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How to back up and transfer game saves on the PlayStation 4

Replace the hard drive in your PS4 or buy a secondary console? Here's how you can get all of your old game data back.

Dan Graziano Associate Editor / How To
Dan Graziano is an associate editor for CNET. His work has appeared on BGR, Fox News, Fox Business, and Yahoo News, among other publications. When he isn't tinkering with the latest gadgets and gizmos, he can be found enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City.
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Dan Graziano
2 min read

Watch this: Backup and transfer PlayStation 4 game saves

Most gamers will find that, sooner or later, the 500GB hard drive on the PlayStation 4 just isn't big enough. That's why we did an article and video when the system was first released that showed how to easily replace the hard drive. If you performed this task before you started to play any games, then you are good to go.

It's a different story for those of you who picked up a new system, such as the white Destiny bundle, or decided to replace the hard drive after playing hours of Call of Duty or another game. While you may think you have to start your games from scratch, this isn't the case. There are actually two simple ways to transfer your game data from one PS4 to another, or from an old hard drive to a new one.

Saving data in the cloud

If you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you can upload your game saves to Sony's cloud servers. This can be done by going to Settings, selecting Application Saved Data Management, followed by Saved Data in System Storage. Click Upload to Online Storage, select the game data you want to transfer to the cloud and tap Upload.

Saving data to a USB device

If you don't trust Sony's servers or you aren't a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you can also transfer data using a USB stick. Connect the USB stick, and in the Saved Data in System Storage section of the Settings menu, click Copy to USB Storage Device, select the game data you want to transfer, and click Copy.

Transferring data to a new PS4

Whether you replaced the hard drive or purchased a new system, make sure to log in to the same PlayStation account that was used on your old console. Once you have done that, head back to the Application Saved Data Management section in the Settings menu.

If you saved your data in the cloud, select Saved Data in Online Storage, followed by Download to System Storage,and select the specific game data you would like to transfer to the internal storage.

If your data was on a USB stick, select Saved Data on USB Storage Device, choose to Copy Data to System Storage, and select the specific game data you want to transfer over.