Some PS5 Owners Are Experiencing Rebuild Database, External HDD Woes

Will see what happens. Still waiting for my PS5 to be delivered. Kind of irritated seeing as people who ordered today are getting theirs tomorrow or Saturday. Let's just say that Covid has made this launch a real pain in the butt

Ooh, I hate it when that rebuild database thing happens on my Vita. I think it’s my own fault though, it’s usually if I bump the game card slot and it messes up everything. This is obviously worrying but hey, 99% of launches have teething issues.

So a recap: No external HDD and No rest mode to keep my PS5 functional.

Weird, I got the console a couple days early and I've been having that issue with my PS4 Pro but not my PS5.

@nessisonett it was the worst! I’m wondering if it killed my 64GB card. Plus the fact that it would unfolder stuff and if you had more than 100 apps, it would hide them until you foldered enough to make them reappear.

I had the database issue come up at least every 30 minutes. I managed to fix this by holding down the power button (while off) for about 5-10 or so seconds till you hear a beep then release.
It then takes you to like menu screen where you can rebuild the database which can take a few minutes.
It hasn't happened since

I hope all issue will be sorted out when ps5 launch in my country next year.

Had this happen to me with no mans sky. Also a message informing me that the external hdd had been improperly removed and needed to be repaired although I hadn't touched it. Fingers crossed a firmware update fixes this.

So why can’t I find a app for sky go ? Is it not available yet?

@Paulw Sadly not.

@PcTV my vita did it yesterday too for the first time ever..

I'll try to be optimistic: there are only 47 days left until the end of 2020.

Ok I'll say it ; stability update ftw.

Hmmm so I will not plug in my external SSD until it is fixed... I can live with that. Enough new games to play.

No external HDD or Rest Mode right now?... the two things I'll be doing the most next week to download my PS4 library.

@nessisonett

This happened to me a lot with the Vita too. I have a 64GB memory card and I used to worry that it would die on me, due to the frequency of the issue. I heard that it’s best to ensure there is a good amount of free space on the card (I would always have the card close to full) and since then I’ve had no further issues.

There's bound to be a few niggles with millions of console;s being made.

BUT

To play it safe i am not plugging in an external HDD until Sony release a patch as i don't want a bricked console over christmas.

Ah geez now Xbox hardware seems better lol

Oh, now I'm kinda glad I haven't been able to preorder.
Seems like 1st batch of nextgen is always a mess..

Is there anyone who can confirm this isn't happening to them? Because I'm hoping it's not a widespread issue as I've already moved my games to a 3.0 HDD and backed them up on the cloud in preparation of next week.

I just wanna have some hope that it'll be okay to put my HDD into the console and not run into issues on my first day

I kinda laugh when everyone shrugs and says - "well, that's what you expect from early releases". No, that's not true. People now believe this is normal...no... it is not on a product that has been tested thoroughly. IMO it reflects the last-minute build process these days. Leave everything to the last minute and cross your fingers. On PC you can understand it - because everyone has different configurations. How many different hardware configurations are there on PS5?

Both new consoles will unfortunately have their release day issues. There is many console being made and released all at once there are bound to some with faults. Just like when I had a faulty blu ray player once. The really bad thing is I just took the blu ray player back to shop and they replaced it straight away.
It’s more the fact that there is no shop stock to replace the faulty consoles that hurts more.

Well then hopefully they will have a patch for it for launch! Since it ain't out yet!

@Axyuji Not happened to me, but has happened to my friend. I've since not used external though.

And to any wondering, yes, this is likely the reason why people like me had external access to store PS5 games a couple of months ago, only for the function to disappear overnight.

It's pretty clear there's an issue relating to rebuilding data that's going between the internal to external and vice versa.

This was actually first spotted on Dev units, and seems to have happened when the units switched to a patch 3/4 issues before the ones the press got. From what I can gather.

Whilst I agree with Push Square, not using an external for PS4 game offloading does seem extreme, I wouldn't begrudge anyone not wanting to try it.

Sony are of course aware, so I would make sure to prioritise a few games at a time on internal, and update firmware as and when available.

In addition, some report it being linked to certain networking conditions and rest mode, but it's likely just that the loss of signal for a fraction of a second is causing that error, which is easily patched.

The rest mode however is likely one of the culprits, as when the usb is remaining attached that seems to be the main area. As it would seem the handshake and safe power down to usb is where the problem occurs, writing corrupted blocks and thus throwing the PS5 off kilter if moved to internal.

It's definitely software, not hardware, so that's fantastic, as it means it's patchable. Unlike a launch flaw such as RRoD etc.

And yes, whilst it's a tiny minority impacted, stay sensible and realise right now it's a vocal minority, not a majority. The console is under warranty, play with caution and so on.

Frankly, though, the console's storage capacity can sound kinda worrisome if NOT using an external hard drive with it is considered "a bit extreme" on its launch week. Then again, it may be just a PS4 game stash - less hassle than to redownload them all to a new machine, I suppose.

@Dezzy70 Worry not about replacement stock, some is being kept aside by Sony. They accounted for a margin of error, as has Microsoft.

@God_of_Nowt
Maybe they have, but I don’t think it is easy as walking into the shop and saying this is faulty give me a replacement please, especially with COVID as well.

@Dezzy70 I'd never suggest that, always go direct to Sony. The stores have had it rattle around on their trucks too. One less truck to rattle around on is much better. Plus direct means Sony gets it direct to you from their warehouse. But yes, we are all up in a strange situation with Covid. Just remain positive and register that PS5 haha.

But yes, very good point with Covid. Ignore stores at the best of times though.

Meanwhile my ps5 is still in transit... kinda sad. If it get this bug im returning it.

@God_of_Nowt Is it not concerning that it has been known about for a long time and still not been fixed yet? I guess now it's a much higher priority however since it's getting bad press.

I have no external hard drive, never needed one, but for people who do I imagine this being a pain. Still, I’m sure a stability update will be incoming in due course.

Friend of mine got 2 PS5s and 1 of his HDMI ports is faulty. Visual artifacts and won't output sound over HDMI.

There is a day 1 patch which apparently fixes this issue.

I'll not be using external storage anyway so hopefully I'll not have this issue. Does seem a concern that there's alot of issues, although perhaps its just that the people who have issues are much more vocal about it.

@JohnnyShoulder is the Day One update scheduled for our release date (19th)?

Got any links regarding this info mate?

@DonJorginho I assume so cos it was already available in the USA.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah the US one hasn't seemed to have solved any of these issues yet so you would hope it is done for the 19th.

@DonJorginho There will be patched to download on the 19th, and shortly there after.

@God_of_Nowt Patch for this particular issue? Or just a patch in general followed by a specific fix down the line

@KPraj So far, I don't know the figures as I haven't had a call yet, where I'll no doubt be informed of more. But so far it seems it's impacted a tiny amount, as in within the companies margin of error. Same as any company, they have an allowance for a margin of error before items are recalled etc.

It is concerning, but not enough to worry me at all. As it's just a patch that's needed essentially.

I would say the reason it's not been sorted yet is something they can't just remove on a whim software wise. And so they need a workaround, otherwise it's remove all rest mode and USB functions completely. Which I would imagine is their last ditch option.

It's important to remember, that even if every youtuber and journalist outlet has this issue (they don't), that's still less than 1% of the total preorders sold.

So I'd say it's not a concern, just yet. Could it become one? Yes.

@JohnnyShoulder Nice. Where did you read that info from?

@DonJorginho There has been quite a few patches during the last few months. So from what I'm aware of its going to continue. This issue has been actively been worked on over the past few months. So the patches moving forward shall also include aspects relating to this.

They can't rest on this, no pun intended, so they'll be essentially looking to figure out if they can get USB support and rest mode safe, or they have to remove it.

So far there's no reason for mass panic, as it's a tiny amount of consoles impacted, but of course we naturally need more users to open their consoles and use them to find the true error rate.

But yes, lots of patches will be normal this generation from the offset I'm hearing. There's some things like the flash controller, and various hardware that relies on patches for certain games to be fully supported, think like graphics cards updates. So it's going to be much of the same.

Once I know more I'll post it. For now I'm waiting on a call where I've got to report back on my own PS5.

I've had 1 crash and a fair few issues with the external drive trying to move from a Pro to the PS5. Ended up reformatting the 4TB Samsung and will keep on the PS5. Since then it seems to be stable. Also had the reboot database once but no issues since then.

Loving the console otherwise. Days Gone runs very well with no noise from the console!

My personal recommendation is, if you can cloud save and download saves, do.

If you can redownload PS4 games and not USB transfer, do.

And for now, leave usb aspects alone.

That way, you're avoiding throwing a dice until this is patched.

@God_of_Nowt So Sony are working on a patch to fix this? I wonder if the patch will be ready by the time the 19th comes.

I am glad now i am getting the PS5 a week later Well saying that my PS4 has done that a few times in the past. And got stuck and I lost everything to on my PS4 :-/ So now I just have a few games on there because what is the point of putting all my games on my PS4 and then it gets stuck or whatever. And if i didn't save all my PS4 saves to USB to then I would of lost every save to :-/ I NEED TO SAVE MY PS5 GAMES SAVES TO USB SONY. Oh well.

@Snake_V5 Technically they've been working to resolve this a bit now. As they suspected it was the PS5 games on external, now it seems to be quite literally read and write issues on external drives in general.

However, it's such a small amount they've had feedback on from people like myself, it's sort of been the case of they need more people to pin down the problem.

As currently it looks like it could be a few things, all simple enough. They've told me I have to expect patch updates between now and the 19th.

The problem is resolved on Dev units, so I'm assuming it's now just a simple solution. The main problem is its relating to something people like me only used once. So unless you're transfering data back and forth a lot, (like YouTubers testing things for clicks), then it can be almost impossible to ever spot.

Like I've not had an issue, a Dev unit did, but that's since been fixed recently.

@DonJorginho That is not what I've heard mate, but it could be for a different issue.

I did have a few bugs in the report stating my disc drive can't read a game though, but I didn't have a disc in the drive at the time. So yeah, it's obvious there's a few niggles to work on haha.

That's the reason I don't like to preorder games/consoles.

@God_of_Nowt Personally I'm not too worried, as there nothing I've seen really that in theory could not be fixed with a update patch. Like I've not heard of anything mechanical like the disk drive not working.

And this does happen with almost every piece of new hardware to consoles, phones, laptops etc. Sure they are tested, but you can't test for every thing that might happen, otherwise they would never be released. People saying otherwise are either misinformed or trying to wind people up.

@JohnnyShoulder Exactly, agreed. It's not physically possible to produce computer hardware on this scale without error. Hence, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo all account for a margin of error.

I've not seen anything that worries me yet at all, but I'd advise people to not do what I know some will, which is to simply keep trying to transfer repeatedly to "test" it.

Same as a youtuber kept testing the m.2 slot repeatedly, hoping they could get past the message informing them it wouldn't work.

I think people forget the PS4 also had plenty of bugs, many were never visible and reported anonymously to Sony. People just didn't worry as they weren't aware of it.

And people seem to think it may be patched on the 19th, yet it's just the case the console will pick up any updates released up to that date when you boot, it's not like there's a special update planned just for the 19th.

I don't mind redownloading games with 1gig internet but I think some people on slower packages will be extremely disappointed by this.

@God_of_Nowt So when I get PS5 on the 19th, there's no need for me to avoid rest mode etc.

@DonJorginho @ORO_ERICIUS Here you go. https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/ps5-playstation-5-update-launch/

Ok so I won't use my HDD or rest mode for a while now. x) sorry but I can't risk it!

@Snake_V5 Until Sony strictly remove the feature or they advise to avoid, you should be absolutely fine.

I'm only advising to be on the safe side, as I know some will use usb a lot more than I did, which was once.

Rest mode seems to be more of an issue when a USB is connected. Because at each boot the PS5 will throw a file on it and delete to check speed and what not.

You'll be fine. Worst case scenario we all have replacements from Sony. I mean the worst case scenario still means we end up with a PS5.

So don't worry about it at all, just be aware of it as a consumer and stay updated on official updates.

@God_of_Nowt Well I have the PS4 headset that plugs into USB that I was going to use. Do you think that would be okay, or not because it's counted as something using USB.

@JohnnyShoulder thanks but -> they fixed accessing PS4 saved games on external storage. No wordings about a fix for the corrupted savedate problem there

@Snake_V5 No worries headphone wise.

@God_of_Nowt thanks you've been really helpful. Anymore information when and if you get it would be most helpful too.

Superstition fixes incoming haha.If it crashes or shutdowns once i am returning it right away.But seriously ive heard that if you make a farewell party for old PS4 then good words will spread among PS5s and there will be no curse.And dont forget to stand on your head while its booting up!

@KPraj Thank you! A few of us Devs have a Discord where we are comparing notes basically haha. And being in different positions means we get told different things etc.

I just want people to hear what's actually going on, not what am influencer tells them, positive or negative.

Push Square have done really well to report this happening to themselves too, I praise them for that. I know of a few who have stayed quiet for fear of repercussions. (there aren't any).

@Samba3 So true, also surround the device with salt whilst booting for the first time.

@Oz_Momotaro I would suggest that it probably is normal, but in years past there was no social media so there could have been a lot of consoles failing but nobody would know. Also, magazines probably wouldn't report on it as it would be a month later by the time it happened, and magazines didn't really discuss this type of thing back then unless it was a really major issue. It's very hard to realise the impact that social media has had on this sort of thing.

I had the same issue with my launch PS4 when using an external SSD in a caddy when using rest mode.

Claims that the PS4 wasn't shut down correctly and needs to rebuild database.

From then on PS4 always in full shutdown and problem doesn't happen.

Also I notice with USB some sockets and cables just don't seem to work well together and a quick swap of one or the other makes all the difference.

@God_of_Nowt And burn sage for purity.

Also have the Winchester boys on hand in case....

@deathaxe Hahaha, Winchester boys, love it!

I got my ps5 yesterday only issue ive had so far was coming out of rest mode my tv would say no signal with the ps5 so i switched hdmi ports and got the picture back. Was getting concerned when there was no picture......

@God_of_Nowt Reckon I would be safe to run my BC PS4 Games off an External HDD from the front ports if I don't use rest mode and close all applications and do a full power off when I am not on the PS5 DE?

Thanks very much @God_of_Nowt for answering questions in the comments about this, it has really helped keep everyone informed about the ongoing situation and hopefully calmed some nerves.

I'll be sticking with PS5 games when the console arrives on the 19th and then hook up the external SSD I have with the PS4 games to transfer a couple of titles over I need to finish.

I generally avoid having games running in rest mode and will power down until I know a fix has been put through an update.

@DonJorginho I honestly think that is safer than doing a transfer. The issue seems to occur more for people who reported to have transferred.

Which then means the files thrown over to the internal and need rebuilding I'm some instances. So with direct read and not transfer I think all issues reported so far point at that being wiser.

So yes, much better idea for time being.

My new console that arrived this week hasn’t had this issue.

Then again it’s the Nintendo game & watch!

@God_of_Nowt Thank you for the help man, one time you will have to tell us or give us a hint of what you're working on as judging by your comments you seem to be very up to snuff with all the details on the system! Would love to pay back your helpfulness by supporting your studio when they next release a title!

@Mad001 theyre having drive problems

@Paulw lack of Sky Go at launch is the main reason, along with possible backwards compatibility issues, that I will be keeping my Pro under the tv for a bit longer. Hopefully it won’t be as long as the PS4 app

@CKFilms My pleasure buddy! I generally advise against rest mode on the new release anyway, simply because the less the console is left to do in the background, the better. And all those temporary files it creates need flushing, and if not done right, it can be months before a consumer even notices signs of such.

It's super handy of course, but it's just not something I feel comfortable with at launch, same for PS4.

Same for a Windows PC, there's temporary files that build up, and of course they're usually flushed correctly, but the odd time they're not all manner of performance issues can take place.

I just want people like yourself to have a good experience, as it's not my product, but my artwork gets displayed on it. So it sort of is a pride thing I guess. Same as I wouldn't want art on display in a gallery I'd rented if it looked like crap.

It's important consumers are kept up to date, and I know Sony have lagged on that for a while in some areas, so whenever I can shout up about something I always will.

You're doing everything right though from what you describe, not remotely pushing anything and it won't remotely really negatively impact your experience. I mean my PC can't update for patches when I turn it off either, but I just have a coffee when I boot it. Simple.

For me no external HDD. I downloaded five games, booted up two of them. And put it in rest mode several times throughout the day. So far so good!

@DonJorginho Thanks matey, it's the case you've already likely supported them a lot already, but I'll no doubt be dropping hints as and when. And your gesture is incredibly kind. Thank you.

I'm the guy who's brought in to fix sh1t basically, on a graphical side. But just by default it means I have to know the ins and outs of what gets a pixel to the screen.

It's why you'll usually see me moaning about lazy lighting or texturing, poor optimisation, that sort of thing. But my job is to work with people on pushing their capabilities, not resting on laurels.

Like how Cerny is brought in to consult on the pure code and deep nature of the capabilities, I'm the lesser paid guy who then takes what he's said is possible and convinces a studio to do more of it.

I just want everyone to enjoy video gaming, but I know how concerning this type of thing can be. So anything I can do to keep people informed I'm happy to do.

@PcTV
I had the same exact problem with my PS4 Pro a couple of days ago of it rebuilding the data base of the external hard drive. My Pro is 3 years old, so this is not a new console problem.
Think this is all on Sony software side.
Hmmmmm....

@PeterN80 Sounds about right. Most won't luckily need it. But it won't hurt for people to screenshot this. Good post.

@Axyuji I have 3.2 4Tb with only about 1Tb of ps4 games on it. I haven't seen this error yet but haven't play any long sessions off the hard drive yet. Launched a few games to get them on the main menu and my kids played Minecraft for about an hour.

@wiiware Dude, I'm curious which country you live in?

@PeterN80 Do we really need to avoid LAN/wifi transfers? I thought the suggestions were that this is relating to external drives.

If this is just out of an over-abundance of caution, then fine, I can go with that

@PossibLeigh I live in sea region, Indonesia. Although it's annoying that ps5 release really late in my country, at least now I have a lot of times clearing my backlog lol.

@vapidwolf teething problems then lol

@God_of_Nowt I contacted PlayStation support and they have no knowledge of any issue.?

@wiiware seems odd, back when I was in the industry we did our beta testing in Indonesia, Philippines, that general region of the world because of how representative these areas were of the world's general population.

I remember a beta test being completely ruined by a tsunami, and deciding I didn't like my project manager based on how she was more bothered about the project slippage than the human cost…

@Jollymo They won't. As in a public issue they want to splash on their page, their site and call centre/messaging service.

Same happened when RRoD happened with Xbox, Microsoft didn't rush to splash it on their support forums either. It took a lot of complaints.

But yes, they won't know everything their development team is working on.

Same as if you contact a Microsoft support person, they won't know what Windows OS team are working on update wise beyond briefed standard stock responses.

Remember this is currently a tiny issue, blown way wider by social media use, but it's still an issue, hence being worked on.

If you asked Sony what they have in store for the next UI update they wouldn't tell you either, doesn't mean there isn't ever going to be an update.

Not to sound rude, but if you contact support for any company, you're asking a minimum wage person questions that unless they sign NDA's and get live feeds from software developers across the globe, won't know.

It isn't a big issue, I don't think it ever will be an issue, but that support person won't know about a patch for it until it's already out.

Hope that makes sense. I guess the support person won't believe that the YouTuber ACG got sent a PS5 and it bricked either, but it happened, and you can watch it all online haha.

Just remember, for now, you have nothing to worry about, just be cautious. There's no impact negatively to your gameplay by just being a little more careful. 😁

It's only if this becomes a big issue will support get briefed on it, so it's reassuring they don't frankly have a standard response for it.

@JigsawPieces So far Sony has told you to avoid nothing. So technically no you don't, nor have I. I mean if we go completely cautious, best to not ever purchase a console again.

At the moment it's rest mode (mainly SM Remaster), and USB transfers. Anything else could literally be user errors.

I'm just very conscious of this turning into a melodrama and not a facts based assesment of what is actually happening. So keep calm, enjoy the console and know statistically, so far you're more likely to have a success than a failure on your hands.

@God_of_Nowt Great advice, thanks

I'm looking forward to PS5, and I'm sure I'm going to have a great time with it. I just want to avoid doing anything dumb if there are teething problems, and the advice and info you've shared here is really helpful (and reassuring) on that front.

@wiiware silver lining, man. Another bonus; all these issues should be well sorted by the time it comes to you!

@PossibLeigh I hope so, and I hope there's good discount for ps5 launch games 😃. Usually I wait for about 6 month before buying new console if there isn't a lot of new games, but this generation console is different because of BC.

@theheadofabroom Maybe ps4 didn't sold as much as other region so they didn't prioritize my region (except singapore that's already got 2 preorder). Ps4 is the start of sony officially selling playstation console in here, usually we got the console from gray market (from psone era).

Had to rebuild database for first time on ps4 today. Needed to redo all my folders which was a massive pain. Are we sure its an issue unique to ps5?

When you first plug in your ext hard drive is it supposed to keep al your stored PS4 games on to or will it force you to format and erase the drive?

@Blacksmith1985 It’s not as though they are going to do a hardware revision for new batches. If there’s going to be a fix it will be software based for all batches.

I would get that “rebuilding database” issue on my PS4 Pro every single time I turned it on. Didn’t matter if it was in rest mode or not. I was using an external drive.

Seems like it’s a systemic issue with Sony software. I haven’t yet connected an external drive to my PS5, but I have a 1TB SSD arriving next week for my PS4 exclusives to save space. Now I’m worried about using it.

@jcvandan totally agree with you on that - these things definitely get a lot more visibility these days, especially with the focus on pre-release 'influencer' reviews. Still, there are a lot of things that sound pretty half-arsed when it comes to the release build of the console. Which is never a good look.

@Oz_Momotaro true, mine is coming on thursday, I really hope I have no issues with mine or I will sit down and cry hard.

@God_of_Nowt just had to rebuild my ps5 for the second time. Said my external HDD was removed improperly, and after external HDD was repaired my tv was on a black screen. When I powered off the console the image signal returned. This also happened the first time. Also, the first time it happened I was booting up Fallout 4, now it happened after cold boot of my console. It was completely off, and upon start up my menu appeared, and just one press of the right d-pad and it went off.

The first time it happened was on launch day. Didn't happen since til today. I know it's stupid, but I refuse to unplug my HDD only because I'm finishing my backlog after MM, and Demon's Souls. Hopefully they patch it soon, but I feel like my console is going to end up like ACG's at some point.

@StormBringer I'm sorry to hear this, but it most certainly is likely to be never seen again if you remove you external and do a reset. It's why I refuse to use one myself until I know it's patched. There's only so long the system will keep patching it's on files and repairing until one blip and it can't.

Just try to remain positive and if it happens again be sure to consider a removal of the external HDD.

@God_of_Nowt when you say "do a reset" do you mean of the console? Also, my ps4 pro did turn off a lot in rest mode, like once every 2 weeks, and I'm wondering if the external HDD has any fragmentation problems if that affected my ps4 pro to the point I had to keep rebuilding it's database. If so, that might be what's affecting my PS5.

@StormBringer Yep, system reset and start a fresh so to speak. And rest mode should not, in ay way shape or form turn off randomly. Even after a week or more on the PS4. So that's pointing to an issue right there.

And I would certainly do a sector scan on a PC of the external, check for bad sectors, but your PS4/5 should avoid them anyway, but it sometimes leads to issues like this.

Frankly, using an external HDD is an issue right now, and if it's remaining plugged in during boot and shut down, the PS5 reads and writes to it, just to check speed and health. So it would seem a lot of issues are happening then.

Not one of these issues arise when not using rest mode and not using an external. So by all means, I'd sadly recommend starting a fresh, waiting to play off external until it's widely resolved and then don't use rest mode.

I know it's not what you want. But I'd rather be responsible for a saved console than one that might need replacing.

@God_of_Nowt guess I'll disconnect it for right now. Was in the middle transferring a few games from external anyway so hopefully that removes some risk. Don't really want to do a full reboot though.

@StormBringer Yeah, I think what we want has to take a back seat with this particular error in the OS side of things. Just see how it goes from now on with no rest mode and no external HDD. Hopefully this is the last of it for you. I know a boot loop where you can get stuck in a loop after it rebuilds the database is an issue too for some, so the less you have to rebuild the better.

For example, my PS4's have never had to rebuild the database, and that's counting one I dropped down the stairs. Haha.

But I also never used external drives with them. It'll be interesting to see where all this leads.

Had the shutdown rebuild error 3 times then just unplugged the external no issues since.

Awaiting a fireware upgrade - the 2 USB ports on back do get incredibly warm though.

I have played my ps5 for hours without any of these issues.

Are Sony looking to address this. Seem silent on the subject.