The PlayStation 4 (or PS4 for short) is the latest iteration of gaming consoles sold by Sony incorporated. It is one of the best consoles out there (some even argue it owns that spot outright). Shipped with 8 GB of Ram, an octa-core, single chip AMD Jaguar processor as well as AMD Radeon based graphics engine, it is a joy to gamers.
The PS4 ships with 500GB of storage space which can be used to store anything from games, songs, to movies and pictures. But sometimes that is just not enough.
With the high amount of details and sky-rocketing display definitions of games, it becomes increasingly difficult to fit all the available gaming awesomeness into such a little space. Sony therefore gave users two options.
- Upgrading the hard disk inside the console just like the PS3 to one of higher capacity by taking out the 500GB disk and replacing it with the size of one’s choosing. Luckily for users, the PS4 supports generic hard disk drives which can be bought at standard market prices – unlike Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
- Using an external hard drive, i.e. finding the best hard drive for PS4 – support for which was included in the software update shipped in February, 2017.
– The first option is quite risky
The decision to open up a machine as beautiful (and delicate) as a PS4 cannot be taken on a whim. Something could go wrong which may result in more damage than bargained for, to other parts of the system. Doing this is also very likely to void any warranty on the system.
Therefore, to avoid these downers, it is best to attach a hard drive and use it as extended storage for files the internal drive cannot accommodate.
– Can be used on multiple consoles.
With this function, one can use on extended drive on two consoles connected to the same PlayStation account. This means that a game can be installed on the extended drive and played on different PS4 consoles – that means one install, two possible gaming locations.
– It Is Easier To Troubleshoot and Replace – If Need Be.
Should any faults happen to occur on the internal hard drive, troubleshooting and replacement can be quite the hassle. It will require going to a repair bay to have it looked at, probably spending days in a queue before it is fixed or replaced – all this while the system is repeatedly opened up over and over again. A faulty extended drive can easily be replaced with another one without risking damage to other parts of the console’s hardware.
– Ease Of Upgrade
On a final note, since the sizes of games as well as patches and updates seem to be growing larger every day, it is only human to expect that one might want an upgrade of disc space in the future, for this, there is no point opening up the system again when an extended drive can just be plugged.
And just in case (God forbid) the PS4 system packs up and needs a replacement, the extended drive means there is no ‘starting over’ necessary – but moving on.
