What is the best external hard drive for PS4? This post will introduce several external hard drives for PS4, and then display 3 ways to format the external hard drive to enlarge storage when the original storage of PlayStation 4 is not enough. Certainly, you can also upgrade your PS4 hard drive to a larger one with MiniTool Partition Wiazrd.

Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, PS4 (PlayStation 4) is an eighth-generation home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

This successor places more emphasis on social interaction and integration with other devices and services, including the ability to play games off-console on PlayStation Vita, and the ability to stream gameplay online or to friends.

However, as a game lover, you may find that the storage space of PlayStation 4 is not enough to store more games. To overcome the limited PS4 hard drive size, you may try removing some games from it, but it is not a helpful solution. The more helpful way is to enlarge the storage space by upgrading the PS4 internal hard drive or connecting an external hard drive with this game console.

In this article, I would like to recommend some best external hard drives for PS4 and tell you how to format such hard drive to FAT32 with ease. As for upgrading PS4 internal hard drive, you can refer to the following recommended article.

2 Reliable Ways to PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Without Data Loss
2 Reliable Ways to PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Without Data Loss

This post shows you how to upgrade your hard drive without reinstalling the program and would not bring any damages to the original data.

Read More

Actually, it is incredibly easy to plug the external hard drive into PS4. After adding an external hard drive as the extended storage for PS4, you can download something from PSN or install a new game from a disc, and it will go directly onto the external hard drive.

Suggested Best External Hard Drives for PS4 

Which external hard drive is compatible with PS4? There are some suggested best external hard drives for you, namely Toshiba CANVIO Basics, WD Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive and Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Hard Drive External.

Toshiba CANVIO Basics is great value for money, and very durable for everyday use. Choosing it as PS4 external hard drive will double the storage for less money.

WD Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive is USB 3.0 compatible. What’s more, it only requires a quick reformat the first time its buyers use it. This hard drive also comes in small size and sturdy construction.

Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Hard Drive External is relatively inexpensive, for the 5TB is $109.99. If you have some requirements for appearance of external hard drive, it is a good choice to select this HDD featuring appearance of beauty as the PS4 external storage.

Let’s see the following form to know more information about each best external hard drive for PS4.

Toshiba CANVIO Basics

WD Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive

Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Hard Drive External

Storage Type

HDD

HDD

HDD

Capacity

500GB, 1/2/3/4TB

1/2/3/4TB

1/2/4/4/5TB

Interface

USB 2.0 for the one with 500GB;

USB2.0/USB 3.0 for the one with 1/2/3/4TB

USB 3.0

USB 3.0

Item Dimensions

4.3 x 3.1 x 0.55 in

4.33 x 3.21 x 0.85 in

4.33 x 3.21 x 0.85 in

Item Weight

5.28 ounces

0.54 lb

5.61 ounces

Others Feature

Sleek profile design with a matte, smudge-resistance finish;

Easy to use with no software to install.

Auto backup with included WD Backup software;

Password protection with hardware encryption;

Trusted drive built with WD reliability;

USB powered – no power supply necessary;

Works interchangeably on Windows and Mac computers without having to reformat;

Many colors available, such as black, blue, red and silver.

Price

$49.99-$123.31

$49.99-$99.94

$49.99-$109.99

The best external hard drive for PS4 blends price with performance, and the size of its storage space. For heavy PS4 users, it is highly recommended to select 2TB – 4TB dive, which will give them space to download and store 40-60 games, depending on size. Certainly, you can also pick up a “PS4 external hard drive 8TB” to download more games.

Note: If you would like to choose the external hard drives not mentioned in this article for your PS4, you should take the PS4 external hard drive compatibility into consideration for this console is compatible with USB 3.0 and later.

When you get a new external hard drive for PS4, what you need to do is formatting it before connecting it with PS4.

Note: You can format the empty external hard drive directly, whereas you should back up data if there are some files or folders in external hard drive in case of data loss. If data loss occurs after formatting, you also can recover data from the formatted external hard drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard.

After finishing all the preparatory work, it’s time for you to format the external hard drive for PlayStation 4. And the following content shows detailed tutorials on how to format external hard drive for PS4.

Please note that PS4 external hard drive should be formatted to FAT32, because this file system enjoys better compatibility than NTFS. (click FAT32 vs NTFS to learn about more information) 

Furthermore,  it is highly recommended to use the first way to format the external hard drive for PlayStation 4, because the other two ways come in some limits on the size of partition of FAT32 which will be formatted.

Way 1: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a multifunctional tool that can help you manage partitions easily and safely, including formatting disk quickly.

Please follow the steps below to format best external hard drive for PS4 via MiniTool Partition Wizard. 

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Plug the new external hard drive into a computer at first.

Step 2: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free by clicking the offered button and launch it to get its main interface.

the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

Note: You can click General and then click Reload Disk in the top of the main interface in the case that the external hard drive is not showing in the Map Disk after connecting it with the computer.

Step 3: Right-click the partition on the external hard drive you want to format and click Format. Or select the partition on the external hard drive and then choose Format Partition from the left panel directly.

click Format or Format Partition from the left panel

Step 4: Select FAT32 as the file system of the partition on the external hard drive and click OK to confirm these changes.

select FAT32 and click OK in the pop-up window

Step 5: Click Apply after going back the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to execute all changes.

click Apply to complete the formatting process

Format one of the best external hard drive for PS4 with MiniTool Partition Wizard. The limited storage space of PS4 is not a problem.Click to tweet

Way 2: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via Disk Management

Disk Management is also a good Windows utility to help you format disk. To format an external hard drive for PS4, please refer to the follwoing steps. 

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive with a Windows computer.

Step 2: Press Windows and R on the keyboard simultaneously to get the following picture.  And then input diskmgmt.msc and then click OK.

input diskmgmt.msc to get the main interface of Disk Management

Step 3: Get the interface of Disk Management and select the partition on the external hard drive you want to format.

obtain the interface of Disk Management to continue the formatting process

Step 4: Right-click the partition on the disk and then click Format.

select the partitions on this hard drive and click Format.

Note: Windows won’t allow format the partition without a drive letter, so users should assign a drive letter to it.

Step 5: Select File System FAT32 in the new pop-up window for the external hard drive and click OK.

Way 3: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via CMD

You can also use Command Prompt built-in Windows to format a hard disk, but this way is not so convenient as the two former ways as you need to type some commands. 

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive for PlayStation 4 with a Windows computer in advance.

Step 2: Press Windows and R on the keyboard simultaneously to access the Run window.

Step 3: Input cmd and click OK to get a black pop-up window.

open

Step 4: Input diskpart in the black pop-up window in the black window and click Enter on the keyboard. And click Yes.

Step 5: Then you should input the following commands and click Enter on the keyboard after each inputting.

  • select disk # (# refers to the number of the disk you want to format) 
  • list partition
  • select partition # ( # refers to the partition number)
  • format fs=fat32

Step 6: After inputting all mentioned commands, you should wait for some seconds until the external hard drive has been formatted to FAT32. 

The second and third methods may fail to format an external hard drive for PS4 as you cannot format a partition larger than 32 GB to a FAT32 file system in Windows without third-party software, like MiniTool Partition Wizard. Thus, the first method is the best option.

How to Stop Command Prompt From Popping up on Windows 10?
How to Stop Command Prompt From Popping up on Windows 10?

This article aims to fix the issue when the Command Prompt keeps popping up on Windows 10. If you encounter this issue, find the solutions in this article.

Read More

Have you got a formatted FAT32 PlayStation 4 external hard drive successfully by following the above ways? If the two answers are both Yes, you can connect the hard drive with their PS4 right now.

Please note that you should make sure that the console is powered off before you remove the PS4 external hard drive. Otherwise, data loss or corruption may occur. To safely remove the external storage, you should follow the path: Settings > Devices > USB Storage Devices > Stop Using This Extended Storage.

We Want Your Voice

Hope that PS4 owners can enjoy a better game experience after knowing how to format the best external hard drive for PS4. If there is any problem or question, you can contact us via [email protected] or leave a message below this article.

Best External Hard Drive for PS4 FAQ

How do I transfer PS4 games to an external hard drive?
Follow the path to move PS4 games from internal hard drive to external hard drive: Settings > Storage > System Storage > Applications > X > Options > Move to Extended Storage > select the games you want to move > Move > wait for the games to transfer.
Can you back up PS4 to an external hard drive?

To back up PS4 to an external hard drive, you should make sure that the FAT or exFAT-formatted external storage has at least double the storage space the PS4 hard drive has. If you do not have enough space, you can choose not to back up the application data (download or reinstall them when you restore the data on the system with the backup you’re creating).

Here is a simple tutorial on backing up PS4 to the external hard drive.

  1. Sync your Trophies first by clicking Trophies > OPTIONS > Sync Trophies With PSN (the reason is that these files are not included in the backup data).
  2. Connect the external storage device.
  3. Follow the path: Settings > System > Back Up and Restore > Back Up > confirm which data you would like to back up > customize the name of the backup > Back up > X > safely remove the external storage.
Can you use an external SSD with PS4?

The answer is Yes. When you use the external SSD as external storage where you store games and applications and run them from there, you will enjoy a much higher level of speed that classical external hard drivers cannot offer.

To learn about more differences between SSD vs HDD vs SSHD, please click here.

Can I transfer a game from one PS4 to another?

Yes, you can transfer a game from one PS4 to another. But there is something important you should pay attention to.

  • Transferring data from a PS4 system to another will erase any data from the PS4 system you are transferring the data.
  • You should make sure the latest system software is installed on both PS4 systems. To update PS4 system software, refer to the tutorial.
  • Besides the games you can transfer, you can also transfer all existing users and settings and saved data (screenshots and video clips).
  • Do not power off any PS4 during data transferring.

To get the detailed tutorial on transferring data from one PS4 to another, please read the post.

  • linkedin
  • reddit