PS4 Hard Drives

Games are growing in size at an exponential rate. As technology improves, so too do the various assets and components that make up your favourite video games—and that means larger games overall data-wise. The average AAA release on PlayStation 4 can be as much as 10 times larger than most games from the previous PlayStation 3 console. Thanks to this increase, PS4 hard drives have become a handy accessory for this modern console generation.

What takes up space on a PS4 hard drive?

Video games require more storage space than ever before, and it’s not just digital-only titles necessitating this increase. Even disc-based games regularly require the contents to be copied directly to your PlayStation 4. This practice has become necessary to allow games to run with the most speed and efficiency possible. The average title can take up between 30-50GB, with larger games using as much as 80GB or more. Based on these figures it’s easy to see how even a 1 TB hard drive can fill up very quickly.

The digital libraries of most gamers are also proliferating at incredible rates. With the advent of free titles through a “PlayStation Plus” subscription, as well as the increasing number of digital sales and overall options available, players’ digital game libraries are growing faster than ever before on console.

PlayStation 4 internal hard drive storage

Each new PlayStation 4 console comes with an internal hard drive that provides a set amount of storage for digital games and media, as well as mandatory install data from disc-based games. The total amount of storage available will vary between either 500 GB or 1 TB depending on the model of PlayStation 4 console.

It is important to note however that a preset amount of this internal space is reserved for saved games, console software, and other system functions. For example, a 500 GB PlayStation 4 actually only has 407 GB available to the user, after accounting for the portion set aside by the console for system operations. This may still seem like a lot of data, but with the growing size of game installations and patches, even 400+ GB can disappear faster than expected. This ultimately leads many console gamers seeking options to expand their storage capacity with a PS4 hard drive upgrade.

You can replace the PS4 internal hard drive with a larger drive in order to increase space, with instructions for each specific model of PS4 console found on the PlayStation website. Note that the maximum size for the replacement drive cannot exceed 8 TB, and the drive itself must be the appropriate size to fit inside the console. If you are unsure, it’s a good idea to do further research regarding compatible PS4 hard drives online.

External hard drives

The potentially easiest solution for expanding the storage on a PlayStation 4 console is through an external hard drive. The PlayStation 4 is compatible with most USB external hard drives, granting they meet certain requirements. They must feature USB 3.0 or later, and have between 250 GB (min) and 8 TB (max) of storage space.

Expanding the storage space of a PlayStation 4 console via external hard drive is as simple as plugging the drive into any available USB port on the console, and then formatting the drive through the console’s system settings. Note that the PS4 can only support 1 external hard drive at a time. Between internal and external storage capacity, the maximum capacity of any PlayStation 4 console is 16 TB (8 TB internal storage and 8 TB external storage).