the right 1 for you lot.

The six Best External Hard Drives for the PS4

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About The Author

Soham De (142 Articles Published)

Soham is a musician, writer and gamer. He loves all things creative and productive, peculiarly when it comes to music creation and video games. Horror is his genre of selection and often, you lot'll hear him talking near his favourite books, games and wonderings.

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