Can you speed up a PS4’s loading times with a new hard drive?

If there is one thing that will quickly turn me off of a game it’s long loading times. I hate them. It takes me out of the experience and before long I’ll end up putting the game down and playing something that doesn’t present me with random game fact splash screens for hours of my life.

With PCs, upgrading to a solid state drive, or SSD, is a known, and often used, way to help speed up those load times. But what about consoles? Specifically, what about your PlayStation 4?

Yes, you absolutely can

An SSD can drastically improve your load times on your PlayStation 4, or even your PlayStation 4 Pro. Even with PlayStation 4 Pro’s improved technology, many games will see some big advantages from the use of an SSD.

From Eurogamer:

Image: Eurogamer

And thankfully, the prices of SSDs have gone down quite a bit. It was only a few years ago that making the jump to SSD felt like a true investment. Now, you can get that solid-state quality for less than 100 bucks.

Installing an SSD into your PlayStation 4

While some install methods and SSDs can be installed internally, generally speaking, I recommend simply using an external SSD or purchasing an internal one and a simple case to basically make it an external drive. If you are looking to replace the guts, however, Digital Trends has a great guide in place for that.

At the end of the day, it comes down to what you want out of your gaming experience. Personally, for me, someone who hates time and is constantly trying to shave seconds and minutes off of anything tedious, the small investment pays for itself in a matter of weeks.

Have you made the switch to SSD? Plan on it? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.