Seagate 1TB SSHD Review (with Sony Playstation 4)

The three drives on test today (image above). The 500GB mechanical drive included with the Playstation 4 is a 500GB HGST (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) unit. Hitachi are now owned by Western Digital and sadly (but as expected) is a slower 5,400 rpm drive. It may seem fair enough that companies such as Sony and Microsoft save some money by incorporating 5,400 rpm drives in these consoles, but in such massive bulk orders a 7,200 rpm drive would really only cost them a few pence extra … per console.

The Sony Playstation 4 accepts 2.5 inch drives including 7mm and 9mm units.

The HGST 500GB drive can be bought online today for £32.85 inc vat.
The Samsung Evo 840 1TB can be bought online today for £349.30 inc vat.
The Seagate 1TB SSHD Hybrid Drive can be bought online today for £71.59 inc vat.

We recommend you back up all your save game data to the cloud, or to a USB drive before swapping drives. You can redownload and reinstall the games when you get the new drive installed. Sony have a handy step by step guide online showing their support for end user drive swapping. If you are installing a new drive into your console then we recommend you familarise yourself with this procedure before moving forward. A little USB pen drive is a must.

You can get the operating system files for the Playstation 4 over at this link. (It is version 1.71 as we go to publication, but these update fairly regularly).

Sony have tried to ensure that the Playstation 4 is easy to work with. You don't even need to release a screw to open the main drive bay. Turn the console off properly and disconnect all the cables. Just pull up on the black plastic cover and it slips off (see image above).

This is the first time you need a screwdriver. The large screw in the image, above left needs removed to access the internal drive.

The drive can then be removed by pulling on the top area of the tray.

Four screws hold the drive in place, remove them and slide out the drive. Then reverse the procedure with the new drive.

Replace the drive you are using, slide it in all the way …

Seal the drive in place with the large screw.

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