Need help with extended memory.

[jamesgpobog]

Hello. I made a 'welcome' post if anyone's curious about who I am (a grumpy old man).

As I explain in the welcome, I am NOT a gamer, and know virtually zero about tech/settings/general knowledge about consoles, so PLEASE keep and advice/tips/instructions VERY simple, because 'old man' is not a joke. I really am 72, and tech is passing me by.

So for the past few days, I've tried to add extended memory and have been only partially successful. First thing I ran up against was the 'not enough space' and the news that 128 GB was too small. OK, so I got a 256GB USB drive, and guess what? STILL not big enough, because all the system bs brought the usable space to 249GB. One gig to small. That's crazy-making for me.

So the NEXT one (got it today) is a 320GB external hard drive. WOOT! The drive was recognized and per prompt, formatted as 'extended memory'. Plenty of room......but....

When I go to the PS Minecraft store to download some textures and mashups, here comes my old friend. It tells me that the DL needs 12 (I think it said MB, but I could be wrong, maybe 12 GB), but that doesn't matter. The thing has over 300 GIGS.

I power cycled the console 4-5 times, the drive shows as 300+ gigs extended memory (You can now save applications!), but I can't download squat. Several store downloads show as in progress, but nothing happens.

Anyone know what's going on? Oh, cleared the PS browser cache too. This is giving me a bad attitude....

 

[NoUseMercenary]

Regarding your issue of downloads not accessing your external hard drive, I'm not sure what might be causing that issue. I've never used a USB connected external drive. I usually just replace the internal hard drive of my PS3 / PS4 with a better HDD or SSD and never had a problem. Same goes for my PS5, I bought an additional M2 slot PCI Gen 4 SSD and it extended my internal memory.

For PS4, I'd suggest upgrading your internal hard drive to an SSD. Here are the two best ones for the PS4. The Samsung 860 EVO 1TB or the Seagate 1TB. Just make sure whichever one you get that it's compatible with your PS4 model (depending on if you have a slim, Pro, or something). They are fairly easy to install. SSDs are way faster than the default HDD that comes in a PS4. So you'll see noticeable difference in installing games and even game load times when playing.

For PS3, you can get a cheap HDD like a Seagate 1TB for $40, or I believe you can even get an SSD for your PS3 (although it won't perform at it's max, because the PS3 is CPU limited). Still, you'll see a noticeable upgrade in your install speeds and game loading. Here's a list of recommended ones.

With any of this though, I highly suggest making sure that whatever you buy, fits the slot on your console. As there are differences between console models.

 

[NoUseMercenary]

Other things you might look at regarding the PS Store downloads not accessing your external drive:

1. Have you reformatted your external drive?

Step 1. Format Your External Storage Device:

Be aware that formatting your storage device will delete all the data. If you want to keep the data, you should back it up on a different device.

From your PS4™, go to [Settings] > [Devices] > [USB Storage Devices].

Select the [USB storage device] and click [Format as Extended Storage].

2. Update the location in which new downloads go to your external drive.

Step 2. Change the Application Install Location:

You cannot change the application install location during a download, so make sure you have selected extended storage before you start.

From your PS4, go to [Settings] > [Storage], and then press the OPTIONS button.

Select [Application Install Location] > [Extended Storage].

Applications will now be set to install in extended storage.

 

[jamesgpobog]

Other things you might look at regarding the PS Store downloads not accessing your external drive:

1. Have you reformatted your external drive?

Step 1. Format Your External Storage Device:

Be aware that formatting your storage device will delete all the data. If you want to keep the data, you should back it up on a different device.

From your PS4™, go to [Settings] > [Devices] > [USB Storage Devices].

Select the [USB storage device] and click [Format as Extended Storage].

2. Update the location in which new downloads go to your external drive.

Step 2. Change the Application Install Location:

You cannot change the application install location during a download, so make sure you have selected extended storage before you start.

From your PS4, go to [Settings] > [Storage], and then press the OPTIONS button.

Select [Application Install Location] > [Extended Storage].

Applications will now be set to install in extended storage.

OK, so here's the current situation. By spec, the drive I got should be OK. Working with it yesterday, the console sees it, the console formatted it, and the system told me I could save apps to it. This morning I was mucking around and I saw indications that apps could be manually moved from system to extended so I did a test, and data did move. Right now, I'm moving most of the apps over to extended. What I have expected to see but haven't is a download going right to extended, meaning a new 'world' from the PS store downloading directly to extended. It's been giving me the 'space' error for 12MB when there are multiple gigs available. I'm hoping clearing most of the system memory to extended will let worlds/textures downloat to system and then I can just move them manually to extended. I'm retired, I have time to do that...

 

[jamesgpobog]

This is the drive I got. Apps are being moved/written to it right now, not sure about store downloads, that test is next.

 

[NoUseMercenary]

OK, so here's the current situation. By spec, the drive I got should be OK. Working with it yesterday, the console sees it, the console formatted it, and the system told me I could save apps to it. This morning I was mucking around and I saw indications that apps could be manually moved from system to extended so I did a test, and data did move. Right now, I'm moving most of the apps over to extended. What I have expected to see but haven't is a download going right to extended, meaning a new 'world' from the PS store downloading directly to extended. It's been giving me the 'space' error for 12MB when there are multiple gigs available. I'm hoping clearing most of the system memory to extended will let worlds/textures downloat to system and then I can just move them manually to extended. I'm retired, I have time to do that...

If you're able to move existing save files and games from your internal hard drive to the external, then I would just do that. Move everything over to the external hard drive, that way it frees up space on your internal hard drive for downloading stuff off the PS Store. Once it's downloaded, then you can move it to the external. Rather than attempting to download straight from the PS Store to the external.

 

[jamesgpobog]

If you're able to move existing save files and games from your internal hard drive to the external, then I would just do that. Move everything over to the external hard drive, that way it frees up space on your internal hard drive for downloading stuff off the PS Store. Once it's downloaded, then you can move it to the external. Rather than attempting to download straight from the PS Store to the external.

I hear you, and reached the same conclusion myself. However, after moving virtually everything, it still fails on a 12 megabite error.

I took it into a local shop and the guy thinks it's some sort of software bug. We'll see.

Something just popped into my mind. We do have a second PS4 console in the bedroom (the one I play is in the living room). Not sure I want to mess with the HDD, but isn't there a simple way to transfer files on a flash drive? D/L to the bedroom onto a flash, thgen move the files from the flash to the livingroom PS?

 

[jamesgpobog]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BDQ7FZS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[NoUseMercenary]

Here is a how to guide on transferring files between two PS4's. Guide Link