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15 April 2019  Ashley S. Miller  Specialist of Customer Service Dept.
 

Summary
Being a PS4 users, have you ever annoyed for the time-consuming loading of the game? Want to improve the game accessing performance when using PS4 or PS4 Pro? Then upgrading SSD for your PS4 could be a good choice.



Advantages of Upgrading SSD for PS4

When we play games with PS4, users may feel the loading time of some games is longer and get a bad experience at last. Monster Hunter World could be a good example. No matter we enter the game at the first time, switch the location, or loading after finish the task when playing the game, the loading time could be last for seconds. Besides, Monster Hunter World needs to read and write data to disk frequently. And the long data accessing time will lower the users’ experience greatly. So, we can reduce the data accessing time by upgrading SSD for PS4.
illustration in ssd for ps4
Comparison of the data accessing time of Monster Hunter World between Internal HDD and External SSD

Scenes

Accessing time of HDD

Accessing time of SSD

Get into game from the welcome page58 Seconds18 Seconds
Start Task from Stronghold67 Seconds25 Seconds
Return to Stronghold after task finished37 Seconds11 Seconds
To agora from circulation area19 Seconds7 Seconds
It is easy to find that the data accessing time of SSD is just half of the original one of internal HDD. Besides, the user experience will be improved greatly.

How to Choose a Suitable SSD for PS4

Replace Internal HDD with SSD (Not Recommended)

PS4 has released a few versions since Nov, 2013. Now, PS4 includes the Originals, PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro.

different ps4 versions
As for the motherboard, the Original PS4 and PS4 Slim adopt SATA2 interface which is with maximum transmission speed of 3Gbps. Besides, no matter how good the performance of the internal HDD is or replacing the HDD with SSD, the transmission speed will not exceeded 3Gbps. In other words, it is meaningless to replace HDD with SSD for PS4 or PS4 Slim.
For PS4 Pro, which uses SATA 3 interfaces, can provide a maximum data transmission speed of 6Gbps. So, if you are using PS4 Pro, it could be a good choice to replace the internal HDD with SSD. However, this replacement could waste the capacity of the HDD. So, it is recommended to connect the SSD as external hard disk even you are using PS4.

Connect the SSD as External Hard Disk (Strongly Recommended)

Although different PS4 adapts different interfaces including SATA2 and SATA3, they equip with USB 3.0 which could provide a maximum transmission speed of 5Gbps.Generally, 5Gbps could make a full use of SSD performance. Besides, connecting the SSD as external disk could also free the users from taking apart the PS4 and make the steps easier. If you are using the Original or PS4 Slim, you need to take the SSD as an external disk. If you are using PS4 Pro, it is also recommended to make the SSD as an external disk.

external ssd connection for ps4
What’s more, connecting SSD as external disk could not only transfer game to SSD to get the best data accessing performances, but can also make use of the capacity of the original HDD for saving screenshots, videos and files.
Notices:

The following items should be fulfilled before connect SSD as external disk for PS4:

  • The SSD should be SATA SSD and the capacity should reach or exceed 250GB.
  • 2.5 Inch hard disk enclosure which supports USB 3.0 is also required.
  • The version of PS4 should be 4.50 or later version.

At present, PS4 only supports hard disk with a minimum capacity of 250GB. Some disks with a 240GB capacity could be used on computer but not the PS4. If you use such disk on PS4, the disk will not be recognized. So, please choose SATA SSD with a minimum capacity of 250GB. Besides, you should choose the hard disk enclosure carefully. The enclosure should use USB 3.0 connector and is for SATA hard disk. Such disk enclosures could be produced by ORICO, BUFFALO, etc with an acceptable price. Users can make the choice according to their needs.

cheaper ssd brands

How to Transfer Local Games in PS4 to External SSD

1. Connect the 2.5 inch SSD to computer via the external disk enclosure.
2.Start PS4 and then please format the external SSD. Pease follow the steps below: Go to [Settings] – [Devices] – [USB Storage Device]. Then please choose the related external disk and then select “Format as Extended Storage” in the menu and click “Next” and confirm. Please wait for the format finish

Attention: After format, all your new games and software will be saved in the external disk and the data and captured image/video will be saved in the internal disk.

3. Finally, select the internal disk in “Settings > Storage“. Then please check the items in and the target games and application you want to migrate in related area. Finally click “Move” and wait for the process finished.