How to change your PlayStation 4 hard drive

Details have emerged on how to replace a PlayStation 4 hard drive, and it seems relatively easy as hardware modifications go.

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Like its predecessor, the PlayStation 4 will have a user-replacable hard drive. We haven't known exactly how since the system hasn't hit stores, but we've just gotten our first glimpse at the process.

According to German site Computer Bild (via IGN), the hard drive is located underneath a glossy panel on the top of the system. That panel can be removed with a torx screwdriver. It notes that since the system has a 2.5" laptop HDD by default, you could slip in a solid state drive.

It only took them about 21 seconds to swap it out, so all in all it seems pretty easy to do.

This appears to be a dev kit, mind you, so the consumer box might be more difficult. But, the PS3 process was easy enough, so it seems likely Sony would follow suit. The PlayStation 4 is launching with a 500GB hard drive, but as Sony shifts its focus toward digital libraries you may want to consider upgrading eventually.

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  • reply
    October 18, 2013 7:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, How to change your PlayStation 4 hard drive.

    Details have emerged on how to replace a PlayStation 4 hard drive, and it seems relatively easy as hardware modifications go.

    • reply
      October 18, 2013 7:01 AM

      Good to know

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      October 18, 2013 7:03 AM

      Excellent. I bought a 1 TB HDD for my PS3 so I am just going to swap their hard drives. Much rather have the 1 TB in my PS4.

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      October 18, 2013 7:19 AM

      The only question I have is whether switching to an SSD will improve performance. If it does then I know what I'll be buying after I get the PS4.

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        October 18, 2013 7:40 AM

        yeah that's the first thing I want to know. SSD is a great improvement on gaming PCs, but not sure if PS4 would be programmed to take advantage of it.

        I'm thinking that I'll just take the plunge and throw a 3TB drive in there on Day One. Honestly I might actually do it before I play any games at all just to get it out of the way. I have a 500gb in my PS3 and even that has filled up fast with PS+.

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          October 18, 2013 11:07 AM

          as far as I know there is no such thing as a 3TB 2.5" (9.5mm thick) hdd
          best you can do is 1TB or 1.5TB

          as for ssd, it was already mentioned by someone else, ssd is pointless if the system doesn't support trim.

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        October 18, 2013 8:00 AM

        At the very least it will decrease loading

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        October 18, 2013 8:24 AM

        Has it been said that it'll support the Trim command or not? SSD would be useless if it's not supported.

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          October 18, 2013 8:49 AM

          yah that's a good point... SSD performance without TRIM will suck after a few months of use.

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