External Hard Drive for PS5

Twisty on 01/04/2022 - 18:46

Hey guys
I’m currently using a Seagate Portable USB 4TB external hard drive on my PS5 for storing my PS5 games and also playing and storing my PS4 games

I’ve notice it seems slow??? When I go to storage or when I go to move a game from internal to the external it takes awhile for the PS5 to see the drive. Is this normal? Once it’s active tho, I can move games at a normal speed I guess

If anyone can comment on the above be great?

Also I’m looking to get a bigger external to replace the 4TB soonish as I’m gonna be running out of room and was wondering what is a great quiet 8TB self powered external for the PS5?

I’ve seen these Seagate Firecuda 8TB externals with RGB lights etc but the seem only for XBOX

Help on this too would be fantastic

Thanks

Gaming Computer Peripheral External Hard Drive

Comments

  • Hybroid on 01/04/2022 - 19:28
    +1

    There’s a lot of quirks with external drive use on PS5 so while not “normal” persay, issues like that are quite common. Even sometimes not recognising connected drives at all.

    Any external drive can be formatted to work with PS5. I don’t believe you’ll get USB-powered 8TB hard drives. All will need external power.

  • Dan83 on 01/04/2022 - 19:35

    I like my 1tb Samsung t5 SSD. Can't you just delete some games? 4tb would be heaps.

  • raziel2001au on 01/04/2022 - 19:44

    Mechanical drives ARE slow, that's why people are moving away from traditional hard drives for most applications. It makes sense in a NAS for example where you don't need the fastest storage, but you need a lot of it, but on a PS5, in general I'd lean towards using SSD storage for everything including your external drive for PS4 titles. That way it's perfectly silent and the slower mechanical storage won't end up causing hitches/slow downs on the PS5 which otherwise has extremely fast storage.

    Around that external drive you mentioned, there shouldn't be a problem if you want to get that, there is no such thing as a USB drive that's only for Xbox, a USB drive is a USB drive, the PS5 will simply format it to the format it requires. But as I mentioned, I'd lean towards SSD storage instead.

    Of course, in your case you actually want to upgrade to 8TB, so going the SSD route is probably not going to be an option from a cost perspective. So essentially, you're going to have to live with the speed of mechanical drives if you truly need that much storage. The only other thing I can suggest is doing your research and avoiding SMR based drives.

  • deadpoet on 01/04/2022 - 20:04

    Yes, it's normal for it to take a few seconds for the PS5 to "see" the drive after plugging it in, and even longer for games to show up, for some reason. I'm not sure why — this happens even with external SSD drives hooked up via USB C. I'm assuming the PS5 has to update its internal index or something every time you connect the drive.

    After it's "warmed up", things are snappy though.

    Is there a specific reason you have to store such a large amount (8TB) of games? Can't you just keep your most commonly played games on an existing drive, and re-download the others when you need them?

    • Twisty on 01/04/2022 - 20:20

      In regards to a bigger drive 8TB I mention. I like to have all my games downloads and stored on it so when I wanna play one I just move it to internal PS5 drive and play
      I read PS5 doesn’t support external self powered drives that have USB connections on them and that’s what the new seagate xbox ones have

      • Hybroid on 01/04/2022 - 20:57

        I read PS5 doesn’t support external self powered drives

        Wherever you read that is incorrect. It does.

        • Twisty on 01/04/2022 - 21:14

          This is what I meant and this is from seagate

          External drives on USB Hubs and External Drives with USB Hubs built-in are not compatible with PlayStation 5 (PS5).

          The seagate 8TB external drives have built in USB inputs so they are saying that don’t work on PS5

          • Hybroid on 01/04/2022 - 21:22

            @Twisty: Ah then yes, that’s clearer and correct.

            • Twisty on 01/04/2022 - 21:27

              @Hybroid: Yer sorry

              It’s strange they don’t make one for PS5 without the built in USB inputs. All I can seem to find it’s a Horizon 5TB portable seagate one. While it’s nice, I’d really like a 8TB to future proof myself for awhile

              This would all be fixed it the PS5 could use 2 externals at once like the Xbox does.

              • Hybroid on 01/04/2022 - 21:42

                @Twisty: Most people have migrated to SSDs now. You can still use a normal 8TB like the Seagate Expansion if you want.

                • Twisty on 01/04/2022 - 21:57

                  @Hybroid: Yer I’d love to use SSD but the size for price is crazy

  • Yummy on 01/04/2022 - 20:20

    Must be nearing full capacity.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join