Finding extra space on your PS4 hard drive is almost as difficult as finding a PS5. But, if you do have one, you may notice the memory filling up quickly. Once you install Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and a few more of the best PS4 games, your PS4 will likely be running low on available space. As a result, you may find a 1TB hard drive filling up surprisingly quickly, especially if you play live-service games with frequent updates. Thankfully, you can upgrade your PS4 hard drive by either swapping for a higher capacity internal drive or using an external portable drive.

Adding an external drive is the easiest and most convenient option, but you’ll also want to consider upgrading the internal drive. The benefit with an internal drive, specifically an SSD, is that it improves boot times and make your PS4’s operating system run a bit quicker and more smoothly. You can, however, get the benefits of faster load times with internal or external SSDs. You could even swap out the internal drive and add an external SSD to really maximize both key points: speed and capacity. The PS4 supports up to 8TB of internal storage and 8TB of external storage. We’ve outlined the steps for upgrading your PS4’s hard drive below.

Finding PS4 model number

Before you attempt to install a new internal hard drive, you first need to identify your PS4 model. It could be an original PS4, a PS4 Slim, or a PS4 Pro, and if you don’t already know which version you have, you can identify it by finding the model number on the console. The model number for an original PS4 will begin with CUH-10xx, CUH-11xx, or CUH-12xx and is located on the bottom of the console, toward the back. The PS4 Slim model number is situated at the back of the console, to the right of the power port and will begin with CUH-20xx. Meanwhile, the PS4 Pro model number begins with CUH-70?? and can be found above the ports on the back of the system. On your console, the “xx” will be replaced with actual digits.

Backing up saves and the tools you need

Before you can start replacing your internal hard drive, you need to make sure you have a few items. First, you need a Phillips-head screwdriver (and for the PS4 Pro, a fairly long one). You also need a USB stick in order to install an up-to-date PS4 firmware after the drive is installed. Once you install your new hard drive, you can visit PlayStation’s website to download the necessary files.

You’ll also want to back up your saves. You have two options here: If you’re a PS Plus subscriber, you can back up your saves to the cyuloud and retrieve them once you’ve installed the drive Come from Sports betting site VPbet . If you’re not a PS Plus subscriber, you will need to plug a USB stick or external hard drive into your PS4 and transfer over all the data you would like to keep.