The best external hard drive for PS4: the best SSDs for the console

Picking up the best external hard drive for PS4 allows you to quickly and easily expand the storage space of your console. Simply plug an external hard drive into Sony's PlayStation 4 and you can give yourself extra space to store games, and other media too. You can also use it to store videos and images you capture while playing on the console – something that can all too quickly fill up the PS4's built-in storage.

While you could choose to open up the PS4 and upgrade the internal hard drive, it's a lot easier to simply plug in an external hard drive. For the best performance, we'd generally recommend going for one that uses an SSD (Solid State Drive), since these offer increased speeds, allowing you to move files to drive quickly. They'll also give you faster loading times if you install a game on the drive.

See our guide to the best external hard drives for PC and Mac for more advice on hard drives in general. Also, keep an eye on our PS5 restock news and the best PS5 deals right now, if you're keen to upgrade to a PS5 (and our best SSD for PS5 guide if you've already got one). 

The best external hard drive for PS4

For the best external hard drive for the PS4 overall, look no further than the Seagate Game Drive for PS4. It's officially licenced, so it's been built especially for use with the PS4. This means you can be sure that it's optimised to work perfectly with the console, and you won't have to worry about compatibility issues – just plug it in, and you're good to go!

It offers the choice of 2TB and 4TB capacities. Both of those provide a huge amount of space for games and media. Moreover, at just 12mm thick, this hard drive can be tucked neatly behind the console without getting in the way. It complements the console nicely thanks to its PS4 branding, and it also comes in designs that compliment some of the console's best games, such as The Last of Us Part II.

The Toshiba Canvio Basics shows that you don't need to spend a huge amount of money to upgrade your PS4's storage. It's cheaper than many of the other drives in this list, and it comes in a range of capacities, from 1TB to 4TB, which means you can pick the one that best suits your needs and budget.

If you're not sure how much space you'll need, we'd generally recommend opting for 2TB. That will give you plenty of storage space, even if you have a huge game library, without being way more than you need. 

The budget design of the Toshiba Canvio Basics does make it feel a little cheap – there's no classy metal shell like on some of the other external hard drives in our list. That also means that doesn't feel as robust, but if you're only going to tuck it behind the PS4 and won't be moving it around much, that probably doesn't really matter. Note that it's not the fastest drive either, but it's certainly fast enough to run games.

WD My Passport drives are some of the most recommended hard drives in the world and for good reason. They're reliable, and they offer plenty of space and decent speeds. Price-wise, they hit the sweet spot in the middle, neither too budget (to the point that performance and build quality are sacrificed), not too expensive. 

With a choice of capacities, from 1TB to 5TB, you again have plenty of options here when considering the right external PS4 hard drive for your needs. It's worth noting, though, that unlike some external hard drives on our list, the WD My Passport is primarily designed for use with PCs, not consoles. This means it may need a little setting up before it works with your PS4. It's also quite bulky since it's designed for use on a desk, so just bear that in mind.

Here's another great external hard drive from WD, and unlike the WD My Passport, the WD Black P10 Game Drive is designed specifically for gaming. This means it offers excellent performance that's been tuned to run games, plus it also has an eye-catching metal design, which will attract a lot of gamers.

This external hard drive is impressively small, so you can easily place it beside your PS4, or even carry it around with you if you want to take your games and files somewhere else, and with capacities ranging from 2TB to 5TB, you have plenty of choice.

On the downside, this is an expensive external hard drive, and there are better value options on this list. The fact that there's no 1TB option also means that if your storage needs are only relatively modest, you may end up having to pay for storage you don't need. Nonetheless, if you can afford it, you'll be pleased with the performance of this smart hard drive. 

Samsung is another company that has an enviable reputation in the storage market, and the T5 external SSD shows why. It's a gorgeously designed little external drive with a lovely metal finish. It's also incredibly compact, measuring just11mm and weighing just 51g.

It's actually faster than the PS4's internal drive, so in some cases you'll see an improvement in loading times if you're running games from this drive. It's also pretty good value, undercutting several of its competitors when it comes to price.

It also has a wider range of smaller capacity options, starting at 250GB and going to 2TB. This is good if you don't need that much space, but we wouldn't recommend anything under 500GB, otherwise you'll soon find yourself running out of storage space again. On the other hand, if you need a lot of space, you may find 2TB isn't enough, in which case you'll need to look elsewhere.

If you liked the look of the WD Black P10 Game Drive but want even more space, the WD Black D10 Game Drive is a great choice. It looks very similar to the P10, but it's a much larger drive, both in terms of storage space and physical dimensions.

This one's designed for desktops, so it may be a bit too big for some people's living rooms, but it comes with extra USB ports, which can be used for charging controllers, or expanding the PS4's USB connectivity. The larger size means it can keep cool while in use as well. Best of all, it offers a whopping 8TB of storage space. This essentially ensures that you'll never run out of space even again, even if you record long play sessions.

The hard drive in the WD Black D10 Game Drive is fast, but it can't compete with SSD speeds. If you prioritise speed over capacity, you'll want to look elsewhere. But, if you're after a great looking external hard drive for your PS4 to hold all of your games, media and more, then this is a great choice.

The Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD is, as the name suggests, an external SSD that's been designed for gamers. It offers plenty of storage space to hold large game files, and it's incredibly fast as well. It also comes with customisable RGB lighting, which means it'll look pretty snazzy plugged into your PS4.

Note that this is a USB-C drive, so you'll need to use an adaptor, but it means it offers extremely fast data transfer speeds. In fact, it's so fast you could actually argue that it's a bit wasted on the PS4, which won't be able to take full advantage of the speeds on offer here.

If you consider this as a future-proof investment, it's a wise purchase. After all, if you upgrade to a PS5, or switch to PC gaming, for example, this drive will be perfect, and you'll finally unlock its full potential. It also means you don't have to buy a new external hard drive in a few year's time. The long five-year warranty also makes this a great future-proof purchase that you can rely on for years to come.

If you're after the kind of storage that will allow you to keep hold of all your PS4 games, media and much, much more without ever worrying about running out of space, the Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive 5TB is another excellent choice. While it's primarily a PC external hard drive, it works with the PS4, and it's one of the few external hard drives that combine fast speeds and a huge capacity without veering into ultra-expensive large capacity SSD territory.

Seagate is one of the most reliable hard drive makers out there, so you can be pretty confident that your games and saves will be safe here. Bear in mind, however, that you will need to format this drive to work with the PS4. Also, if you don't plan on storing huge amounts of games, then this external hard drive may be much more than you need. On the other hand, if you want even more storage, it's available in 8TB capacities as well.

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