Question How do I replace a 1TB external drive with a similar 4TB version on the PS4?

justabear

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I think I'm over complicating here what should be a simple task.

I've got a 1TB external WD drive attached to a 500gb launch PS4 - everything still works OK. I want to replace that 1TB WD with a 4TB Seagate Drive. I've used 332.2 GB/408.50GB on the built in drive and I've used 502.7GB/918.4GB on the external WD digital drive.

What's really 'baking my noodle' in true spoon bending style is how do I replace the external drive without losing anything important? Looking around on the t'internet my understanding is I can't use 2 external drives at the same time on the PS4. I'm scratching my head as to how I can move the data from the 1TB WD to the 4TB Seagate Drive?

I would only want to keep the Seagate after making the transfer. Answers on a postcard please....
 
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Do you have playstation plus? If so why not not worry about losing things (games can always be redownload, playstation plus sorts out your saves) & put the 1tb in the ps4 & have the 4rb as external? Not sure if there's an upper limit on the ps4s internal but mine has a 2tb with a 4tb external. I know you can't have 2 external used at the same time as I've just replaced my ps3s hdd & so have an extra external now but it won't let me use it unless I disconnect the 4tb
 
The external drive just holds game installs. It doesn’t hold any irreplaceable data.
Just set up the external 4TB drive & download/install the game data from PSN/disc to the 4TB again.
 
Do you have playstation plus? If so why not not worry about losing things (games can always be redownload, playstation plus sorts out your saves) & put the 1tb in the ps4 & have the 4rb as external? Not sure if there's an upper limit on the ps4s internal but mine has a 2tb with a 4tb external. I know you can't have 2 external used at the same time as I've just replaced my ps3s hdd & so have an extra external now but it won't let me use it unless I disconnect the 4tb

Thanks for reply. I haven't had Playstation Plus for a couple of years now. You raise a good point, because I have no idea where my game saves are stored these days? What I'm looking for is to put the data on the current 1TB WD external drive onto the Seagate 4TB external drive. I'm not planning on changing the internal drive, or deleting any data off it at this stage.
 
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Thanks for reply. I haven't had Playstation Plus for a couple of years now. You raise a good point, because I have no idea where my game saves are stored these days? What I'm looking for is to put the data on the current 1TB WD external drive onto the Seagate 4TB external drive. I'm not planning on changing the internal drive, or deleting any data off it at this stage.
 
The external drive just holds game installs. It doesn’t hold any irreplaceable data.
Just set up the external 4TB drive & download/install the game data from PSN/disc to the 4TB again.

Do I need Playstation Plus to download game data from PSN? I have mainly disc games with a couple of purchased from PSN games. I think its the game saves I don't want to lose. Not sure where these are,? re. reply to quiddity. I know - you would think I had never used the system before lol.
 
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Save data will be saved on the internal hard drive unless you delete it from the internal drive. You can backup saves to cloud or USB, & as the word ‘backup’ implies, it’s a backup to the saves on the internal hard drive.

Re: PlayStation plus PlayStation Network - Wikipedia

Thanks for the links. I will read how I'm currently doing things on the PS4 and start reading the manual more often. If I can't use 2 external hard drives at the same time and I don't have PS Plus, then perhaps the solution I am looking at now is as follows:

1. Unplug (following correct procedure) the external 1TB WD drive.
2. Plug in the external 4TB Seagate and move the data on the internal drive onto the Seagate. In theory the the internal drive is now empty.
2. Unplug the Seagate and plug the 1TB WD drive back in.
3. Move the content on the 1TB WD drive onto the PS4 internal drive. The 1TB WD drive is now empty. Unplug the WD drive and use that for something else.
4. Plug back in the Seagate drive and move the date on the PS4 internal drive onto the Seagate. Then I've got everything on the Seagate and a clean slate on the internal drive.

Does that sound about right? Will this method save having to reinstall PSN games/discs? Is it OK to unplug the drives and use them one at a time to move and copy to/from internal drive? Could this solution BE any more complex? :laugh:
 
Yes that should work or you can just do as mentioned in post #3. Which will prob be faster.
 
Yes that should work or you can just do as mentioned in post #3. Which will prob be faster.

Ok thanks very much hippo. I will give it a go and have the option of the other method should I get stuck. Will post again to let interested parties know how I got on.
 

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