Upgrading a PS4 hard drive
Upgrading a PS4 hard drive
3:37

Upgrading a PS4 hard drive

Gaming Hardware
-Hey, guys, welcome back to Ask the Experts. I'm Peter Brown from Gamespot. -And I'm Jeff Bakalar from CNET. -And together we're gonna answer your questions about nextgen consoles. Today's question comes from Justin on Google Plus. -I told you, there is at least one other guy on that thing. -A CNET reader. -What's so funny? -He wants to know, can you install a solid state drive into the PlayStation 4 and place it to the hard drive that's inside? -You absolutely can. They are the same form factor. -Yeah. -And it's-- you know, it's super sleek. Look at this thing. -It's really easy. We've got a little drive from Samsung here. While we're talking, I'm gonna change it out, because it really doesn't take very long at all. -You're gonna do it right here? -Do it right now. -All right. -Simply-- -Whoa! -I know. It's crazy. You're gonna pull this thing apart, and you just apply a little bit of pressure in its top lid, pop it off. -These are expensive. Way more expensive than standard [unk] hard drives. So you're gonna spend a lot of money, and be like-- what is this, 500 gigabytes? -The one in here is a 500 gigabyte, 5400 rpm drive. -Right. So, if you wanted to even match that capacity, you're talking at least $300, $350. -Almost the price of another PlayStation 4. -So, not sure what kind of guy you are. I wanna borrow money from-- -What kind of guy you are. -you if you wanna-- if you wanna do something like that. I would probably wait. -Yeah. -Wait till the future happens, where you can get a terabyte SSD for $59.99. I can't get over how light that is. -It is very light. -And just to let everyone know, you can't do this at all on an Xbox One. It's not even an option. Do I have to worry about the operating system? Is it just gonna work right when I plug it in? How does that work? -So, what you actually do is after you physically install the hard drive, you go to Sony's website and you download the system updates and you copy that to a USB stick. You have a new hard drive then. Let me just put it back right now 'cause we're actually done. -Ooh it's that easy. -Just like that. -Just like that. And you've got the file on the USB stick. You hold down the power button for about 7 seconds, which boots the PlayStation forward to the safe mode. -Right. -The system is then gonna read the file off the stick, and from there you're going to reformat the hard drive, and-- but then you're done. Then you're all set. -All right. Our next question is from Jake. He wants to know if it's worth it in terms of performance increase when installing an SSD drive. So, I know you did a little bit of scientific research on the results and the data and that sort of stuff. What did you find? -So, when loading a game off the hard drive like Resogun, which is only a few hundred megabytes large, traditionally, on the standard hard drive, it took 20 seconds. -Right. -When we put in the new SSD, it only took about 10. I think it was only between 10 and 11. It's a pretty notable difference. Other tests though, it wasn't that big of a gap. Installing games, you would see maybe, you know, I think in the order of about 10% to 20% speed increase. -Right. -[unk] drive is not that fast. -Right. -So, both nextgen consoles have 500 gig hard drives, they're both fit to 100 rpm. They could be faster. And unfortunately, only one is gonna let you upgrade to a faster drive. So, yeah, the PlayStation 4 will let you upgrade. You know, maybe drop that money at a 2 terabyte hard disk. It's a lot cheaper versus the solid state drive. You're probably gonna need the extra space because everything has to be installed in the system. And while you can install a hard drive into Xbox One, you can on the external drive down the road. -Right. -There's options for each console, lots of things to consider. As always, if you guys have any questions, let us know. We'll be back for more answers to your questions. I'm Peter Brown from GameSpot. -And I'm Jeff Bakalar from CNET. -Thanks for watching Ask the Experts.

Up Next

Upgrading a PS4 hard drive
asktheexperts_ep6_1920_121813.jpg

Up Next

Upgrading a PS4 hard drive

Xbox One vs. PS4: Streaming Functionality
Xbox One vs. PS4: Streaming Functionality

Xbox One vs. PS4: Streaming Functionality

Xbox One and PS4: Next Gen Incapability
Xbox One and PS4: Next Gen Incapability

Xbox One and PS4: Next Gen Incapability

Xbox One and PS4: Headsets and peripherals
Xbox One and PS4: Headsets and peripherals

Xbox One and PS4: Headsets and peripherals

Xbox One vs. PS4: Games Showdown
Xbox One vs. PS4: Games Showdown

Xbox One vs. PS4: Games Showdown

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core-w

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city-w

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
cnet-top-5-w

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
dc-site-1color-logo.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future-w

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today-w

Tech Today

Latest News All latest news

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot
240419-megatron-v04

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot

Apple May Give FineWoven Accessories One More Season
finewoven-240424-land-00-00-13-04-still003

Apple May Give FineWoven Accessories One More Season

US vs. TikTok: What Happens Next
240424-yt-tiktok-vs-us-v04

US vs. TikTok: What Happens Next

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready
240423-yt-menteebot-ai-robot-v08

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready

What to Expect at Apple's May 7 iPad Event
240423-yt-apple-ipad-ipad-pro-pencil-v02

What to Expect at Apple's May 7 iPad Event

Did a Week With the Apple Watch Make Me Use My iPhone Less?
240419-site-does-having-an-apple-watch-make-me-use-my-iphone-less-4

Did a Week With the Apple Watch Make Me Use My iPhone Less?

Most Popular All most popular

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)
innovation

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost
240123-site-samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-review-4

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen
circlesearchpic

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop
asus-preces-00-00-25-11-still003

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions
samsung-galaxy-ring-clean

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024
240111-site-best-of-ces-2024-1

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024

Latest Products All latest products

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot
240419-megatron-v04

Robosen's Megatron Transformer Is Too Much Fun for an Evil Robot

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready
240423-yt-menteebot-ai-robot-v08

Battle of the Humanoid Robots: MenteeBot Is Ready

2025 Audi Q6, SQ6 E-Tron: Audi's Newest EV Is Its Most Compelling
cnet-audiq6

2025 Audi Q6, SQ6 E-Tron: Audi's Newest EV Is Its Most Compelling

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter
pic3

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter

Nuro R3 is an Adorable Self-Driving Snack Bar
240320-site-nuro-r3-first-look-v1

Nuro R3 is an Adorable Self-Driving Snack Bar

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day
240304-site-nothing-phone-2-first-look-v3

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day

Latest How To All how to videos

Tips and Tricks for the AirPods Pro 2
airpods-pro-2

Tips and Tricks for the AirPods Pro 2

How to Watch the Solar Eclipse Safely From Your Phone
screenshot-2024-04-03-at-15-47-11.png

How to Watch the Solar Eclipse Safely From Your Phone

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features
240311-site-windows-11-hidden-tips-and-tricks-v2

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3
VisionOS 1.0.3

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra
240216-site-galaxy-s24-ultra-tips-and-hidden-features-2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro
tiktok-on-vision-pro-clean

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro