Not too long ago, it would have been hard to imagine filling up a game console with more than 500GB of stuff, but many of us have already reached that point. At CES, Nyko announced the Data Bank for the PlayStation 4, which both replaces the internal drive and allows 3.5″ drives to qualify as internal storage. Basically, it means you can use larger and cheaper hard drives.
Assuming this press photo is close to the final product, what’s neat about the Data Bank is how it fits with the PS4 design. There’s even an LED that lights up when the hard drive’s memory is being accessed. No dangling cables to hide, no external drives to potentially become unplugged.
Though PS4 does technically “support” external hard drives, it cannot be used for game installations or save data, so the functionally is pretty limited. The Data Bank is potentially a nice middle ground, even though replacing the PS4’s internal drive really isn’t that hard.
While Nyko is waiting on a patent, the Data Bank’s planned for the “first half” of 2015.
Nyko revealed a few other accessories at CES, but the Type Pad stands out. Am I the only person who fell in love with and used Xbox 360’s tiny keyboard add-on? I was actually sending messages to people! I never do that on the Xbox One or PS4, but maybe the Type Pad helps out.
The Type Pad is also set for the “first half” of 2015, but these devices don’t have prices yet.
Comments
20 responses to “New PS4 Accessory Will Let You Swap In Larger, Cheaper Hard Drives”
I just have a bluetooth keyboard connected to my PS4 for those occasions where I feel I have to send someone a message. I’d rather not have some ugly peripherals attached to my controller.
I think you can use your smartphone keyboard for that, too, can’t you?
Yeah you can, just need to download the PlayStation app and connect it to your PS4.
Sure can. I still prefer the keyboard though. Too lazy to unlock my phone, open the app and wait for it to load before I can send the message.
Same here. But I’m also too lazy to buy a bluetooth keyboard, so I just stick to using the PS4 controller 😛
Does it show my age that my first thought was “You can hook up 3.5 inch floppy drives?”.
Oh man, we’ll only need about 650,000 floppy disks for a whole terabyte of storage, hell yeah!
Sure gonna suck when disc 435,213 goes corrupt and you can’t find it because they’re all scattered across your desk…
Such is life 😛
I wonder how this would go as far as the PS4’s warranty is concerned. Obviously they support you swapping out the standard 2.5″ drive with another one, but would using this to install a 3.5″ drive void the warranty? The lack of a PlayStation logo on it makes me assume it’s not a Sony-approved accessory.
Although I guess they wouldn’t have to know about it.. if your PS4 broke down you could just chuck the original 2.5″ drive back in and put the original case back on and send it back.
How could they tell you had this plugged in though?
why would it make any difference? power requirements are almost identical, and zero modifications are made to the console. all it is is a replacement HDD cover, with a hdd raiser bracket. ive been doing this with my ps4 for the past 6 months running a 2TB 3.5″ drive… Damn i should have registered a patent on the idea 🙂
Many 2.5″ laptop drives draw less power than 3.5″ desktop drives. If the accessory is powering the hard drive over the SATA power connector, then it could overload the console’s power supply.
If the new drive does fit into the power envelope, then there shouldn’t be any problem using what is essentially just a SATA extension cable.
you are literally talking about a <10w difference in comparison which is not even worth blinking at. there is no chance of overloading the consoles power supply. at the very least, the PSU in a retail home console would, at peak be only utilising 60-70% of the PSU, keeping 30-40% in reserve.
think of it this way… what would the difference be if you powered up your ps4, with the standard installed hdd, plus 2 more portabl usb hdd’s, 1 plugged into each of the usb ports?
at absolute worst, and there isnt a chance of this happening, the 3.5hdd installed will work without a hitch, but an additional usb hdd wouldnt have enough power to start spinning when plugged into the usb port. that would however be the theoretical scenario.
also can confirm that my ps4, with a 2tb installed hdd, can still power 2 x 2.5″ hdd plugged in all at the same time. 😀
Tbh I just installed the spinpoint 2tb and i get to keep an aesthetically pleasing look for my ps4
that ones a bit sketchy at the moment… you are probably one of the very few who have managed to get a 2tb spinpoint to work on their PS4 with no issues… its a bit of a hit and miss as far as ive seen…
I did it for a friend and it also worked fine. It was just the first lot of 2tb ones from my research. I think from now on people should be mostly fine.
Yeah they added a patch for it in 1.71, I waited to avoid destroying my ps4 lol
“it cannot be used for game installations or save data, so the functionally is pretty limited”
Could someone please fill me in what this is for then? If you can save data nor install games on it.
Thank heaps, I know i sound like a noob.
Cheers
you can save your video captures, screenshots, play music, and thats about it i think