How do you back up your PS4 HDD to a USB drive? Whether you're looking to switch out your PlayStation hard drive for something a little bigger or simply want peace of mind, the PS4's backup and restore feature will come in handy. This will essentially allow you to dump a mirror of your system's HDD onto an external device, which you'll be able to restore at a later date. You can find the best PS4 external hard drives through the link.
How to Back Up Your PS4 HDD to a USB Drive
The following steps will explain how to back up your PS4's HDD to a USB drive:
1. Go to Settings
From the PS4's home screen, tap up on the DualShock 4 to reach the top layer of the system's menu, and scroll to the toolbox labelled 'Settings'. Select it with X on the controller.
2. Enter the System submenu
When the long list of options appears, scroll down until you reach an option named 'System', and select it.
3. Select the Back Up and Restore Option
You'll be presented with another long list of options. Scroll down until you see 'Back Up and Restore', and select it.
4. Back Up Your PS4 HDD
You'll have three options here: 'Back Up PS4', 'Restore PS4', or 'Delete Backup Data'. First, make sure that your external HDD is connected via USB and properly powered up. Then select the 'Back Up PS4' option. You'll be informed that Trophies won't be backed up, so make sure that you've synced them with the PlayStation Network servers. If you've already done this, click 'OK'.
5. Start Backing Up Your PS4
Once you've followed all of these steps, you'll be taken to screen where you'll be able to backup your PS4's HDD. The system will give you a breakdown of all your data, and inform you of how much free space you'll have left on your external HDD once the process is complete. If you uncheck the 'Applications' icon, game installs won't be copied. This will cut down the size of the backup significantly, but it means that you will have to re-install all of your software when you restore your backup. Click the 'Next' button to begin the procedure.
How to Restore Your PS4 HDD from a USB Drive
The following steps will explain how to restore your PS4's HDD from a USB drive:
1. Go to Settings
As with the back up process, from the PS4's home screen, tap up on the DualShock 4 to reach the top layer of the system's menu, and scroll to the toolbox labelled 'Settings'. Select it with X on the controller.
2. Enter the System submenu
When the long list of options appears, scroll down until you reach an option named 'System', and select it.
3. Select the Back Up and Restore Option
You'll be presented with another long list of options. Scroll down until you see 'Back Up and Restore', and select it.
4. Restore Your PS4
Make sure that your external HDD is connected, and select the 'Restore PS4' option instead. Your backup data will be listed, so click on it to begin copying it across.
How to Remove PS4 Backup Data from a USB Drive
If you've backed up PS4 data to a USB drive and want to remove it for whatever reason, the following steps explain how to do that.
1. Go to Settings
As before, from the PS4's home screen, tap up on the DualShock 4 to reach the top layer of the system's menu, and scroll to the toolbox labelled 'Settings'. Select it with X on the controller.
2. Enter the System submenu
When the long list of options appears, scroll down until you reach an option named 'System', and select it.
3. Select the Back Up and Restore Option
You'll be presented with another long list of options. Scroll down until you see 'Back Up and Restore', and select it.
4. Remove the Backup Data
Connect your external HDD, select 'Delete Backup Data', and follow the on-screen instructions. Simples.
Recommended USB Drives to Back Up Your PS4 HDD To
Here are some recommended USB drives you could use to back up your PS4 HDD with. For more options, take a look at our best PS4 external hard drives guide.
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Have you backed up or restored your PS4 HDD using a USB drive at all? Let us know if you have any questions or concerns in the comments section below.
Comments 9
Can I restore selected games or do I have to restore all of the data that I backed up?
@agus_susanto78 You gotta restore it all.
@get2sammyb I would add that the external hard drive has to be Fat32 format.
and that it could take a few hours, depending on how much data it has to copy. For me it took 8 hours... or rather it is taking 8 hours, 5 hours left and i have a 500GB Hard Drive.
As far as I know, PS4 has USB 3.0 ports, so if you have external HDD with USB 3.0, you can cut that time by approx 2/3.
And I see this option only as a help to upgrade your HDD, so you don't have to download all again...
So can I just go out and buy any harddrive now? I am outta space on my PS4 original 500 gb harddrive. By getting a USB one do I just copy everything over now and delete the stuff on my PS4 hardrive? If it's on the USB drive can I play games off of it or do I need to copy the games back to my PS4?
Sorry for all the questions but I have never done something like this before.
What the PS4 really needs right now is DLNA support, so I can play my movies and TV shows on it.
@Alpha So the PS4 still doesn't support NTFS, Exfat or any other superior file system other than FAT32? Well that sucks Donkey Kong nuts, FAT32 can only copy files that aren't larger than 4GB. And the data is more susceptible to corruption if there's a power failure.. :-/
@Diskach At least it's possible but still sucks ass unless we can put a new drive in the ps4, connect the old drive and "restore" without an intermediate device.
This is really helpful to know that it can mirror the HDD when backing up. Upon hearing the news that P.T. can no longer be re-downloaded even if you "purchased" it, the only way to hold onto it if upgrading the HDD is by doing a full backup and restore.
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