The PlayStation 4 was released with a 500 gigabyte hard drive. How nice! They think 500 gigabytes is enough data! Hello sony! This is not 2008. 500 concerts are not going to be enough. Not when your games have mandatory installs. Not when your games are 40-50 gigs each. You’re making us juggle data. That’s fine with smartphones, where apps can be removed and reinstalled in 30 seconds. It’s not cool when your games are absolutely massive and can take a couple of HOURS to install. Why wouldn’t you ship with at least a terabyte? It’s ridiculous! You can shut up too, Microsoft. You shipped with the hard drive of the same size! Not only that, but at least Sony ships with the average hard drive in a regular laptop. With your console, you must purchase a proprietary unit. Then, let me say this with all the professionalism I can gather: Buooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Anyway, there is an easy solution to this problem. That’s just replacing the hard drive yourself. Calm down, don’t cry. My God, you’re crying. It is not so difficult. It’s actually quite easy. Don’t you cry anymore? It’s okay. Please keep your composure, that was awkward for both of us. Great, now you’re crying again. Let’s move on…
PLEASE NOTE: I don’t think this voids the warranty; however, you should contact Sony to make sure. I am not responsible for any damage or voided warranty that may occur as a result of a hard drive swap. Please proceed with your own caution!
The first step is to gather the materials! So first you will need a new hard drive. I used a one terabyte Seagate hybrid drive. Make sure the drive is 2.5 inches; otherwise it won’t fit on the PS4. You could also use a solid state drive. That said, I don’t think you’ll get a very significant speed boost. Solid state storage has traditionally been much more expensive than the traditional platter hard drive. Or you can get a traditional hard drive with a ton of storage. The reason I went with a hybrid drive is that you get most of the benefits of a solid-state drive combined with the cheaper mass storage of a traditional platter-based HDD.
Pictured: Seagate Hybrid Drive
You will also need a computer on hand. Ugh, I know. I am asking you a lot. Using that computer navigates to the Sony site. Find the latest firmware. Make sure you get the publication date of this article that the firmware is 3.15. You’ll also need a gigabyte USB stick, to put the downloaded firmware on, as well if you plan to back up game and save data. Make sure it is formatted to FAT32. Right click on the flash drive and click format and make sure FAT32 is selected. You will need a PS4 controller and a USB cable. Finally, get yourself a handy stylish screwdriver!
If you plan on backing up your save files, plug the USB drive into the PS4, navigate to the settings menu. In the settings menu, find the “Application Saved Data Management” menu. Search for backup and restore and follow the instructions on the screen.
Next, let’s get dirty and start taking the PS4 apart. The first thing to do is to make sure that the PS4 is turned off. Unplug it from the wall, just in case. Next, what you need to do is remove the shiny plastic piece from the PlayStation. It will require a bit of force, so don’t be afraid to use a little. It should slide on relatively easily. You should see the hard drive inside its cage. There will be a fairly large screw with the square, circle, x, and triangle PlayStation icons on it. Remove that screw with your Phillips head screwdriver. Take the cage out of the PS4. Good job so far!
Now examine the hard drive cage, note the orientation of the hard drive, and note the four screws that hold the hard drive in the cage. Unscrew them and remove your old hard drive. Make sure the rubber pieces stay in place. Place the new hard drive in the same position as the old one and screw it into place with the 4 screws you just removed. Slide the caddy with the hard drive attached back into the cage inside the PS4. Go ahead and slide the shiny black plastic piece back into the PlayStation 4 and close it again.
So first things first, let’s get your new USB stick ready! Connect your USB stick to your computer. Find your USB stick on your computer. It can be found in the “This PC” folder if you’re on Windows 8 or higher or “My Computer” if you’re on Windows 7 or lower. Once you do that, on the USB stick create a folder called “PS4” and then inside that folder create another folder called “UPDATE”, and once you do that paste the file PS4UPDATE.PUP into that folder. Once you’re done, safely unplug your USB stick and plug it into the PlayStation.
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Reconnect the PS4 to the wall. Connect your PS4 controller to the console. Locate the power button on the front of the console and hold it down for about 7-10 seconds. Using the controller, navigate to “Initialize PS4 (Reinstall System Software)”. Now, let the PS4 do its thing, and it should run. Once you do, it should take you to the initial setup screen, where you can re-enter all of your account information, enter the date and time again, and connect to the Internet.
The last thing you need to do is go back to the settings menu and go back to where you backed up all your save files. Now you need to do the opposite and restore the apps you backed up. Once you do, go back to the PlayStation store and re-download all your games. Your PS4 should now be in a similar state to how it was when you started.
That is all! Congratulations! You have a storage solution of this decade! I’m proud of you. Oh god, you’re crying again. Yes, I know this is a big problem. You are already an adult! I’m just going…
