Give your PS4 Pro a second life by installing an SSD

Give your PS4 Pro a second life by installing an SSD.

Despite the fact that the PS5 is already on the market, there are many users who bought a PS4 Pro at the time and still want to make it profitable, and it is that it is still a great console but it has a major flaw: its storage device. The PS4 Pro uses a 2.5-inch mechanical hard drive that is certainly not up to the task, so in this article we are going to show you how to disassemble it to mount an SSD in its place and thus obtain a great performance bonus.

One of the good things about the PS4 Pro compared to the normal model is the ease that Sony has given users to be able to remove their hard drive and install another, such as an SSD to improve performance. Of course, you should bear in mind that doing this voids the console’s warranty, so we do not recommend doing it unless it is already out of the warranty period, although it is true that it is an extremely simple operation and that it is almost impossible for you to break any.

What materials do you need?

Obviously, you have to have a PS4 Pro (this tutorial is not valid for the normal model, for that we already published another tutorial at the time), as well as an SSD of the capacity you want but, at least, of the same capacity as the disk of your console (we recommend 1TB minimum, although 2TB is ideal for additional space over what comes on the factory console).

In addition to the console and SSD, you will need a Philips (star) screwdriver and a USB flash drive of at least 2 GB. If you want to back up your saved games and installed games, you’ll also need to have an external hard drive with a USB connection, or a disk cloning dock.

previous preparations

If you want to back up your saved games, screenshots, and installed games, you’ll need to back up everything before moving the drive to the PS4 Pro. You have two options to do this:

• The first is to remove the hard drive from the PS4 and clone it directly to the SSD with a disk dock that allows cloning, or through software.
• The other way, which does not require previously unmounting the console disk, is the one that we are going to show you below and requires that you have an external USB disk of the same capacity or more than the console’s hard disk.

To back up using this second method, connect a USB hard drive to the console and turn it on. When it boots up, go to Settings -> System -> Backup and restore. Then select the option to backup the PS4 and a screen will appear where you can select what you want to back up.

When you’ve done this, the PS4 Pro will reboot and start the backup. You don’t have to do anything except wait for it to finish (this step can take several hours depending on the amount of data you have selected); when it’s done, the PS4 will boot up again and you’ll need to turn it off again to proceed to the next step.

On the other hand, we will need to download the PS4 Pro system software from the Sony website and put it in the 2 GB pen drive that we have mentioned before, since the SSD that we install in the console will be empty and we have to install the operating system. To do this, access the Sony website from your computer and download the PS4 reinstallation file (note, the reinstallation file and not the update file).

You will download a file called PS4UPDATE.PUP which is about 1 GB. Insert the USB pen drive into your PC, and inside you will have to create this folder structure (suppose the pen drive is assigned the letter D).

D:PS4UPDATE

Now you will have to copy the file PS4UPDATE.PUP that you have downloaded in PS4UPDATE from the pen drive. Notice that all the letters are in upper case, including the file name. Once this is done, you already have it ready to use it later.

How to change the disk of the PS4 Pro for an SSD

Turn off and disconnect all cables from the console. Flip it over so it’s like the picture (literally, with the top on the table).

In the part that we have marked in red in the image there is a tab. Pull it out without fear and the plastic cover that covers the area where the hard drive is installed will come out. Once removed, you will have access to the screw that you will have to remove with the screwdriver, and then pull it out and the disk comes out with its metal tray.

Now with the screwdriver simply remove the four screws that hold the hard drive in the metal box and replace the normal hard drive with your SSD.

Once done, simply push the tray with the SSD back into place, replace the screw and the plastic protector (it snaps in, but be careful not to bend the tab that holds it in place). .

And on a normal PS4?

The process for removing the hard drive from a regular PS4 and installing an SSD is pretty similar, really just changing where the drive sits. In essence, you will only have to remove the upper left cover of the console if you are looking at it from the front by simply pulling it to the side and the disk installation space will be exposed.

Now, just by removing a Philips screw you can pull this box and unscrew the hard drive to screw your new SSD, no more, no less.

Reinstall the software and upload the backup

You now have the SSD installed in your console, but it’s completely empty, so we need to install the system software. Connect the console cables, plug the pen drive with the system file into one of the two front USB ports on the console, and finally press and hold the power button on the console for 7 seconds or until it clicks. beeps.

The console will boot into safe mode, and will require you to connect the DualShock 4 controller via USB cable, as it will not work wirelessly at this point. Once you are in the menu, scroll down to option 7. Initialize PS4 (Reinstall System Software).

From here, simply follow the wizard that will appear on the screen and let it finish. The operating system will install and the console will automatically reboot when finished. At this point you will have the console with the SSD already working, but it will be as you bought it in the sense that you will have to log in with your PlayStation Network account again, connect it to the network, etc.

Once you’ve done that, don’t bother installing anything or setting your preferences yet, as that’s what we made the backup for. Connect the hard drive with the backup and then go to Settings -> System -> Backup and restore and in this case select “Restore PS4”. Select the backup that we previously created and simply wait for it to finish loading your data (just like when making the copy, it can take several hours to restore it depending on the data you entered).

The console will reboot to load your backup, and when done it will reboot itself. You will find the console as it was when you made the backup, with your games, preferences and themes all in place, only now you have it on an SSD that is 5 times faster than the hard drive that comes from the factory in the console.