Is an external hard drive the best storage upgrade for PS4?

Honestly, I went through this exact same thing last year and it was kind of a letdown. I really wanted that internal SSD speed for my base PS4 but unfortunately it wasnt as good as expected. I picked up a Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA SSD thinking it would be a total game changer for my load times. The install process actually made me super nervous cuz I was worried about breaking those tiny plastic tabs or messing up the firmware reinstall. Once I finally got it working, the boot times were a little faster, but the base PS4 uses an older SATA II interface so it hits a hardware bottleneck pretty quick. Ngl I was pretty disappointed that the speed boost was barely noticeable in actual gameplay compared to the cost. Plus, for 60 bucks you only get a relatively small drive. I had issues with running out of space again after just three big game installs. It was frustrating. If you do go the external route, please be careful. I had a Seagate Portable 2TB External HDD and my dog bumped the console while it was updating... the whole drive corrupted and I lost everything. It felt so unreliable. If your budget is tight, maybe look for a WD Elements 2TB Portable External Hard Drive on sale. Just make sure it sits somewhere it cant be moved at all. Internal is just too much money for too little space honestly.

Just saw this and wanted to chime in. Tbh I had issues with a cheap internal swap and it just wasnt as good as expected. If you want something reliable, maybe try the Western Digital WD_BLACK P10 2TB Game Drive instead. Its built a bit better for gaming and fits your budget. Just make sure you back up your saves first... better safe than sorry!