AOMEI Partition Assistant
How to Copy Game Disk to Hard Drive without Reinstall?
If you need to copy a game disk to another hard drive for upgrading or migrating, this post explains how to do a PS4 SSD upgrade with easy-to-use disk copy software.
By Lucas / Updated on October 14, 2024
Need to copy game disk to upgrade PS4/5 hard disk
“I’d like to replace my PS4 game disk with a larger hard drive because the original is too small to store my current games. I’ve heard that I can simply swap the disk and install all games from scratch. That might work but I don’t want to do those reinstallations because I don’t want to lose my assets and progress in the game. So, is there any possible way to copy the entire game disk to the new disk without data loss?”
Do you have similar issues when you enjoy PS4 or PS5? Other causes may cause some users to wish to replace their game disk. For example, the game disk may be too old to run the installed game smoothly and have no space for new games. Other difficulties might include ps4 copying update file slowly, game running slow and frozen often, a game that becomes stuck while playing, or a game that does not start up at all.
Furthermore, cloning a game drive is a method of backing up vital data. That is, even if your game disk is in good shape, doing disk copying is not a conflict. So, what do you require to replicate a game disk without losing data?
How to use extended storage on PS4 consoles to add storage on PS4/5
If your PlayStation console needs more storage space, you can add external disks or USB to add more space to your PS console. You can transfer apps from PS4™ console storage to external storage. But you can't save application-saved data, themes, or screenshots/video clips to extended storage.
Format a USB storage device as extended storage
1. In PS4, go to Settings > Devices > USB Storage Devices. Select the external storage device to format and choose Format as Extended Storage.
Now we can choose one way to use extended storage on your PS.
▌# 1. Change your install location on PS4 consoles
You can use the external device as a new location to install your games.
1. Select Settings > Storage, and then press the OPTIONS button.
2. Select Application Install Location > Extended Storage.
3. Applications are now set to install on extended storage. But remember, you can't change the application install location during a download.
▌#2. Move applications to extended storage on PS4 consoles
Applications can be moved between the PS4 console's system and expanded storage. Please keep in mind that if a program is detected in both system and extended storage, you must delete it from one or the other to use the extended storage device.
1. Select Settings > Storage.
2. Select the storage where the application you want to move is located, and then select Applications.
3. Press the OPTIONS button and select Move to Extended Storage -or- Move to System Storage.
4. Add ticks to the applications you wish to move and select Move.
Why PS4 extended storage not working?
However, extended storage is not always working successfully. There are two situations where the PS4 External Hard Drive does not work:
- The PS4 external hard drive is not detected from the start, hence it does not work.
- The PS4 External Hard Drive was working properly before it suddenly stopped working.
This issue could be caused by one of several factors, including the status of the external hard drive, the USB connection, software issues, or console problems. There are also common causes for different components, such as a corrupted external drive, an incompatible file system, an unreliable connection, or obsolete PS4 software.
Perform PS4 hard disk upgrade via free game disk copy software
If you failed to add extended storage to your PS4, there is another way to directly upgrade PS4 hard disk: copy PS4 to an SSD. You just need to clone the PS4 hard disk to a new disk, all settings and all games are still the same as the old disk.
To upgrade PS4 to SSD, you'll need a tool that can clone all of the games and data from the old disk to the new SSD. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a free yet powerful hard drive cloner that can transfer all data from the PS4 hard drive to the new SSD. It is Windows-based software and is supported by Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7. And its exceptional features can meet your various disk cloning requirements.
◤ It can copy only used space to another disk or copy sectors-by-sectors at a time. Your needs will determine the cloning process you use.
◤ It can clone a larger hard disk into a smaller one. When your prepared SSD is smaller than expected, you can still complete the cloning using this option.
◤ It is possible to create a 4K alignment. Aligning your SSD partition is an effective approach to improving speeds of your SSD.
Except for the aforementioned screwdriver, you need to do some extra preparations:
★A larger SSD that is formatted with FAT32 or exFAT file system. This is because PS4 only supports these two file systems. So if the prepared SSD is not, please convert the file system to FAT in advance.
★ A SATA-to-USB adapter.
★ Take out the hard drive from the PS4 and connect it and the destination SSD to the working computer. Make sure both of them can be detected and recognized by your computer system.
You may want to prepare other stuff like a small box to place screws or a smartphone to take pictures. But those two are necessary objects. Let’s learn the specific steps below.
▶ Important: Please backup all important data on the game disk before you start. Normal disk copying won’t cause data loss on the original disk yet inappropriate operations are likely to do. So if you are not familiar with practical operations, take these actions with caution.
Step 1. Uninstall the old game disk via screwdriver and then connect it to your PC. Connect the new disk to your PC as well. Make sure they are detected by Windows.
Step 2. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant on your PC. Click "Clone" in the main interface, and select "Clone Disk".
Step 3. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".
Step 4. Select another drive as the destination disk, and then click "Next".
Step 5. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to "Sector to Sector clone", and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.
Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of the SSD.
Step 6. After returning to the main interface, check the pending operation and click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.
Step 7. Install the cloned new disk to your game console and play.
Tips:
◤ If you choose the “Sector-by-Sector Copy” method, step 6 will be skipped.
◤ With capacity permitted, you can copy the game disk to a USB drive or SD card through the same steps.
Summary
Two different ways to copy game disk to new hard drive, and you can choose one of them according to your own situation. AOMEI Partition Assistant is also all-around partition manager. For instance, you can copy the UEFI boot disk to upgrade the hard drive and move unallocated space to the C drive without formatting. Download to experience more.
