Those of you who haven’t experimented with PS4’s external storage options yet can check this article out to see how they compare to internal setups. As far as I can tell, the Seagate 4TB they tested with is 5400RPM just like the stock drive, but it managed to result in quicker loading times despite being connected externally. The tests also confirm that upgrading to an SSD is a pretty good idea: an external SSD cuts off as much as 36 seconds for certain titles, while an internal SSD provides an even greater improvement.



…there are a couple of results where running externally is just as fast or maybe a touch faster, but these tend to be shorter loads and we suspect that it’s more margin of error in these scenarios. Regardless, using an SSD either internally or externally is still much faster than a mechanical drive in many scenarios, but you may like to consider an internal SSD paired with a larger HDD connected via USB for optimal results. The fact that we could increase storage massively by using a 4TB option while at the same time improving loading times is the icing on the cake.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – PS4 External Storage Tested: 4TB Hard Drive vs SSD Performance