Ahh storage. You can never really have enough of it and even if you do, you’d still want more. It speaks the truth even in gaming (especially in gaming!) where you have so much to play but so little space to store it on. Well your storage woes will soon come to pass as we take a look at the PS4 Game Drive from Seagate!
We initially looked into the Game Drive in a previous article where we focused mostly on looks and a quick run down of the features. This time around, this article will focus on helping us answer the million dollar question – “Should you buy a game drive for your PS4?”. Alternatively, you can choose to actually upgrade your internal PS4 hard drive but you really wouldn’t want to lug around your PS4 all the time. Portability is the name of the game for the Seagate Game Drive and we’ll take a closer look at it here.
We won’t take the format of a typical review here but we will mostly want to look at the reasons as to why you would want a Game Drive in the first place. To start out, we have to lay down a few basic questions…
- Does your game library mostly consists of digital copies? Basically, are you #TeamDigital and not #TeamPhysical?
- Do you have the tendency to hoard games? Basically, do you like that your games are always on your drive and ready to play at anytime?
- Is your internet speed capable of high speed downloads?
- Are you always on the move and do you like bringing your game library (and your PS4) around?
These questions will guide us throughout this review and will be the main basis of actually answering the question of whether you have to buy it or not. Without further ado, let’s jump in!
FORMAT
First of all, before you can actually use the drive, you’ll have to format the drive to be usable by the PS4. Take note, once you’ve formatted it for the PS4, then you will not be able to use it for any other purpose unless you reformat the hard drive again so it is important to note that before you transfer data into it, be 100% sure that you will be using this drive for the PS4. (you can use any external HD for that matter, but for purposes of the review, we will be talking about the Seagate Game Drive for PS4)
The format process is actually very quick and painless. Plug the Game Drive into your PS4, go to settings, and go into the USB storage device menu. From there, you will be prompted with a few items and asks whether you want to format the drive to be usable by your PS4. After a few more prompts and confirmations, congratulations, you can now transfer your data into the Game Drive and with its 5,400 RPM speed and USB 3.0 connection, you can be assured that transferring and reading / playing your data and games will provide you with the same experience as if you were playing directly from a PS4, which is a really big plus point for the product.
DATA TRANSFER
Why would I want to transfer my game data into the Game Drive? As we know, the PS4 usually comes in 2 variants (500GB and 1TB) and for some, this is just not enough space, especially for gamers who choose to have their library in a purely digital format. If you have most of your games via a physical copy / blu-ray disc, then you’ll definitely encounter the same problem eventually, since the games are actually installed into your PS4 and it just doesn’t run it off of the disc. Point is, either way, you are going to run out of space. The only plus for physical copy owners is that they don’t have to wait long hours to download the digital copy since it can be directly installed from the disc, but be warned, whether physical or digital, you will still have to download patches and updates like everyone does. How is being #TeamPhysical or #TeamDigital tied into getting a Game Drive for your PS4 since you’ll be running out of space eventually with either format? If you have a purely digital library, re-downloading these games will take a lot of time so it is most likely that you will choose to keep these games in your storage device unlike having a physical library, wherein you can simply reinstall your deleted games by just inserting the disc. Having a Game Drive is almost a must for #TeamDigital, not so much for #TeamPhysical.
Again, since we are all going to run out of space eventually and given the tremendous file sizes of the games and their updates, internet speed is another consideration. How so, you ask? Well if you have a 100mbps Fiber connection, then I don’t think deleting and redownloading a game will be an issue for you since you can finish those 40 or 50GB downloads in a couple of hours or less. If you have a slow connection, the prospect of downloading full sized games does not sound appealing at all, hence you are most likely to be a physical copy user for obvious reasons. Again, how does this all tie into actually getting a Game Drive? Having a fast internet connection can probably offset the fact that you MAY not need a Game Drive, since you can just delete some old games to clear up space, and then redownload them once you feel like playing them again.
If you have the tendency to hoard games, then we actually don’t have to explain why you’ll be needing the Game Drive, it’s not a question of “do I need it?” anymore but more of “how many Game Drives do I need?”.
PORTABILITY
Lastly, and I’ve said it earlier, the main point of the Game Drive is portability. With its super slim form factor, you can easily pop it in your back pocket, head on over to a friend’s house, and enjoy playing your game library straight from the Game Drive. Plus with the standard 2TB model, we’re talking about fitting around 50+ games in there, easy! (There’s a whole process that has to be considered if you want to do this but we’ll leave that for a separate discussion.) If you are the type of gamer who loves bringing his game library around, then no question, the Game Drive is the perfect solution for you. Instead of bringing over a bag full of Blu-ray discs, just take the Game Drive, which is smaller than most phones these days, and enjoy your full library without the hassle of carrying a lot of stuff!
Pros:
- Great minimalist design, goes well with any PS4
- Sleek and slim, very portable
- Painless to setup and very easy to use
Cons:
- A bit more expensive than the usual external HD’s
- There’s really nothing separating it from any other external HD
- minor nitpick, but the USB cable should have been longer
Final Verdict: 8.5/10
As you’ve read from above, there are a lot of considerations that go into actually purchasing a Game Drive. We all know that it is not easy to pay a huge amount of hard earned money for something that you will not be able to use properly so hopefully the questions and answers above helped with that decision. The Game Drive is an excellent device if you need it, since it is very easy to use and it doesn’t need any complicated instructions to go along with it. It is light and portable and it allows you take your library in the palm of your hand.
The 2TB Seagate Game Drive for PS4 retails for PHP 5,990 and can be purchased from most game stores nationwide.