• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The best PS4 hard drive (IGN)

Cyborg

Member
I'm looking to update my PS4 and saw this benchmark on IGN. They advice to buy Travelstar 7K1000 // intern // 1TB // 2.5" // SATA 6 Gb/s // 7.200 U/min // 32MB Cache


I'm really impressed with the speed of Travelstar (65 euro/dollar pricepoint). Does anyone has experience with the recommended harddrive?

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/08...edium=PS4&utm_content=3&utm_campaign=Blogroll

Update:

ql4b.png
 

Troy

Banned
It's a good drive and it's 62 bucks on Amazon right now via Amazon fulfillment, which means no tax.
 

The End

Member
I'm holding off for another year or two until SSD prices come down by half again, then I'll be able to grab a 1TB SSD for $100
 

OmegaDL50

Member
The PS4 uses a Sata II controller for it's HDD so it really won't take advantage of SATA 6Gb/s it's basically limited in that regard. So SSD's will be limited as well due to the limited speed that Sata II has.

Of course going from the stock 500GB to a 1TB is a modest upgrade and since every PS4 game installs entirely to the HDD, capacity might more important speed.

I recommend the Samsung Spinpoint M9T. It is a 9.5mm 2TB HDD that works in the PS4. It is the current largest capacity 9.5mm drive available. The PS4 drive cage itself doesn't support drives larger than 9.5mm so this is your best bet in terms of reasonable pricing and storage capacity.

You can either buy the bare drive itself which costs more
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI19WXK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Or you can buy this and remove the HDD from it's enclosure - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRHTSK4/?tag=neogaf0e-20 and get the exact same thing for less

Also if you are careful enough, You can preserve the enclosure for the Slim Backup Plus and reuse the default 500GB PS4 drive as removable storage.

The Spinpoint M9T is $80 so it's $20 more then that Hitachi drive, but again it's also twice the capacity.
 

thenameDS

Member
It's the one I use, no complaints at all. Also it's 7200rpm so it's the best you can get, unless you plan on getting a SSD.
 
I got this exact one and installed it yesterday.

2tb drives for under $100 are lower quality and slower.

The louder drives that have issues are the bigger ones. This one is a 9mm drive so it won't rattle or get hot like the 12mm ones do.

A lot of the cheap 2tb drives are the larger size that cause issues.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
ql4b.png


am i the only one pissing in his pants laughing at that loading time gain ?

seconds.

SECONDS.

who cares xD
 
I desperately need one but I'm afraid of losing my saves (I've like 100 games) and losing PT. I'm also an idiot with tech stuff. Is there a simple guide for doing the replacement and keeping everything?
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Seconds multiplied by hundreds or thousands of times per year? Anyway it's more about the storage increase.

clearly you're joking ;)
but that standard storage space i a complete joke anyway.
with every game NEEDED to be installed.

so yeah that one is nice.
still 1 tb is also useless
i need about 5 to no care .
 

WITHE1982

Member
1 TB is not enough IMO
And the 7200RPM hdds can get hot & loud.

Agree with this. 1TB will probably see you having to upgrade again in 12 months time.

I can't really comment on the speed difference between 7200 RPM and 5400PRM. I just went for the bog standard Seagate 2TB drive. Works like a dream.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TKFEE5S/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UNA1IE4/

I desperately need one but I'm afraid of losing my saves (I've like 100 games) and losing PT. I'm also an idiot with tech stuff. Is there a simple guide for doing the replacement and keeping everything?

Ha. I just upgraded mine (last weekend) and was worried about losing P.T. etc... Just make sure to make a backup of your PS4 HDD and you're golden. Process couldn't be easier.

http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/how-to-upgrade-your-ps4-hard-drive-to-2tb.html/?a=viewall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FJHYAfiYRs
 

Omikaru

Member
I was considering a 1TB SSHD, as I knew that a SSD would be overkill, but thought there'd be some gains with a hybrid drive. Alas, with Arkham Knight it seems to be worse.

I'll just use the money I'd been considering saving for a 1TB SSHD and get a 2TB 7200rpm drive instead.
 

Arttemis

Member
How the hell can IGN write this without even listing the model of the Seagate "Laptop SHDD"?

I put a 2 TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim in my PS4. According to other loading speed tests, it's supposed to be an improvement over stock, but I've really only noticed the larger storage space. The stock PS4 drive is now inside the BPS's case and running on my Wii U.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
I was considering a 1TB SSHD, as I knew that a SSD would be overkill, but thought there'd be some gains with a hybrid drive. Alas, with Arkham Knight it seems to be worse.

I'll just use the money I'd been considering saving for a 1TB SSHD and get a 2TB 7200rpm drive instead.

great call !
 
Been using it for a month since the Seagate 2TB started giving me trouble and I wanted to switch before that POS drive completely died on me and I highly recommend it. And its noticeably faster in a lot of cases which is nice.

1 TB is not enough IMO
And the 7200RPM hdds can get hot & loud.

No louder then then stick HDD I have found.
 
I'll take 2TB over saving a few seconds of loading time any day.

I did as others have suggested - bought an external laptop drive, removed HDD from caddy, put it in PS4, put old PS4 HDD back in caddy, and plugged it into my Xbox One taking it up to near-1TB for free.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
SATAII has a transfer rate of 3Gb per second, which roughly translates to around 300MB/s and considering that modern SSDs commonly have read speeds of 500MB/s and write speeds of 300MB/s, I'd argue that you're not going to get the full experience.

One of the main improvements over HDDs is response time, which the SATAII connection won't compromise. Throughput would get bottlenecked under ideal circumstances, but I'm not sure it would make a very noticeable difference.

Perhaps only during games with a lot of streamable assets and large draw distances? Maybe The Witcher 3 or the upcoming Fallout 4 would have some noticeable advantage on a SSD.

But with the PS4 using a Sata II controller and the expensive costs for SSD's 1TB and higher, doesn't make an appealing difference against the higher capacity HDDs.

Now if the PS4 used a Sata 3 controller instead, this would be a different matter entirely.
 

Vashetti

Banned
I was considering a 1TB SSHD, as I knew that a SSD would be overkill, but thought there'd be some gains with a hybrid drive. Alas, with Arkham Knight it seems to be worse.

I'll just use the money I'd been considering saving for a 1TB SSHD and get a 2TB 7200rpm drive instead.

Impossible. 7200rpm 2.5" HDDs max out at 1TB.
 
I have a WD 1TB SSHD, had it since launch.
Its simply not big enough. I have 140GB left after deleting a bunch of stuff but on the games I've preordered alone it'll be full by December. I really don't want to have to keep deleting and downloading stuff.

That chart is good but does any one have similar data for the Samsung (spinpoint m9) 2 TB drive?
 

EmSeta

Member
What's all this talk about storage space? How many games do you guys play simultaneously anyway? Just delete them when you're done. You can always reinstall them later.
 

Omikaru

Member
Impossible. 7200rpm 2.5" HDDs max out at 1TB.

Just looked this up, and you're correct. Oh well, guess I should go with 1TB 7200rpm and save some cash. Speed is more important to me than storage, and I think 1TB will be enough. 2TB is a luxury.
 

nortonff

Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
2TB is the real deal. I've got a shitload of games installed and still have around 800gb left.
IGN is crazy.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
I have a WD 1TB SSHD, had it since launch.
Its simply not big enough. I have 140GB left after deleting a bunch of stuff but on the games I've preordered alone it'll be full by December. I really don't want to have to keep deleting and downloading stuff.

That chart is good but does any one have similar data for the Samsung 2 TB drive?

Considering the chart lists 3TB with a extremely high failure rate, and there is no such thing in the 2.5 inch laptop drive market, I'll have to assume the data sample being used in that infographic is based on Desktop based 3.5in HDDs.

Of course it may be anecdotal. Considering the Spinpoint M9T is constantly recommended in PS4 HDD upgrade threads on various forums online, I'd say issues of high rates of failures would be making rounds if this particular drive had major issues.

Of course even the most reliable drives can have a failure rate just the same, so the data points would be need to be skewed towards specifically laptop drives in this regard.
 

Hesemonni

Banned
I wonder, which CUH PS4 it was they tested with? Why I'm wondering I guess nobody has really tested CUH-1200 SSD performance. Wasn't there a SATA controller change inside which theoretically could mean that PS4 isn't limited by SATA II anymore...
 

Troy

Banned
It's time for Sony to allow external HDs like even Nintendo allows.

Do you have the 2TB Samsung???
If you do is there any chance you could replicate some of the tests just so I can see how the loading speeds compare?

I have that drive. Thankfully I use headphones when I game, because that thing is loud. Not typical for a HD I've ever used, but every 15 seconds or so it makes an audible beeping sound. It's weird. Seems fast enough though.
 

NeOak

Member
I was considering a 1TB SSHD, as I knew that a SSD would be overkill, but thought there'd be some gains with a hybrid drive. Alas, with Arkham Knight it seems to be worse.

I'll just use the money I'd been considering saving for a 1TB SSHD and get a 2TB 7200rpm drive instead.
Sound plan.

Except that there aren't 2TB 7200rpm 9.5mm 2.5" hard drives.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
What's all this talk about storage space? How many games do you guys play simultaneously anyway? Just delete them when you're done. You can always reinstall them later.

When it comes to digital games it's more than just reinstalling them. It's also about downloading tens of gigabytes of data. Nevermind updates for physical discs which are also a sizable download as well.

It's one thing with disc games being able to install right away, but with the increase of large patches that accompany disc installs on day one nowadays. It's not that cut and dry to simply delete what you're not playing and spending a considerable amount of time later to reinstall and download all of it's updates just to play it again.

Having large capacity HDD has it's conveniences.
 

Vanguard

Member
I've had that 7K1000 in my PS4 since launch and been pretty happy with it. I think at most I've only used at max 600GB of it roughly, but I can definitely see me needing a 2TB within the next 2 years though I think, within a year at the earliest.
 

Troy

Banned
What's all this talk about storage space? How many games do you guys play simultaneously anyway? Just delete them when you're done. You can always reinstall them later.

Lots of people buy digital, which means dealing with PSN download speeds. And even if you own the disc version, you still need to deal with PSN's download speeds to get the numerous gigs worth of updates/patches that many games require.
 

DJ_Lae

Member
1TB is simply too small at this point, unless you play very few games or delete everything when it's done (and if you ever go back to something, the reinstall/redownload process would negate any miniscule load advantages in-game). The cost at present to jump to 2TB isn't huge.

I bought one of those Seagate enclosures, popped the drive out and put it in the PS4, then put the stock drive back in and I'm using that on my WiiU. Cheapest and most convenient solution by far.
 

shandy706

Member
2TB is a luxury.

Now I feel bad considering an external 4TB+ for my X1.

So much luxury. Haha

My 2TB is at 48% used already. I get unnecessarily worried about space though.

Man I wish upgrading my Vita's storage space was this easy though. So many sales and games...with no easy/cheap solution.
 

Memnoch

Member
When it comes to digital games it's more than just reinstalling them. It's also about downloading tens of gigabytes of data. Nevermind updates for physical discs which are also a sizable download as well.

It's one thing with disc games being able to install right away, but with the increase of large patches that accompany disc installs on day one nowadays. It's not that cut and dry to simply delete what you're not playing and spending a considerable amount of time later to reinstall and download all of it's updates just to play it again.

Having large capacity HDD has it's conveniences.
Yeah, especially when I only get 5mbs.
 
I'm using the HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200 RPM in my PS4. It works great, I'd highly recommend it as an upgrade from the 500gb drive. I did get it to 80% full already though, which sucks but, still better than 500gb.
 

El-Suave

Member
What's all this talk about storage space? How many games do you guys play simultaneously anyway? Just delete them when you're done. You can always reinstall them later.

Big patches make spontaneous playing pretty difficult if you're not (auto) updating you library and then there's dlc. I've bought quite a few Rock Band songs back in the day on PS3 and those have to go somewhere.
 

nortonff

Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
Do you have the 2TB Samsung???
If you do is there any chance you could replicate some of the tests just so I can see how the loading speeds compare?

It's time for Sony to allow external HDs like even Nintendo allows.



I have that drive. Thankfully I use headphones when I game, because that thing is loud. Not typical for a HD I've ever used, but every 15 seconds or so it makes an audible beeping sound. It's weird. Seems fast enough though.

I have the st2000lm003. Never noticed anything about noise or beeps.
Never did any tests but it seems slightly faster than the original PS4 drive.
I always redo the database in the console bios from time to time to keep it optimized.
 
Top Bottom