Ps4 External Hard Drive Format On Pc

If you're planning to format an external hard drive for PS4, read through this guide to make the process as smooth and hassle-free as possible.

1. Ps4 External Hard Drive Format On Pc Windows 7
2. Ps4 External Hard Drive Format On Pc Windows 7

• A drive can be used on any type of computer - PC or Mac. But in order for the computer and drive to communicate with one another, the drive has to be formatted with the correct file system. This article explains about file systems and provides instruction to format a drive on Windows and Mac.
• The PS4 will only recognize one external storage drive at a time. If a drive that has been previously formatted for external storage on the console is connected, it will not format a second drive and will not recognize a previously formatted second drive. The PS4 external hard drive must have a wired connection(i.e.
• WD Black D10 Game Drive; Best portable PS4 external hard drives (Image credit: Seagate) Seagate Game Drive for PS4. If you're looking to buy a new PC, you'd better be quick.

For most PS4 users, having a back-up external hard drive can enhance your gaming experience. After all, the primary hard drive inside the gaming console has limited memory capacity and may not be able to carry specific games.

I bought an external hard drive today to backup my PS4 save data. I thought I needed to format it, and formatted it to exFAT using the PS4. It turns out I can't backup my data with it formatted as exFAT, so I need to reformat it. I've tried searching around, but I cant find any help. The HDD won't appear in This PC anymore: only my C: drive.

If you have experienced difficulty backing up files in your PS4 because of the limited memory space, then you know that getting an external hard drive will instantly resolve this issue.

While it may be an easy task to look for a hard drive for your PS4, you need to format it before using it as back up or extended memory for the console. First off, you have to know what file system you need to use in order to use it properly for gaming.

Table of Contents

Tips to Format An External Hard Drive For PS4

Below is a step-by-step process (suitable for Windows 10) on how to format an external hard drive for PS4:

1. First, connect the external hard drive to a laptop or desktop.
2. Open File Explorer (you may use the keyboard shortcut Win+E).
3. Right click the external hard drive under ‘This PC', and pick ‘Format'. A new window should pop up.
4. Under the File System dropdown, pick ‘exFAT' and click ‘Start'.

Meanwhile, if you're using a computer running on Windows 8, follow these tips to formatting your PS4 external hard drive:

1. First, connect the external hard drive to a laptop or desktop.
2. From the Start Menu, choose Disk Management and choose the external hard drive that you need to format. To look for this more easily, base it on the drive size that will appear once you choose Disk Management.
3. After choosing your external hard drive, choose the New Choose Volume option. Once the ‘New Simple Volume Wizard' appears, click Next.
4. To make sure that your external hard drive will only have just one volume, the size of the volume needs to be the maximum disk space. Click Next.
5. To help you find your external hard drive easier next time, assign a drive letter. While Window readily assigns one, choosing your own will make you remember it more easily. Click Next when done.
6. Click Format Partition and select exFAT as your file system. Change ‘Volume Label' to any desired name for your drive. Tick the ‘Perform a quick format' checkbox and then click Next.
7. Note that the wizard will show the settings for your review. If there is no need to save the data on the drive to another location, click ‘Partition'. Otherwise, copy all data to another location where you want to save it. Afterwards, click Next.
8. After you format external hard drive for PS4, it will be listed as a Healthy ‘primary partition'. The drive will also be in the ‘Computer' menu of Windows, carrying the assigned drive letter.

By the end of the process, you should have successfully formatted an external hard drive for your PS4. It should also be noted that the PS4 comes with a manual (Back and Restore) that you may also follow in formatting your hard drive.

How to Choose the Default Hard Drive

Once you've successfully set up your external hard drive, go ahead and hook it up to your PS4. From there, you can now choose the default hard drive to store your game downloads.

• On the PS4 home screen, go to Settings > Storage.
• Click the Options button on the controller.
• Choose System Storage > Applications.
• Click the Options button on the controller.
• Choose ‘Move to System Storage'.
• Tick the checkbox beside the game titles that you want to save to the default hard drive.
• Choose Move, and click OK.

Getting The Most Out of the External Hard Drive for PS4

When you format external hard drive for PS4, the purpose can either be for back up or for extended storage. Before going through the formatting process, you should define the purpose first. That way, you're able to follow the right instructions accordingly.

Although owning and maintaining gadgets can be painful to your pocket, most PS4-compatible external hard drives are relatively cheaper than years past. What's amazing is that you also have the option to upgrade the PS4 external hard drive in case you need to do so.

Concluding Thoughts

While there are many external hard drives for PS4 being offered in the market today, always do comprehensive research. That way, you'll know what type of external hard drive is best suited for your needs. By following our tips above, the process to format an external hard drive for PS4 should be a walk in the park.

Summary :

Ps4 External Hard Drive Format On Pc Windows 7

What is the best external hard drive for PS4? This post will introduce several external hard drives for PS4, and then display 3 ways to format the external hard drive to enlarge storage when the original storage of PlayStation 4 is not enough. Certainly, you can also upgrade your PS4 hard drive to a larger one with MiniTool Partition Wiazrd.

Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February, 2013, PS4 (PlayStation 4) is an eighth-generation home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

This successor places more emphasis on social interaction and integration with other devices and services, including the ability to play games off-console on PlayStation Vita, and the ability to stream gameplay online or to friends.

However, as a game lover, you may find that the storage space of PlayStation 4 is not enough to store more games. To overcome the limited PS4 hard drive size, you may try removing some games from it, but it is not a helpful solution. The more helpful way is to enlarge the storage space by upgrading the PS4 internal hard drive or connecting an external hard drive with this game console.

In this article, I would like to recommend some best external hard drives for PS4 and tell you how format such hard drive to FAT32 with ease. As for upgrading PS4 internal hard drive, you can refer to the following recommended article.

This post shows you how to upgrade your hard drive without reinstalling the program and would not bring any damages to the original data.

Actually, it is incredibly easy to plug the external hard drive into PS4. After adding an external hard drive as the extended storage for PS4, you can download something from PSN or install a new game from a disc, and it will go directly onto the external hard drive.

Suggested Best External Hard Drives for PS4

Which external hard drive is compatible with PS4? There are some suggested best external hard drives for you, namely Toshiba CANVIO Basics, WD Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive and Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Hard Drive External.

Toshiba CANVIO Basics is great value for money, and very durable for everyday use. Choosing it as PS4 external hard drive will double the storage for less money.

WD Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive is USB 3.0 compatible. What's more, it only requires a quick reformat the first time its buyers use it. This hard drive also comes in small size and sturdy construction.

Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Hard Drive External is relatively inexpensive, for the 5TB is $109.99. If you have some requirements for appearance of external hard drive, it is a good choice to select this HDD featuring appearance of beauty as the PS4 external storage.

Let's see the following form to know more information about each best external hard drive for PS4.

The best external hard drive for PS4 blends price with performance, and the size of its storage space. For heavy PS4 users, it is highly recommended to select 2TB - 4TB dive, which will give them space to download and store 40-60 games, depending on size. Certainly, you can also pick up a 'PS4 external hard drive 8TB' to download more games.

When you get a new external hard drive for PS4, what you need to do is formatting it before connecting it with PS4.

After finishing all the preparatory work, it's time for you to format the external hard drive for PlayStation 4. And the following content shows detailed tutorials on how to format external hard drive for PS4.

Please note that PS4 external hard drive should be formatted to FAT32, because this file system enjoys a better compatibility than NTFS. (click FAT32 vs NTFS to learn about more information)

Furthermore, it is highly recommended to use the first way to format the external hard drive for PlayStation 4, because the other two ways come in some limits on the size of partition of FAT32 which will be formatted.

Way 1: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a multifunctional tool which can help you manage partitions easily and safely, including formatting disk quickly.

Please follow the steps below to format best external hard drive for PS4 via MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Step 1: Plug the new external hard dive into a computer at first.

Step 2: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free by clicking the offered button and launch it to get its main interface.

Step 3: Right-click the partition on the external hard drive you want to format and click Format. Or select the partition on the external hard drive and then choose Format Partition from the left panel directly.

Step 4: Select FAT32 as the file system of the partition on the external hard drive and click OK to confirm these changes.

Step 5: Click Apply after going back the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to execute all changes. Call of duty ghosts world premiere.

Way 2: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via Disk Management

Disk Management built in Windows is also a good utility to help you format disk. To format an external hard drive for PS4, please refer to the follwoing steps.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive with Windows computer.

Step 2: Press Windows and R on the keyboard simultaneously to get the following picture. And then input diskmgmt.msc and then click OK.

Step 3: Get the interface of Disk Management and select the partition on the external hard drive you want to format.

Step 4: Right-click the partition on the disk and then click Format.

Step 5: Select File System FAT32 in the new pop-up window for the external hard drive and click OK.

Way 3: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via CMD

Ypou can alos use Command Prompt built in Windows to format a hard disk, but this way is not so convinient as the two former ways as you need to type some commands.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive for PlayStation 4 with Windows computer in advance.

Step 2: Press Windows and R on keyboard simultaneously to access the Run window.

Step 3: Input cmd and click OK to get a black pop-up window.

Step 4: Input diskpart in the black pop-up window in the black window and click Enteron keyboard. And click Yes.

Ps4 External Hard Drive Format On Pc Windows 7

Step 5: Then you shhould input the following commands and click Enter on keyboard after each inputing.

• select disk# (# refers to the number of the disk you want to format)
• list partition
• select partition # ( # refers to the partition number)
• format fs=fat32

Step 6: After inputinga all mentioned commands, you should wait for some seconds until the external hard drive has been formatted to FAT32.

It is extremely possible that the second and third way fail to format external hard drive for PS4, because you can't format a partition with FAT32 file system in Windows unless you employ third-party software, like MiniTool Partition Wizard. Therefore, the first way is the best choice when you plan to format one external hard drive for PS4.

This article aims to fix the issue when the Command Prompt keeps popping up on Windows 10. If you encounter this issue, find the solutions in this article.

Have you get a formatted FAT32 PlayStation 4 external hard drive successfully by following the above ways? If the two answers are both Yes, you can connect the hard drive with their PS4 right now.

Please note that you should make sure that the console is powered off before you remove the PS4 external hard drive. Otherwise, data loss or corruption may occur. To safely remove the external storage, you should follow the path: Settings > Devices > USB Storage Devices > Stop Using This Extended Storage.

We Want Your Voice

Hope that PS4 owners can enjoy a better game experience after knowing how to format the best external hard drive for PS4. If there is any problem or question, you can contact us via [email protected] or leave a message below this article.

Best External Hard Drive for PS4 FAQ

To back up PS4 to external hard drive, you should make sure that the FAT or exFAT-formatted external storage has at least double the storage space the PS4 hard drive has. If you do not have enough space, you can choose not to back up the application data (download or reinstall them when you restore the data on the system with the backup you're creating).

Here is the simple tutorial on backing up PS4 to external hard drive.

1. Sync your Trophies first by clicking Trophies > OPTIONS > Sync Trophies With PSN (the reason is that these files are not included in the backup data).
2. Connect the external storage device.
3. Follow the path: Settings > System > Back Up and Restore > Back Up > confirm which data you would like to back up > customize the name of the backup > Back up > X > safely remove the external storage.

The answer is Yes. When you use the external SSD as an externed storage where you store games and applications and run them from there, you will enjoy a much higher level of speed that classical external hard drivers cannot offer.

To learn about more differences between SSD vs HDD vs SSHD, please click here. Atom io for windows.

Yes, you can transfer a game from one PS4 to another. But there is something important you should pay attention to.

When you get a new external hard drive for PS4, what you need to do is formatting it before connecting it with PS4.

After finishing all the preparatory work, it's time for you to format the external hard drive for PlayStation 4. And the following content shows detailed tutorials on how to format external hard drive for PS4.

Please note that PS4 external hard drive should be formatted to FAT32, because this file system enjoys a better compatibility than NTFS. (click FAT32 vs NTFS to learn about more information)

Furthermore, it is highly recommended to use the first way to format the external hard drive for PlayStation 4, because the other two ways come in some limits on the size of partition of FAT32 which will be formatted.

Way 1: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a multifunctional tool which can help you manage partitions easily and safely, including formatting disk quickly.

Please follow the steps below to format best external hard drive for PS4 via MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Step 1: Plug the new external hard dive into a computer at first.

Step 2: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free by clicking the offered button and launch it to get its main interface.

Step 3: Right-click the partition on the external hard drive you want to format and click Format. Or select the partition on the external hard drive and then choose Format Partition from the left panel directly.

Step 4: Select FAT32 as the file system of the partition on the external hard drive and click OK to confirm these changes.

Step 5: Click Apply after going back the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to execute all changes. Call of duty ghosts world premiere.

Way 2: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via Disk Management

Disk Management built in Windows is also a good utility to help you format disk. To format an external hard drive for PS4, please refer to the follwoing steps.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive with Windows computer.

Step 2: Press Windows and R on the keyboard simultaneously to get the following picture. And then input diskmgmt.msc and then click OK.

Step 3: Get the interface of Disk Management and select the partition on the external hard drive you want to format.

Step 4: Right-click the partition on the disk and then click Format.

Step 5: Select File System FAT32 in the new pop-up window for the external hard drive and click OK.

Way 3: Format PS4 External Hard Drive via CMD

Ypou can alos use Command Prompt built in Windows to format a hard disk, but this way is not so convinient as the two former ways as you need to type some commands.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive for PlayStation 4 with Windows computer in advance.

Step 2: Press Windows and R on keyboard simultaneously to access the Run window.

Step 3: Input cmd and click OK to get a black pop-up window.

Step 4: Input diskpart in the black pop-up window in the black window and click Enteron keyboard. And click Yes.

Ps4 External Hard Drive Format On Pc Windows 7

Step 5: Then you shhould input the following commands and click Enter on keyboard after each inputing.

• select disk# (# refers to the number of the disk you want to format)
• list partition
• select partition # ( # refers to the partition number)
• format fs=fat32

Step 6: After inputinga all mentioned commands, you should wait for some seconds until the external hard drive has been formatted to FAT32.

It is extremely possible that the second and third way fail to format external hard drive for PS4, because you can't format a partition with FAT32 file system in Windows unless you employ third-party software, like MiniTool Partition Wizard. Therefore, the first way is the best choice when you plan to format one external hard drive for PS4.

This article aims to fix the issue when the Command Prompt keeps popping up on Windows 10. If you encounter this issue, find the solutions in this article.

Have you get a formatted FAT32 PlayStation 4 external hard drive successfully by following the above ways? If the two answers are both Yes, you can connect the hard drive with their PS4 right now.

Please note that you should make sure that the console is powered off before you remove the PS4 external hard drive. Otherwise, data loss or corruption may occur. To safely remove the external storage, you should follow the path: Settings > Devices > USB Storage Devices > Stop Using This Extended Storage.

We Want Your Voice

Hope that PS4 owners can enjoy a better game experience after knowing how to format the best external hard drive for PS4. If there is any problem or question, you can contact us via [email protected] or leave a message below this article.

Best External Hard Drive for PS4 FAQ

To back up PS4 to external hard drive, you should make sure that the FAT or exFAT-formatted external storage has at least double the storage space the PS4 hard drive has. If you do not have enough space, you can choose not to back up the application data (download or reinstall them when you restore the data on the system with the backup you're creating).

Here is the simple tutorial on backing up PS4 to external hard drive.

1. Sync your Trophies first by clicking Trophies > OPTIONS > Sync Trophies With PSN (the reason is that these files are not included in the backup data).
2. Connect the external storage device.
3. Follow the path: Settings > System > Back Up and Restore > Back Up > confirm which data you would like to back up > customize the name of the backup > Back up > X > safely remove the external storage.

The answer is Yes. When you use the external SSD as an externed storage where you store games and applications and run them from there, you will enjoy a much higher level of speed that classical external hard drivers cannot offer.

To learn about more differences between SSD vs HDD vs SSHD, please click here. Atom io for windows.

Yes, you can transfer a game from one PS4 to another. But there is something important you should pay attention to.

• Transferring data from a PS4 system to another will erase any data from the PS4 system you are transferring the data.
• You should make sure the latest system software installed on both PS4 systems. To update PS4 system software, refer to the tutorial.
• Besides the games you can transfer, you can also transfer all existing users and settings and saved data (screenshots and video clips).
• Do not power off any PS4 during data transferring.

To get the detailed tutorial on transferring data from one PS4 to another, please read the post.