PS4 Backup “Not Enough Space” Error Solution

by Rian

Let us all agree on the fact that Sony sucks at doing anything software-related right. Just compare it to its competitions, Xbox, for example. Microsoft is too big of a hurdle? No more excuses.

At any rate, I’ve seen multiple posts on different forums suggesting back and forth as to what is the real cause behind “not enough space” glitch. An external drive with enough space and even formatted right (FAT32 or exFAT), and you can even copy manually, but PS4 won’t backup its file to it. If you are having this symptom, follow the directions carefully:

  1. Make sure you do have enough space on your external drive. Let’s be idiot proof.
  2. Connect your external drive to your computer.
  3. Reformat everything on the drive. The software you will use doesn’t matter. I’ve used Disk Utility on Mac.
  4. PS4 reads only FAT32 and exFAT, and I’d like to recommend exFAT for this time.
  5. Here’s the important part: make sure to choose MBR (Master Boot Record) scheme, not GPT (GUID Partition Map/Table), or Apple. **MBR**

If you can’t see the option and having the symptom, it’s most likely formatted with GUID scheme. I’ll add a new info if the method is unavailable on PCs. As for what is causing it, I personally don’t understand nor tried to research the actual cause behind it. If anyone has info, I’d love to hear it.

I will be running more thorough post on upgrading PS4 HDD, but just to clarify, the experience was not welcoming as it sounds. Hard drive has to be formatted appropriately before initializing it, meaning you will be needing a way to connect the HDD to your computer. My suggestion would be either a dock or a enclosure, available on any resellers for less than $30. Another problem is the cost of 2.5 inch HDD, which I find it to be an unusual choice for a stationary device. I don’t move my PS4 as often as, say, my laptop. There is no need to use 2.5 inch HDD, and yet Sony decided to do just that. I would suggest using an upgrade kit, such as Nyko Databank, and use 3.5 inch HDDs instead.

At any rate, Sony could’ve solved this problem more elegantly. We’ve seen this working without hiccups on 360 for millennia. Why not on PS? Besides, upgrading internal HDDs, which, in my opinion, is likely to compromise the physical integrity of the console, therefore not much of a solution. Not that it is against the warranty, –actually Sony approves it and even recommends it– but the console could have been designed with future-proof specs and softwares, including utilizing external HDD. We don’t just use it to backup savedatas

updated newest info on storage upgrade as of 12/10/15.

– Tips / /

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