Change Your PS4's Hard Drive
Change Your PS4's Hard Drive
Change Your PS4's Hard Drive
The PlayStation 4 launched with a 500 gigabyte hard drive. You shipped with the same size hard drive! Not only that, but at least Sony ships with your average normal laptop hard drive.
That is to just replace the hard drive yourself. It's not that hard. I am in no way responsible for any damage or voided warranties that might happen as a result of a hard drive swap.
Make sure that the drive is 2.5 inch drive, otherwise it will not fit in the PS4. Or you could get a traditional hard drive with a ton a storage. The reason I went with a hybrid drive is that you get most of the benefits of the solid state drive mixed with the cheaper mass storage of a traditional platter based hard drive.
Pictured: Seagate Hybrid Drive
If you plan on backing up your saves, plug the USB drive into the PS4, navigate to the settings menu. Under the settings menu find the "Application Saved Data Management" menu. Find back up and restore, and follow the on screen directions.
You will also need a one gigabyte thumb drive, for placing the downloaded firmware onto, as well as if you plan on backing up saves and game data. Click on the flash drive, and click format and make sure FAT32 is selected. You will need a PS4 controller and a USB cord.
Next let's get down and dirty and start taking apart the PS4. Thing you should do is the make sure the PS4 is turned off. You should see the hard drive inside of its cage.
First thing is first, let's get your new thumb drive ready! Once you do that, on the thumb drive create a folder called "PS4" and then within that folder create another folder called "UPDATE", and once you do that paste the file PS4UPDATE.PUP into that folder. Once you finish that up, safely unplug your thumb drive and plug it into the PlayStation.
Now examine the hard drive caddy, notice the orientation of the hard drive, and see the four screws holding the hard drive into caddy. Place the new hard drive in the same position as the old one, and screw it into place using the 4 screws you just took out. Slide the caddy with the hard drive attached back into the cage inside the PS4.
Navigate down to number 7
Plug the PS4 back into the wall. Plug your PS4 controller into the console. Now, let the PS4 do its thing, and it should run through.
Make sure that the drive is 2.5 inch drive, otherwise it will not fit in the PS4. The reason I went with a hybrid drive is that you get most of the benefits of the solid state drive mixed with the cheaper mass storage of a traditional platter based hard drive.
The last thing you need to do is to go back to settings menu and back to where you backed up all of your saves. Your PS4 should now be in a similar state to when you began.
Oh god, you're crying again. You're an adult now! I am just going to go ...
Now examine the hard drive caddy, notice the orientation of the hard drive, and see the four screws holding the hard drive into caddy. Place the new hard drive in the same position as the old one, and screw it into place using the 4 screws you just took out. Slide the caddy with the hard drive attached back into the cage inside the PS4.