The Official PS4 HDDUpgrade Q&A Thread

[NARMAK]

Hi ladies and gents

This thread I want to dedicate as the official place to find information on whether better performance HHDs actually make a tangible difference to load times etc.

As we all know by now, game installs onto the HDD are mandatory and as such, we'd all want the best price to performance ratio. I do believe SSDs are out of reach from a practical and price standpoint, but they will be included for those members that might use them.

So, the key factors we're looking for are as follow:

RPM: 5400 vs. 7200 - Does it make a tangible difference?
HDD cache size: 8mb (typical size) vs. 64mb - Does it make a tangible difference?
SATA: Does SATA I, II or III have best performance - NB. SATA II is supported, not SATA III but we want to establish if it will push past performance of SATA II for whatever reason
Noise: How high or low of a sound does the drive make?

Those I think will be the key criteria in evaluating the performances of a drive.

Now, if you come across any reviews done on HDDs, please post me the links and I will go through each and every one and try to make a ranking table for easy reference, and generally a key as to what people should look for when selecting a HDD to upgrade to that will make the biggest and best performance upgrade.

[keb33509]

I read somewhere yesterday that a Samsung EVO took boot time from 22 seconds to 9.

[GeneticMutation]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

[Show spoiler]Hi ladies and gents

This thread I want to dedicate as the official place to find information on whether better performance HHDs actually make a tangible difference to load times etc.

As we all know by now, game installs onto the HDD are mandatory and as such, we'd all want the best price to performance ratio. I do believe SSDs are out of reach from a practical and price standpoint, but they will be included for those members that might use them.

So, the key factors we're looking for are as follow:

[Show spoiler]RPM: 5400 vs. 7200 - Does it make a tangible difference?
HDD cache size: 8mb (typical size) vs. 64mb - Does it make a tangible difference?
SATA: Does SATA I, II or III have best performance - NB. SATA II is supported, not SATA III but we want to establish if it will push past performance of SATA II for whatever reason
Noise: How high or low of a sound does the drive make?

Those I think will be the key criteria in evaluating the performances of a drive.

Now, if you come across any reviews done on HDDs, please post me the links and I will go through each and every one and try to make a ranking table for easy reference, and generally a key as to what people should look for when selecting a HDD to upgrade to that will make the biggest and best performance upgrade.

Slight spelling mistake dude but other than that awesome idea for a thread

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by keb33509

I read somewhere yesterday that a Samsung EVO took boot time from 22 seconds to 9.

Any official link to the info pal? Would like to possibly see if there's more info on the other criteria we're looking for.

I sincerely do hope that PS4 does have a re-design that means it can in the future take advantage of SATA III interface. Anybody know if that's a realistic change that can be made?

[GeneticMutation]

Originally Posted by keb33509

I read somewhere yesterday that a Samsung EVO took boot time from 22 seconds to 9.

I saw a video from GameSpot, they put in an SSD and saw a noticeable difference when booting up Resogun!

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by GeneticMutation

Slight spelling mistake dude but other than that awesome idea for a thread

Thanks for pointing that out. I sorted the mistake, but can a mod please put the space in on the HHDUpgrade part of the title

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by GeneticMutation

I saw a video from GameSpot, they put in an SSD and saw a noticeable difference when booting up Resogun!

I think SSDs are an awesome idea, but waay to expensive and don't have enough storage space. For those two things alone nobody can practically consider them if they an average joe imo.

Besides, although SSDs now have a 1TB space, they are over £400.

[GeneticMutation]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

I think SSDs are an awesome idea, but waay to expensive and don't have enough storage space. For those two things alone nobody can practically consider them if they an average joe imo.

Besides, although SSDs now have a 1TB space, they are over £400.

I totally agree! I was looking at SSDs online and the most I could stretch my wallet to, storage wise would be about 250GB!

I'd like to know how the 7200rpm drives hold up in the PS4!

[Dynamo of Eternia]

This isn't a question, but more of an idea.

It was brought up in another thread that many laptop hard drives that store 2TB or more are thicker than other laptop drives and therefore wouldn't fit inside a PS4 or PS3.

What some company should do is make some kind of hard drive adapter to allow the use of bigger hard drives (even full sized PC desktop drives) on these systems. Obviously they'd have to make each one specific to the model. The device could essentially house the hard drive and attach to/sit next to the hard drive port on the system, and have some kind of extended connector that goes between the hard drive and the point where a normal laptop hard drive would attach.

I don't know how realistic this would be (i.e. if an extended connector would slow down the data traveling.... I picture it as something solid... not just a cord). And obviously it would limit the options of standing the system vertically, and you would have this extra box or whatever sitting next to the system, but it would be a way to go to get more data storage.

Maybe they could even go so far as to let you connect two hard drives at the same time for more memory, and they would work together as one.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

This isn't a question, but more of an idea.

It was brought up in another thread that many laptop hard drives that store 2TB or more are thicker than other laptop drives and therefore wouldn't fit inside a PS4 or PS3.

What some company should do is make some kind of hard drive adapter to allow the use of bigger hard drives (even full sized PC desktop drives) on these systems. Obviously they'd have to make each one specific to the model. The device could essentially house the hard drive and attach to/sit next to the hard drive port on the system, and have some kind of extended connector that goes between the hard drive and the point where a normal laptop hard drive would attach.

I don't know how realistic this would be (i.e. if an extended connector would slow down the data traveling.... I picture it as something solid... not just a cord). And obviously it would limit the options of standing the system vertically, and you would have this extra box or whatever sitting next to the system, but it would be a way to go to get more data storage.

Maybe they could even go so far as to let you connect two hard drives at the same time for more memory, and they would work together as one.

Ok, so to kinda answer your question. Some people actually used a connector to hook onto the inside of the PS3 and then onto a 3.5" HDD that sat just outside the HDD bay of the console and essentially gives access to the 4TB or so you'd be able to get easily. But it's a bit impractical for most having something dangling off the side if they have children or pets liable to grab and swing it around etc.

There HAS been a 9.5mm 2TB HDD recently released based on a post I just saw by another user in some thread a week or so ago.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

Ok, so to kinda answer your question. Some people actually used a connector to hook onto the inside of the PS3 and then onto a 3.5" HDD that sat just outside the HDD bay of the console and essentially gives access to the 4TB or so you'd be able to get easily. But it's a bit impractical for most having something dangling off the side if they have children or pets liable to grab and swing it around etc.

There HAS been a 9.5mm 2TB HDD recently released based on a post I just saw by another user in some thread a week or so ago.

Yeah, but even 2TB isn't going to be ebough for many.

I see what you are saying for those with kids, etc, but it's still a nice option for those who want it.

[kevin ventura]

hey guys..help a guy out in new to this but you a WD Blue 1 TB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, 5400 RPM, SATA II, 8 MB Cache - WD10JPVT will work on ps4? & which is better 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm?

[Grim Reaper]

What's the largest hdd can be installed? Since the 500gig is almost full already.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by kevin ventura

hey guys..help a guy out in new to this but you a WD Blue 1 TB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, 5400 RPM, SATA II, 8 MB Cache - WD10JPVT will work on ps4? & which is better 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm?

You can't unfortunately just look at the 2.5" and think you'll be ok. it HAS to be 9.5mm in height or it won't fit. Luckily, most drives are that height, but you should triple check to be sure that's what you're getting.

Your speed and cache as well as SATA number appear to be all the same as the stock drive, so the improvements going to probably be mostly on the increased storage side.

RPM wise, there's nothing out there I have seen atm because IGN only has a normal HDD, SSHD and SSD timings review. If RPM tests become available as well as cache tests, i'll be sure to update the OP

Originally Posted by Grim Reaper

What's the largest hdd can be installed? Since the 500gig is almost full already.

2TB will be the largest size BUT the 9.5mm Samsung HDD as mentioned hasn't quite been released yet. So your best bet is probably 1TB and this is what I feared on a more personal note. People filling up their HDDs. Might be worth you checking how easy deleting the game is and how much of the actual space it says you take; you get back.

Upgrade wise, I would say find the absolutely best SSHD you can find with approximately 1TB storage.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

Might be worth you checking how easy deleting the game is and how much of the actual space it says you take; you get back.

I did not expect people filling up the 500GB disk so fast. But if anyone does try deleting (a game they started already) can they take the time to replay the game? PlayGo looks good for a new install but what happens when you want to continue later on in the game? Will it work like a new install and you need to wait for it to have installed chapter/level... X or will it be smart and start from X

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I did not expect people filling up the 500GB disk so fast. But if anyone does try deleting (a game they started already) can they take the time to replay the game? PlayGo looks good for a new install but what happens when you want to continue later on in the game? Will it work like a new install and you need to wait for it to have installed chapter/level... X or will it be smart and start from X

That's a really good question but in fairness, I think most gamers tend to play through the entire game before deleting; but I can certainly see this scenario occurring.

[Omegaice]

Picked up my PS4 yesterday & before I even plugged it into the wall, I installed my 1TB HDD. Easiest 5 minute job. The PS4 had no issues reading the HDD either. Very pleased.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using carrier pigeons.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Omegaice

Picked up my PS4 yesterday & before I even plugged it into the wall, I installed my 1TB HDD. Easiest 5 minute job. The PS4 had no issues reading the HDD either. Very pleased.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using carrier pigeons.

very nice to see. seems as easy or even easier than PS3

[GeneticMutation]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

very nice to see. seems as easy or even easier than PS3

A lot easier than PS3! So has anyone put a 7200rpm HDD in yet?

[doctorD]

A video was released on day before launch showing how to upgrade the hard drive.

How to Install a Hard Drive in a PlayStation 4 - YouTube