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PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Help

B

boy-better-know

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2010
1,358
140
England
I'm sure I am not the only one who has/will be upgrading their PS4 hard drive - But I want to ask you guys which drives you have gone for? What make is best? What brand should I avoid? Anyone gone for an SSD?
Thanks.

I want to buy mine ASAP ahead of the UK launch.
 
It depends what you want to upgrade for. If it's just storage then any larger capacity (with in spec) drive will do. If you want more speed (ie. faster load times) then options are SSD, SSHD, or 7200rpm drives. I went with a Seagate 1TB SSHD (Hybrid drive).
 
jedolley said:
It depends what you want to upgrade for. If it's just storage then any larger capacity (with in spec) drive will do. If you want more speed (ie. faster load times) then options are SSD, SSHD, or 7200rpm drives. I went with a Seagate 1TB SSHD (Hybrid drive).
Click to expand...

I want a 1TB hybrid that's reliable.
Could you post a link to the one you bought please?
 
It seems quick enough, but I can't compare to the stock drive since I installed it before I even powered on the PS4.
 
AutoUnion39 said:
I was going to order this one before I sold my PS4.

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Lapto...&sr=8-4&keywords=laptop+hard+drive+1tb+hybrid

I had the 500gb version in my old unibody Pro and it was great. No need to spend $$$ on a SSD here.
Click to expand...

That's actually the same one that I linked, but the "retail" version. Meaning it comes with the retail box, upgrade kit, etc. The one I linked was the OEM drive, meaning just the drive and no extras. I got mine from $101 when Newegg had a 20% off deal for it.
 
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There is no real point having a hybrid drive in a PS4.

Hybrid drives work by storing the most common used files on the SSD part of the drive thereby speeding up operations. On a computer this would be system files / OS files.


On a PS4 your OS is not stored on the drive, and therefore there isn't a common subset of files that your drive is going to access in order to offer tangible improvement in speed over a standard HDD.


Either go for a bigger HDD or a FULL SSD rather than a hybrid for the PS4.
 
MacRumorUser said:
There is no real point having a hybrid drive in a PS4.

Hybrid drives work by storing the most common used files on the SSD part of the drive thereby speeding up operations. On a computer this would be system files / OS files.


On a PS4 your OS is not stored on the drive, and therefore there isn't a common subset of files that your drive is going to access in order to offer tangible improvement in speed over a standard HDD.


Either go for a bigger HDD or a FULL SSD rather than a hybrid for the PS4.
Click to expand...

There have already been a couple of sites testing the differenced between SSD, SSHD, and stock drive in a PS4. In the results I have seen, the SSHD has been consistently faster than the stock. The result are not a huge amount, but an increase none the less. I went with the SSHD more for capacity, but with the idea that it would probably give me increased performance as well. The other option would have been a 7200RPM drive and I did not want to risk the heat or increase the noise.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General-Tech/PlayStation-4-PS4-HDD-SSHD-and-SSD-Performance-Testing
 
Could have tested an aftermarket drive against the SSHD. All we know is its faster than what he considers a slow drive.

If one had enough flash memory to store an entire game in it could be useful, as your most played game would be quick to load.
 
MattZani said:
Could have tested an aftermarket drive against the SSHD. All we know is its faster than what he considers a slow drive.

If one had enough flash memory to store an entire game in it could be useful, as your most played game would be quick to load.
Click to expand...

Sure, there are obviously more options to test, but in reality the "stock" drive is going to perform on par with any other 5400rpm drive. You are really only going to see a difference if you compare to different drive types (i.e. SSD, SSHD, or a faster HDD like 7200RPM).

As for more flash memory... You are not going to see that on a laptop size drive unless you go SSD. I thought about going SSD, but the cost is still too high for me.

I'm not really sure why this is becoming an argument. SSHD gives an improvement, whether or not that improvement is worth the extra $30 ~ $40 over a similar sized HDD is up to you. For me it was a better trade off that going for a 256GB ($160ish) or 512GB (~$300ish) SSD.
 
jedolley said:
There have already been a couple of sites testing the differenced between SSD, SSHD, and stock drive in a PS4. In the results I have seen, the SSHD has been consistently faster than the stock. The result are not a huge amount, but an increase none the less. I went with the SSHD more for capacity, but with the idea that it would probably give me increased performance as well. The other option would have been a 7200RPM drive and I did not want to risk the heat or increase the noise.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General-Tech/PlayStation-4-PS4-HDD-SSHD-and-SSD-Performance-Testing
Click to expand...

Great link.
I think I may go for the Hybrid then. I just want to make sure I buy a reliable brand.
 
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Here's a good video that covers the different options as well as the performance gains.


Drives reviewed in the video:

Hybrid hard drive: Seagate 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive SATA 6Gbps 64MB Cache 2.5-Inch ST1000LM014, $110

Solid state drive: Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW, $175

Not mentioned, but performs very well: HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200 RPM SATA III 32MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0J22423, $90
 
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ntnwwnet said:
Here's a good video that covers the different options as well as the performance gains.


Drives reviewed in the video:

Hybrid hard drive: Seagate 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive SATA 6Gbps 64MB Cache 2.5-Inch ST1000LM014, $110

Solid state drive: Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW, $175

Not mentioned, but performs very well: HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200 RPM SATA III 32MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0J22423, $90
Click to expand...

Thanks for the video! The tests and his comments were pretty much what I expected. I knew I was never going to test it myself, but figured that the SSHD would be faster than stock (or just about any other normal HDD option). I did it mainly for the capacity increase, but the moderate increase in speed is a nice bonus.
 
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Stupid question, but where is the OS stored if it's not on the HDD? Is there flash storage somewhere in the system for it?
 
applesith said:
Stupid question, but where is the OS stored if it's not on the HDD? Is there flash storage somewhere in the system for it?
Click to expand...

i think it's stored on the hard disk but the PS4 has a separate low power system included on the board

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation+4+Teardown/19493

see step 20 in the tear-down

SCEI CXD90025G Secondary/Low Power Processor for Network Tasks
Samsung K4B2G1646E-BCK0 2Gb DDR3 SDRAM
Macronix MX25L25635FMI 256Mb Serial Flash Memory

by leaked architecture diagrams the low power processor is an multi core ARM design
i think the 32 Mb flash + 256mb ram is entirely dedicated to the downloading and networking,party voice, recording footage for sharing etc.



i don't know if the Xbox One has such a complete subsystem but they have a special processor for audio output and handling the HDMI input/codec stuff

edit: one has to be careful with the units here : that ram is Gigabit not Gigbyte in the teardown_ so those 2 Gb are actually 256 Megaybyte ram and the flash memory ist 32 Megabyte
sorry for the mistake
 
Last edited:
applesith said:
Stupid question, but where is the OS stored if it's not on the HDD? Is there flash storage somewhere in the system for it?
Click to expand...

It's stored on the HDD. When you upgrade/replace it you download a 900 MB restore image.
 
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