Your PS4 probably takes too long to load, but if you can’t afford a PlayStation 5, all is not lost. Install an SSD into your gaming console and start playing quicker.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 has a fancy SSD, but unless you can afford a $500 console—or the $700 Pro version—you’re stuck with agonizingly slow loading times on the PS4. However, all is not lost. I decided to upgrade my console’s hard drive to an SSD in order to breathe new life into an my aging gaming machine.
The 5400 RPM hard drive that comes with the PS4 and PS4 Pro is bone-chillingly slow at this point, so an SSD will be a nice upgrade. It won’t make loading times instantaneous, but it can decrease them by 10 to 20 seconds or more. Every game is different, though, and some may not see as noticeable benefits.
You don’t have to worry too much about choosing the fastest possible SSD, but it’ll need to be a 2.5-inch model—not the M.2 SSDs “gumsticks” that have become popular in PCs. I’m using this Western Digital Blue model, which offers great performance for the price.
Swapping the drive itself is simple—all I needed was a screwdriver. You will, however, have to back up all your data first, reinstall the PS4 operating system on the new drive, and then restore your data. For that, you’ll need a USB drive or two. If done right, though, the whole process should only take 15 minutes or so. I’ll take you through how I did it.Step 1: Back Up Your Game Saves
Since you’ll be starting fresh with a clean drive, I recommend backing up all your data before picking up the screwdriver. For this, you’ll need a USB drive. Insert it into the console, open Settings > System > Back Up and Restore, then select Back Up PS4. You want to back up saved data, since that includes your game saves, but you can also back up applications, like Netflix, if you want to avoid re-downloading them all.
PlayStation Plus subscribers can ditch the USB drive and back up to the cloud. Head to Settings > Application Saved Data Management > Saved Data in System Storage and select Upload to Online Storage.
