A complete tutorial to connect an external hard drive to expand the internal storage of PS4 and PS4 Pro from firmware 4.50.
PS4 and PS4 Pro are available in the market with a standard storage of between 500 GB and 1 TB, capacities that in many occasions fall short if we take into account the size of the facilities of the current video games, their updates or complements, in addition to the Boom of the digital market, which can lead us to run out of more space unless we free space by deleting games that we don't use so much. Luckily, and thanks to the arrival of PS4 firmware update 4.50, it is possible to install an external hard drive to expand its internal storage. Here’s how to connect an external hard drive to PS4.
How to connect an external hard drive to a PS4
The first thing to do is update our PS4 or PS4 Pro to at least firmware version 4.50, an update that enables the possibility of connecting an external hard disk or HDD to expand the internal storage of the console.
Before starting the process we must be clear about several things:
- Only one external hard drive can be used at the same time; if you connect more than one external HDD, the rest will be inactive.
- You can only install video games, updates, add-ons and applications; updates and complements of the games will be installed in the unit in which the base game is located.
- Saving data, PS4 themes, PS4 captures or video clips cannot be stored.
- Before removing an external hard drive directly, it must be safely disconnected from the console menu to prevent data loss.
What external hard drive to choose?
Not all external hard drives on the market are valid for PS4, although we do have more freedom compared to the installation of an internal hard drive; They must meet the following characteristics:
- It cannot have a capacity of less than 250 GB or exceed 8 TB.
- Must have USB 3.0 connectivity or higher.
Steps to install an external hard drive on PS4
When we have everything ready, we just have to connect the external hard drive to PS4 through the USB 3.0 port, without any adapter or HUB. Once connected, it must be formatted in the correct format for PS4 through Settings – Devices – USB Devices – Format.
Once it has been formatted, we must indicate in which unit we want the default contents to be installed; if we want it to be the new external hard drive, we must go to Settings – Storage and select the corresponding drive through the Options button on the remote to mark it as default.
How to disconnect the external hard drive
We have two options to disconnect the external hard drive from PS4:
- PS4 Quick Menu – Sound / Device – Stop using extended storage.
- Main menu – Settings – Devices – USB storage devices – Select hard disk – Stop using extended storage.
