Connect a hard drive for PS4 – The PlayStation 5 can play both PS4 and PS5 games. You play those PS4 games in different ways. This can be done, for example, via the internal or external solid state drive, external hard drive or the cloud. For this article, we focus on connecting an external hard drive (a HDD) to play PlayStation 4 games on the device. Because as beautiful as the PS5 is and how extensive the specifications are, the console really doesn’t have enough internal storage space for all the games you want to play on it.
What can you do with the external hard drive? connect a hard drive for PS4
When you connect an external hard drive to the PlayStation 5, you can do a number of things. For example, you can store your PS4 and PS5 games on it and play your PlayStation 4 games directly from it. That means you can keep that precious internal memory – or that expensive external memory – completely free for PS5 exclusive titles. Please note: you cannot play saved PS5 titles from an external HDD. If you do move games here, you must first copy them to the ssd again, unfortunately.
You can also use such an external hard drive for a specific situation. We can imagine that you don’t have the fastest internet connection. If you’ve downloaded a game once and are now running out of space, it’s a good idea to move it to the external drive first. Copying game data is in many cases faster than downloading all that content again. That of course depends on your internet connection at home, but in most cases this is a convenient way of working.
The minimum requirements for a connect a hard drive for PS4
Before you attach a hard drive to your PlayStation 5, it is a good idea to review the minimum requirements. A quick tip: if you want to use a hard drive that you previously used for your PlayStation 4, just connect it to your PS5. You will then have access to all PS4 games on the station.
- SuperSpeed ​​USB 5 Gbps or higher (USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen 1 or USB 3.2 Gen 1 or later).
- Capacity of a minimum of 250 GB and a maximum of 8 TB.
- You cannot connect the station via a USB hub.
- Two or more USB extended storage drives cannot be connected at the same time. You can connect multiple USB drives to your console, but you can only use one at a time.
There are no further requirements. Before you buy a hard drive, check whether the specifications match. Are you in a physical store? Then ask if the seller can tell you more about it. The best choice depends on your budget. Try to see if you manage to buy as much GB as possible for the lowest possible price. Otherwise, it is wise to calculate what a good price/GB ratio is.
Connecting a hard drive to your PlayStation 5
Connecting the hard drive to your PlayStation 5 is very easy. You take the hard drive and the USB cable (and possibly a power cable) and put the head of the USB cable in one of the ports at the back of the PS5. Again, if this is the same hard drive you used on your PlayStation 4, then you’re done. Is this your first time connecting a drive? Then we have to format everything first. When you format a drive, all data is erased. Make sure you don’t use the drive for anything else.
After you have connected the hard drive to the PlayStation 5, go to Settings > Storage. Select USB Extended Storage > Format for Extended Storage. Now let the PS5 do its job. Caution: Do not turn off the power or disconnect the drive while it is being formatted. This may cause data loss, data corruption or damage to your PS5 or external hard drive. This process may take several minutes. But after a short while the disc should be ready to use and visible in the menu.
Putting a hard drive into use
Okay, now that the hard drive is installed for the PlayStation 5, we can use it for what it’s intended for: playing PlayStation 4 games. For example, set the PS5 to automatically install all PS4 games on the external drive. You do this by going to Settings > Storage > Installation location. Here you will see the required option. You can also delete games from the hard drive. To do this, go to Settings > Storage > USB Extended Storage Drive > Games & Apps > Delete Content. Select the games and press Delete.
If you want to move games between the different disks, you can do this as follows. Go to Game Library, select the games you want to move, press the Options button on the controller, and then select Move games and apps. If you have both a M.2 SSD if using an external hard drive for extended storage, go to the Items tab that you can move to extended USB storage. This way you can keep your internal memory free for PlayStation 5 games, which can use that space hard.
