Summary :

To install more games and applications, a large number of people want to use an external hard drive as PS extended storage. How to format as extended storage PS4? Today, MiniTool will share you with a complete guide to use PS4 extended storage.

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About PS4 Extended Storage

Why so many people use extended storage on PS4? With the release of PS4 System Software 4.5, users are allowed to use an external hard drive on PS4. You can use an external storage device like external HDD and USB drive for PS4 backup and restore purposes. Also, a great many people use an external drive as PS4 extended storage where they can install more games and apps.

Do games run better on SSD? A great many people are confused about SSD or HDD for gaming performance. This post will analyze this question in details.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of PS4 extended storage? To give you a better understanding, we summarize the main advantages and disadvantages as follows.

Advantages

The following advantages attract lots of users to use an external drive as extended storage PS4:

  • Get more storage space on PS4. It should be one of the biggest advantages of using PS4 extended storage. By doing so, PS4 users can enjoy many privileges that improve their game experience and flexibility in recognizing games and apps.
  • Enjoy more games and apps on PS4. As you know, lots of fantastic games like Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption 2 require large storage space to install on PS4. With the increasing of game file size, an internal drive seems not enough. However, you can enjoy more games and apps on PS4 with the help of extended storage.
  • Play games on another PS4. You can store your games and apps on the PS4 extended storage, and then connect it to another PS4 and play games without downloading them again. It is very handy, right?
  • Avoid upgrading the internal hard drive. It is relatively complex to upgrade the internal hard drive on PS. With PS4 external hard drive, however, you don’t have to clone the old drive, neither reinstall PS4 system software and restore the backup files.

Disadvantages

Depart from these appealing advantages, there are some drawbacks of extended storage PS4 compared with other PS4 storage expansion methods.

  • Can’t install the PS4 system software. Compared to the internal hard drive upgrade, you can’t install the PS4 system software on the extended storage. That is to say, you may not get an optimal system performance.
  • Can’t import video and audio file. That means you won’t be able to stream movies and watch them from PS4 extended storage. If you store too many video and audio files on PS4, you need to delete some of them to free up PS4 internal hard drive.
  • The external drive needs to be fully formatted. The external hard drive will be fully owned by the PS4 system. That means you will lose all the previously stored data on the drive. In addition, you can’t be able to use it on other systems like PC or Mac unless you reformat the drive.

Now, I believe that you already have an overall understanding of extended storage PS4. To use the external drive on PS4, you need to format as extended storage PS4. How to do that? Please keep reading the following context.

What You Need to Prepare

Prior to formatting external hard drive for PS4, you have to fulfill the following requirements so that the PS4 extended storage can be used properly.

  • Make sure your PS4 external hard drive has USB 3.0 ports or later.
  • Make sure the external storage capacity should be range from 250GB to 8TB.
  • Make sure you have installed the latest PS4 system software.
  • The external hard drive must be connected to the USB port of PS4 directly.

If you are ready, you can follow the instructions below to format PS4 extended storage.

How to Format as Extended Storage PS4

How to format PS4 extended storage? There are 2 simple ways for you. The first way to format as extended storage PS4 is from the Home screen. The second method is to use a free tool. Let’s begin!

Way 1. Format External Drive in PS4 Settings

Here is a full guide to format as extended storage PS4 from the Home screen:

Step 1. Plug the USB 3.0 external hard drive into the PS4 USB port. By doing so, you can connect the external drive to PS4 directly.

Step 2. Open the Home screen of PS4, and then press the Up on D-pad to enter the Function menu and select the Settings icon by pressing the X button on the console.

Step 3. In the Settings window, select the Devices option and press X button again.

Step 4. Select the USB Storage Devices option on the Devices window and then press the X button to select the external hard drive that you just connected.

Step 5. Click on Format as Extended Storage button, and click on Next in the pop-up window.

Step 6. Click on the Format button when you’re prompted with this device will be formatted as extended storage window.

Step 7. Click on the Yes button on the confirmation window. Now, PS4 will automatically start the formatting process. Once the external drive is formatted successfully, you will receive the message saying this device has been formatted as extended storage, and then click OK to finish the process

Tip: Once the formatting process completes successfully, the external drive will be set as the default download location as long as it remains inserted.

Way 2. Use MiniTool Partition Wizard

Alternatively, you can use another simple tool – MiniTool Partition Wizard to format the external hard drive with just a few clicks.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a powerful partition manager that spares no effort to resolve various problems related to a storage device like formatting hard drive. For example, you can use it to resize partition, convert FAT to NTFS with ease, wipe hard drive, and migrate OS to SSD, etc.

Click the buttons below to download MiniTool Partition Wizard and install it on your computer. Then you can follow the instruction to format the PS4 external hard drive.

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Step 1. Connect this external hard drive to your computer and launch this program to get its main interface.

Step 2. Select the external hard drive from the disk map and click on the Format Partition feature from the left pane.

Step 3. Select the exFAT file system from the drop-down menu and then set up a suitable Partition label and Cluster Size based on your needs. After that, click on the OK button to save the changes.

Step 4. Click on Apply to execute this formatting process.

Now, you should format the external hard drive as PS4 extended storage. But it is just the first step to use the extended storage. Besides, you need to move games and apps to the extended storage. So, please keep reading the following part.

How to Use This PS4 Extended Storage

How to use extended storage on PS4? To run games and apps properly, you need to change the install location and move the games to the drive. Here’s a full guide for you.

Set the Application Install Location

First of all, you need to change the install location so that you can store the games and apps on the extended storage PS4. Connect the external hard drive to your PS4 system and follow the steps below:

Step 1. Navigate tothe Settings option from your PS4 Home screen.

Step 2. Scroll down to the Storage option at the Settings window.

Step 3. Then you can see the 2 locations that you can download to, select either System Storage or External Storage.

Step 4. Press the OPTIONS button, and then select Application Install Location and select Extended Storage as the target download location.

Step 5. Wait for some time. Applications will be installed to the Extended Storage once you download them.

The above steps change the target installation location. If you want to further manage the games and apps on the internal hard drive, move on to the next section.

Move Apps and Game to the PS4 Extended Storage

This part will show you how to move games and apps from the internal storage to the extended storage PS4. For that:

Step 1. In the Home screen of PS4, select the Settings icon and click on the Storage option from the list.

Step 2. Select the System Storage where the apps and games are located and click on Applications.

Step 3. In the Applications window, click on the OPTIONS button and select Move to Extended Storage option.

Step 4. Select all the games and apps that you want to move from internal storage, and then click on the Move button.

Step 5. Click on the OK button to begin this transfer. Then you need to wait for some time to complete this process.

After finishing all the above steps, you can use this extended storage smoothly when plugging it into PS4.

Useful Tips When Using External Hard Drive on PS4

To use the external hard drive as extended storage PS4 properly, here we summarize some additional useful tips for you:

  1. Don’t remove the external drive when PS4 is turned on. To avoid any unexpected situations like data loss or corruption, it’s not recommended that you remove external drive directly when the PS4 system is switched on. You can remove the external drive PS4 after clicking the Stop Using Extended Storage option in the Quick
  2. Shut down PS4 properly. If the PS4 system is shut down incorrectly, you may get a message saying ‘’your external storage drive needs to be repaired.”
  3. Reformat the external drive to an appropriate file system. If you want to use this drive on a Windows or Mac system, the previous file system won’t be recognized. So, you need to reformat the drive.

Bottom Line

Here comes the end of this post. Today, we mainly focus on how to use an external hard drive as extended storage on PS4. A full guide on formatting PS4 extended storage has been told to you. Besides, you will get some useful tips about using PS4 extended storage. Now, it’s your turn to have a try!

If you have any questions when using MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can contact us via [email protected]. Also, we appreciate any better ideas in the comment area.

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PS4 Extended Storage FAQ

Of course, yes! The quickest and most direct way is to add an external storage device to your PC. Alternatively, you can free up the internal space on PS4 by deleting unwanted games, the saved data, and screenshots and recorded videos.

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There are 2 main reasons for PS4 extended storage not working. If your PS4 external storage gets faulty or the file system becomes corrupted, the drive won’t be recognized by PS4. Another factor is that there is something wrong with the PS4 system itself.

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When your PS4 is powered on, don’t disconnect the PS4 external drive directly. Follow the steps below to remove the extended storage safely:

  1. In the Settings window, navigate to Devices > USB Storage Devices.
  2. Select the extended storage device and click on Stop Using Extended Storage.
The biggest storage capacity that the PS4 system can support is 8TB. Here are some excellent PS4 external hard drives such as WD portable external hard drive, Seagate Gaming drive, and Toshiba external drive that can add some extended space for the PS4.

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