Changing PS4 Hard Drive

[Jinzuku]

Sorry if this has been posted by someone previously.

I was thinking of changing the hard drive in my PS4 for one is more space.

My only worry with this is that FFXIV won't work with the new hard drive if it thinks it's a new console because I believe the game links itself with the console rather than the PSN ID.

Does anyone know if changing the hard drive on a PS4 affects FFXIV at all?

Obviously that's assuming you played FFXIV on the old hard drive prior to switching.

[16bitBounty]

The game links to your PSN id. All you'll have to do is reinstall the game and at the initial login you'll provide your details and it'll re-link. Make sure you back up your character settings onto a flash drive or send them to the cloud so you don't have to redo all your character sets and hotbars again.

[aesteval]

I've swapped between hard drives and the game loaded up no problem.

The only problem I had was there seemed to be an issue with updates running on the new drive. The reason why I know switching drives is no problem was due to updates corrupting my install. But switching drives by itself? No problem.

[Jinzuku]

The game links to your PSN id. All you'll have to do is reinstall the game and at the initial login you'll provide your details and it'll re-link. Make sure you back up your character settings onto a flash drive or send them to the cloud so you don't have to redo all your character sets and hotbars again.

I have PlayStation Plus so my game saves automatically to the cloud. This should be enough right?

[Jinzuku]

I've swapped between hard drives and the game loaded up no problem.

The only problem I had was there seemed to be an issue with updates running on the new drive. The reason why I know switching drives is no problem was due to updates corrupting my install. But switching drives by itself? No problem.

Does this mean as soon as an update comes out it'll no longer work? Sounds like a deal breaker if so. Is there a way around it?

[aesteval]

Does this mean as soon as an update comes out it'll no longer work? Sounds like a deal breaker if so. Is there a way around it?

No idea. Not entirely sure on an exact cause. The drive change being an issue doesn't make any sense. It could be coincidence and speculation. It could be a compatibility issue with the specific drive. It could be a bad drive. It's an open and unsolved question.

[aesteval]

I have PlayStation Plus so my game saves automatically to the cloud. This should be enough right?

I'd personally manually upload the saves and not rely on the auto upload. But I spent enough time tweaking HUD and hotbars I'd be liable to quit playing than redo everything.

[Natashio]

I'm pretty sure the PS4 has the same back-up system that the PS3 has. I assuming this. I don't have a PS4, but surely it must have. So back-up the info on your old hard drive onto an external flash drive or HD. Install the new drive into the PS4 and reinstall the back-up. Everything gets transferred as it was in the old hard drive. There's no need to reinstall anything from the PS store or redo your macros.

[Jinzuku]

It sounds like I should be pretty safe to change hard drives without FFXIV being affected.

I don't change the HUD so I'm not too worried about that. The hotbars would be a pain as I've got skills in certain places due to muscle memory.

I will save the FFXIV files to USB and if they don't automatically download from the cloud I will restore from the USB.

[Derio]

I changed my PS4 harddrive a while back ago and it was as simple as redownloading FFXIV from my library and then playing as normal. You are changing Hard drives, not PS4's. If you are changing PS4's you have to activate the PS4 as your primary PS4.

But since the OP is just changing hard drives, there is nothing to worry about.