The PlayStation 4 is running in its last few years as the top model in gaming consoles as the launch of the PlayStation 5 is soon to come. Although a newer console may be more packed in with features, the PS4 can never be beaten. Its exclusive series of games like Days Gone By, The Last of Us: Part 2, Horizon Zero Down, God of War and Spider-Man, among others, make it a little bit hard for the video game savant to say goodbye just yet.
However, when it comes to the end, the signs begin to show immediately. Slowing hardware and limited storage space have plagued the PS4 for some time now. And it is only right, as games have begun to take up well over 40 GB of space with all the multimedia, gameplay, videos, and music.
The new era of gamers knows the worth of the expandable storage space on the PS 4. Attaching an external hard drive through the USB port of your device is a good way to store excess media and games. It prevents the crowding up of your console and helps it live a faster and better quality of life. The best hard drives for a PS4 can contain up to a few TB of space, unlike the old versions. You no longer have to make go with the 50 GB maximum storage drives to store your games, music, videos, TV shows, and other multimedia files all in one place.
The new Sony plug and play feature is more than helpful for all those gamers who value their PS 4 console and custom controllers. It is the easiest solution to the age-old problem of how to retain your games without crowding up the internal memory of your PlayStation 4.
So here is a comprehensive guide to buying the best external hard drives for the PlayStation 4.
How to purchase an external hard drive for PS4?
It is very easy to find external hard drives to back your games on. However, it can prove difficult to choose between the numerous options that you will see.
The most reliable seller is either the website of the manufacturing company itself or Amazon. Most of the hard drives that we reviewed are available on Amazon and can be shipped in at a nominal delivery fee. It is easier if you can compare a few products to see what their features and pros are so as to weed out the hard drives that you do not need.
What does an external hard drive do for PS4?
Boosting the memory space of your PlayStation 4 by an external hard disk is very easy, and fulfills many other functions regarding the features of your console. The hard disk will be aid your console to boot-up quicker and will be able to store much more of your data. It will also reduce the download time by a significant amount.
The best part about having all your games on an external hard drive is that you can now take them with you on the go! You will be able to transport your games to different places and play them on other Play Station 4 consoles, all the while retaining your game play and individual game progress.
What are the best external hard drives for PlayStation 4 console?
This list is a comprehensive guide to buying the best hard drive you can find in the market for the PS4. This is not only based on their functioning, but also their features, price, and comparison to the rest of the market. We endorse purchasing these brands of hard drives because we have tried them, and know that they deliver well on their promises.
List of Best External Hard Drive For PS4:
WD My Passport PS4 External Hard Drive
About: The WD My Passport is an HDD that is everything you could imagine. It is small, compact and attractive to look at. It comes in varying capacities of 1TB, 2 TB, 3TB as well as 4TB. Each of the drives comes in different sizes according to the space it holds. It also comes in attractive colors such as black, blue, red, yellow, and orange.
Strengths: The WD My Passport is small and stylish. It is light and offers good performance.
Weaknesses: The WD My Passport works best on the console exclusively. Any other transferring of data will not give the best results. The device has a tendency to malfunction on larger file transfers some times.
WD Gaming Hard Drive Works with PS4
About: The WD Gaming Drive has the same features as the WD My Passport but it is more compact. This hard drive was made to be used with a PlayStation 4 and it does not disappoint. It comes in a 2TB and a 4TB size, with the two models varying in thickness and weight only. The WD Gaming Drive is only available in the black and blue colors.
Strengths: The WD Gaming Drive is a lighter solidly built machine. It is inspired by the PlayStation itself and so offers a better exterior and interior look.
Weaknesses: The hard drive performance is dazzling at times, and then average at others.
Seagate Backup Plus External PS4 Hard Drive
About: The Seagate Backup Plus is an extremely popular choice of external hard drive for the PlayStation 4. Seagate had been disappointing its users otherwise, but with the Seagate Backup Plus hard drive, they may be on a redemption arch. This is one of the faster HDDs and is quite reliable. It is available in 1, 2, 4 and 5 TB packs with a sliver of change in the design of the upper and lower models. They also come in black, blue, red and silver.
Strengths: The Seagate Backup Plus comes with a much better performance than its competitors. It works well to transfer large amounts of data from one place to another regularly. It also comes with a two-year warranty.
Weaknesses:The two-year warranty seems a bit short, and could have been extended to three years at least.
Seagate Game Drive for PS4 Systems
About: The Seagate Game Drive borrows from its big sister’s design and looks and functions like a black and blue external hard drive which works wonderfully for the PS 4. This is only available in 2 and 4 TB models, with the 4 TB model weighing about 100 grams more than the smaller.
Strengths: Performance concerns can rest easy with this as it provides an above-average performance. It is also light in weight and goes well with the PS 4 color scheme.
Weaknesses:As is the case with Seagate, the warranty on this external hard drive for your PS4 is short at a 2-year limited warranty.
HGST Touro PS4 External Hard Drive
About: The HGST Tuoro S1TB 7200 RPM is touted the fastest external HDD for the PS4. It is high performance with shorter loading time. It is saddled with 1 TB of data which works at a 7200 RPM. Along with this, the HGST comes with a 3 GB cloud storage plan which can be expanded to a 250 GB storage plan.
Strengths: The HGST is the fastest external hard drive for a PS4. It is compatible with Apple products and contains plug and play support for the PlayStation 4.
Weaknesses: The weakness of this product is that the cloud service cannot be recognized by the console. Besides that, it only comes in a model of 1 TB which is not enough for any good gamer.
Samsung 850 EVO PS4 Hard Drive
About: The Samsung 850 EVO is the only desktop hard drive for your PS 4 console on our list. This is because of the stunning quality of the product made by Samsung. It is a versatile drive with external and internal functions working through the use of an adaptor. The drive comes in a 1 TB model and needs the Samsung Magician application to be installed for use on the desktop. It is a quietly revved engine which is quite small in size.
Strengths: The Samsung 850 is very fast and can finish downloads in a matter of minutes. It has no noise features that disrupt game play and can be used with an adaptor if you wish to turn it into an extremely fast External Drive.
Weaknesses: The only cons of this external hard drive are that the solid-state drives are not supported fully on the current PS4 design. The feature is likely to come up in the coming model. It would be available to turn into an internal storage disk in case required.
Conclusion
These are the best available external gaming hard drives in the market for the PlayStation 4. The fact that the PS 5 is about to hit markets soon should be a reason for you to accelerate the rate at which you save and continue playing your PS4 games. Let this be a reminder to you to bring an external hard drive home and enjoy your games without fear of using up all the storage!
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