PS4 HDD Upgrade - Can i clone the disk?

[chris_shadez]

According to forum/website info to upgrade PS4 storage disk, you are told to backup data to usb storage device, install firmware, restore data.

To streamline the process, can i use a sata disk cloning dock to clone the 500gb hdd onto a 2tb hdd, then install the new disk into the ps4 and be ready to play?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Chris.

I'd really recommend against cloning a PS4 HDD. When you think about it, there's no reason for this not to work, because it clones the drive sector by sector and you'd end up with the exact same thing on your new drive. But after that you'd be left with a 2TB HDD containing a 500GB partition. Even if the PS4 recognizes it properly and everything looks fine, it would see it only as a 500GB HDD. Because of the PS4's way of formatting the drive before it's able to use it, I doubt that the console would recognized the HDD, if you extend the partition so that you can use the whole 2TB.
In this case, I'd suggest that you follow the standard backup procedure and replace the drive. On the other hand, if you decide to try the cloning process, I'd really be interested to hear what happened afterwards and if you had any luck with it.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

 

[chris_shadez]

Cloning seemed to have worked but left the rest of the 1.5TB unallocated, so was just like replacing a 500gb drive with another 500gb.
Inspecting the original drive in partition manager, it was split into many multiple partitions, so was not as simple as extending the other partitions and getting on with it. Had to reformat and do it the usual way 'as suggested.'

Further to this... the original drive was strangely unusable after the clone, with the PS4 giving an error, not allowing any safemode fix options either... did not think a cloning disk A onto disk B would at all affect drive A but somehow it did - data corrupted, not happened with the countless other drives i've cloned using this dock.
Though original disk was of use as normal in the PS4 after a reformat/reinstall. Stuck it in another pc for data storage just to make use of it.

The aim was to save time by not backing up all the installed games and media - Clone and resize partition.
End result, data on both drives were corrupted after cloning so had to reformat and reinstall firmware/all games and their updates anyway. And PS4 firmware install causes numerous partitions, so not simply resizeable to make use of new drive size either.


Tried cloning onto a different 1TB drive (from original 500GB drive) later to see if maybe the cloning process didn't go right but ended up with the same result of data on both drives becoming corrupted again, left it at that as had no patience to keep experimenting and wiped/fitted into a pc.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Thanks for the feedback.
I really don't know why the clones would fail, having in mind this is basically coping the drive sector by sector on to another drive. Perhaps it has something to do with the way the console formats the HDD. If you're still curious, but you don't have the time and patience to do it, you could see what the PS4's customer support has to say about it.
The important thing is that you got everything up and running, even if you'll have to re-download everything again.

Cheers!

 

[Tristan_2]

How does nobody know how to do this right?
1. Clone the drive...
2. RESIZE THE LARGEST PARTITION (420GB) that's the one with install data save games etc.
3. Enjoy your larger drive

 

[Timothyjamesreed]

How does nobody know how to do this right?
1. Clone the drive...
2. RESIZE THE LARGEST PARTITION (420GB) that's the one with install data save games etc.
3. Enjoy your larger drive

Have you done this? Your comment seems like you know how to do this, or are you just being condescending? It may seem pretty simple and trivial but chris_shadez had some issues with "both" HDD's.

 

[chris_shadez]

Yes i resized later down the line, leaving the second clone copy to play more with as i read more and played on.

Issue was that every clone was read by PS4 as "corrupt."

This was the case when i cloned by
a) automated switch to clone drives without needing a host/pc (which has never failed me)
b) software that came with the clone bay unit
c) other software - think it was Paragon Partition Manager 15 Pro
d) linux distro - since ps4's OS is linux, wanted to try this never used option 'hehe'

Must state, I'm Obviously no longer interested in this after so long

 

[kevin_67]

what did you use to clone the drives ?

 

[Michael_257]

that is an easy fix. after cloning you can use minitool partition manager to extend the partition and use the full disk space

Cloning seemed to have worked but left the rest of the 1.5TB unallocated, so was just like replacing a 500gb drive with another 500gb.
Inspecting the original drive in partition manager, it was split into many multiple partitions, so was not as simple as extending the other partitions and getting on with it. Had to reformat and do it the usual way 'as suggested.'

Further to this... the original drive was strangely unusable after the clone, with the PS4 giving an error, not allowing any safemode fix options either... did not think a cloning disk A onto disk B would at all affect drive A but somehow it did - data corrupted, not happened with the countless other drives i've cloned using this dock.
Though original disk was of use as normal in the PS4 after a reformat/reinstall. Stuck it in another pc for data storage just to make use of it.

The aim was to save time by not backing up all the installed games and media - Clone and resize partition.
End result, data on both drives were corrupted after cloning so had to reformat and reinstall firmware/all games and their updates anyway. And PS4 firmware install causes numerous partitions, so not simply resizeable to make use of new drive size either.


Tried cloning onto a different 1TB drive (from original 500GB drive) later to see if maybe the cloning process didn't go right but ended up with the same result of data on both drives becoming corrupted again, left it at that as had no patience to keep experimenting and wiped/fitted into a pc.

 

[popatim]

You do realize that Minitool does not work with PS4 (internal drive) partitions (because they dont use normal partition schemes) right?

For an external drive, fat or exfat work fine on a ps4

 

[bojkonil]

Hi,
has anyone successfully cloned a PS4 drive yet and if so, details please. . I'm currently reading articles from EaseUS Backup and AOMEI backup, which claim to be able to clone ps3 and ps4 drives to SSD, but i'm afraid of repeating chir_shadez's mistake, so i'm looking for confirmation, that someone has done it and what software they used.

 

[popatim]

As you would see in the 3rd post on this thread, yes cloning works.

You will see little improvement going to an internal SSD as the sata port in the PS os only Sata2 which will limit SSD performance. I suggest you get a good external Sata3 (w/uasp support) enclosure and connect it thru the USB3 port instead.

Lastly, please do not resurrect an old thread just to ask a question, start your own thread and include a link back to a thread you wish to talk about.

Thank you for your understanding.