Skip to main content

The best external hard drives for the PS4

There is no secret that video games are getting larger, and if you’re an avid gamer, you might have found your PlayStation 4 internal hard drive space dwindling. Luckily, the PS4 can handle external hard drives when you need to add on a bit of extra space. Whether you’re trying to play Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II, or another favorite, we’ve got a collection of great drives that you can add to your setup. Here are the best external hard drives for the PS4.

Check out our guide on the best PS4 games you can play right now for your next gaming adventure.

Seagate Portable External Hard Drive

Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive
Seagate

If you merely want a great external hard drive for your PS4, then this portable drive from Seagate is the perfect solution. Offered in a variety of sizes from 1TB to 5TBs, it has lots of extra storage space for your favorite games. The small Seagate Portable drive is also great for throwing into a bag when heading over to a friend’s house and only weighs 6.72 ounces. Designed with USB 3.0 technology, the drive can obtain a speed of up to 120 MB/s, helping to reduce the time you spend waiting for your video games to load. Seagate also throws in a one-year rescue service, meaning that the company will step in to help retrieve your data if the drive fails within the first year.

Western Digital Elements Portable External Hard Drive

Western Digital Elements Portable External Hard Drive
Western Digital

Western Digital is a company that needs no introduction in the world of computer storage, helping many data centers around the world secure their data. The Elements Portable External Hard Drive is an excellent choice for the PS4, offering anywhere from 1TB to 5GBs of storage, so you can keep gaming without needing to delete files. Another small and light drive, this unit weighs in at only 4.66 ounces and offers high-speed USB 3.0 transfers. Western Digital is so confident about its lineup of products that it includes a two-year warranty with your purchase.

Western Digital Black P10 External Game Drive

Western Digital Black Drive
Western Digital

As Sonic fans know, sometimes you just “gotta go fast,” and that’s precisely what Western Digital did with its WD_Black lineup of products. The Black P10 External Game Drive can be obtained in three sizes, 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB, giving you a ton of storage for your games and multimedia. Based on the average game size of 36GBs, Western Digital notes that you should be able to hold up to 125 games on the 5TB variation. Not only does the Black P10 sport an extremely attractive external industrial design, but its internals were designed especially for gaming with a focus on quality and reliability.

Avolusion HDDGear 3TB External Hard Drive

Avolusion HDDGear 3TB External Hard Drive
Avolusion

If you’re looking for an external hard drive that will match the look of your PS4, you might want to take a glance at the Avolusion HDDGear External Hard Drive. With only a single size, 3TBs, this drive features fast read-write performance thanks to its 7200 RPM operation. What we particularly like about this unit is the included pass-through USB 3.0 port on the front, so you don’t lose a USB port once you’ve plugged in the drive. Despite being a relatively unknown brand, Avolusion is doing a great job in the gaming space and even includes a two-year warranty with its drives’ purchase.

Silicon Power Rugged External Game Drive

Silicon Power Rugged External Game Drive
Silicon Power

Silicon Power is a brand that has been creeping into the computer storage market and has been impressing consumers from the beginning. The Rugged Game Drive is no different, offering 1TB to 5TBs of storage in a slim military-grade shockproof and water-resistant casing. Designed with USB 3.2 in mind, this hard drive won’t have you waiting around for your games to load or your movies to buffer — you can jump right into the action. The included rubber banding on the drive can also be used to store cables when in transit, which we found to be a nice touch if you need to move between consoles.

Editors' Recommendations

Michael Archambault
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Michael Archambault is a technology writer and digital marketer located in Long Island, New York. For the past decade…
The best PS5 controllers for 2023
Scuf Reflex Pro controller.

The DualSense wireless controller that arrives with your PS5 is by no means an inferior gaming product. However, it does fall short for players who want to do a little more with their control methods.

Sony has acknowledged some shortcomings with its release of the new DualSense Edge, as well as the upcoming project Leonardo that caters to gamers with disabilities, but there are some third-party options that can fit your needs just as well.

Read more
The best RPGs for PS5
Outriders Intro to the Trickster

The PlayStation platform has always been home to some of the best RPGs on the market. Whether they're JRPGs, action RPGs, tactical RPGs, or any other variation, there's never been a shortage of games that allow you to live out a new experience in nearly any type of setting you could imagine. RPGs were initially a more niche genre, catering to the old-school Dungeons and Dragons players, but have steadily grown in popularity as they have become more accessible and widespread. These games offer narratives and gameplay styles you can't find anywhere else.

The PlayStation 5 came out of the gate strong with a number of high-quality RPGs. Since then, the library has only grown as newer titles find their home on this powerful console. No matter what type of RPG you prefer -- turn-based or real-time combat; fantasy, sci-fi, or modern settings; linear stories or ones that incorporate your choices -- the PS5 has an RPG that will fit your tastes. To help find your perfect fit, take a look at this roundup of the best RPGs for PS5.

Read more
All cross-platform games (PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)
Two squads of heroes clash in an Overwatch 2 trailer.

Cross-platform support is becoming more important in the world of video games. Multiplayer hits like Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite have pushed crossplay into the limelight, and now most AAA multiplayer games release with at least partial cross-platform support. Finding every cross-platform game is no easy feat, though, so we did the hard work to bring you a comprehensive list of games that support crossplay.

Unfortunately, there aren't any rules when it comes to crossplay, so each game handles the feature a little differently. To make matters more confusing, certain backward-compatible games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X still support crossplay on the most recent hardware, even if there isn't an official release for that hardware.

Read more