Seagate Game Drive for PS4 Review: The Space Case

I’ve had a 500GB PlayStation 4 for years. I got the white Destiny model when it was new, and I’ve been content with it all this time. There’s a good chance that if you’re a PS4 owner reading this, then you know what happens after years of fantastic releases and free PlayStation Plus games. Soon enough, you’re forced into the role of judge, deciding which games deserve to stay on your home ribbon and which games get deleted in order to make space on the hard drive.

Seagate sent me their new Game Drive for PS4, and it honestly changed the way I see my console. I’m not spitting hyperbole, either. I in no way, shape, or form promised these guys a positive review of this product. If I experienced issues, partition or formatting woes, slow read or write speeds, or any manner of shenanigans whatsoever, I’d tell you. Instead, what I got was a sleek little slate that opened up enough space to download and install every single game in my library.

Installation was hands-off and automatic.

I can be a technical guy if I have to be, but only if I have to be. I like things to be automated, seamless, and effortless. I was relieved that Seagate’s hard drive solution didn’t force any proprietary software or procedures upon me. My PC wasn’t involved at all; I simply plugged that sucker into my PS4 (which recognized it immediately), formatted it, and then elected to make it my primary hard drive for downloads. Now it sits atop of my PlayStation like a majestic little techno-top hat.

That was it. It took about a minute and a half to set up, and when it was all done, I had about 1.9TB of storage that my PS4 treated like native HDD space. I didn’t know what to do with myself so, naturally, I just downloaded everything I could.

I actually made folders, y’all.

When a PS4 firmware update added folders a while back, I hooted and hollered in celebration like the rest of you, but I really didn’t have any use for folders. After my downloading spree, with over 40 games on-dock, I needed a little organization. I took about 20 minutes to create genre folders and stash all of my games away, and when I was done the utter freaking convenience of having more space than I needed on my PS4 for the first time hit me.

I felt like a kid walking through a game store with an unlimited budget; there were so many games, and they were all mine, and I could play any of them any time I wanted. Having the luxury of booting up any game in your library at any given time really does change things. It’s something you don’t really think about until you can do it.

Take your games with you.

For many of you, the greatest boon here will be the ability to take your games with you wherever you go. Say you’re headed to crash at a buddy’s house for a night of drinking and gaming. You have Fortnight on your PS4 but he (or she) doesn’t, so you’re forced to unplug your console, wrap it up in towels and lug it over there in a backpack. No longer!

Any game you have installed on your Game Drive can be taken with you wherever you go. Stick it in your pocket and then plug it in to your friend’s PS4. After signing into your PSN account, you’ll have instant access to all of the games on your Game Drive. Keep in mind that game save data will still be on your home console, but for multiplayer games that shouldn’t matter to much. It’s a really great feature.

For those of you with a 500GB PS4, this is absolutely one of the best investments you could make. If I visited a buddy who had a drive like this installed and realized just how much freedom it affords, it’d make it to the top of my wishlist straight away. If you’d like to check one out for yourself (or just see what it looks like in your favorite wishlist), you can do so right here.