Seagate External Hard Drive Not Working On PS4 | Fixed
Seagate PS4 game drive is a great external hard drive solution for PS4. In fact, it is one of the most recommended external hard drives for PS4 consoles. But due to some reasons, Seagate external hard drive may stop working on PS4 and is no longer usable. So, what can you do when your Seagate external hard drive is not working on PS4? How to fix that and get it back to work? This is what you’re going to learn in this comprehensive article.
Summary Of the Problem
According to the reports from PS4 users, the Seagate external hard drive cannot be connected or recognized or is not showing up in their PS4. As a result, they are unable to access the games or applications saved in the Seagate PS4 game drive, which is really a frustrating problem.
It happens sometimes that users receive an error message stating that the USB storage device is not connected, whereas the Seagate PS4 external hard drive is already connected to the PS4 USB port. In other cases, the PS4 console doesn’t respond to the connected Seagate external hard drive without any error messages. If the Seagate external hard drive suddenly stopped working on PS4, perhaps there are some problems with the Seagate PS4 game drive itself or something wrong with the PS4 system.
Some users reported that from the very beginning they tried to use the Seagate external HDD on their PS4, it would not work at all. On the other hand, other users would have their Seagate PS4 external hard drive working flawlessly before, but it stopped working suddenly without any warning or sign. Which exactly is your case? Figure out your own case and find the corresponding solutions in the following contents.
Common Reasons Why Seagate external hard drive is not working/detected on PS4
When the Seagate PS4 external hard drive isn’t working with you, either that it turns on but the PS4 system can’t recognize/detect it, or that it won’t turn on at all, then it can be for the following reasons:
- The Seagate external hard drive itself is defective and needs maintenance.
- The USB cable of the Seagate external HDD is not functioning properly, or the USB-SATA bridge of the Seagate game drive is defective/malfunctioning.
- There’s a sort of malfunctioning in the PS4 USB connectivity that prevents it from working properly and recognizing Seagate game drive.
- There might be a sort of corruption In the PS4 system software that hinders the system from properly detecting/recognizing the USB devices, especially storage devices.
- There might be a hardware failure in the PS4 motherboard, although this is very rare.
These are the most common reasons why the Seagate PS4 external hard drive is not working or recognized. So, how to fix that issue and enjoy using the Seagate PS4 external hard drive again? Let’s start the troubleshooting journey.
Case 1: Seagate PS4 External Hard Drive Not Working from the Beginning
If you encounter the issue that the Seagate PS4 external hard drive not showing up or recognized from the very beginning and you have never made it work before, one of the solutions laid out below might be the right fix for your issue.
Before you try any technical methods, you can do the following self-examination to troubleshoot the Seagate PS4 game drive not working issue by yourself.
- Try connecting the Seagate PS4 external hard drive through another USB port of your console. It is possible that the USB port through which you connect the Seagate game drive to the PS4 is actually malfunctioning, thus the Seagate external hard drive might work properly with another port.
- Make sure the Seagate external hard drive you’re using is compatible with the PS4 platform. Actually, Seagate has released two models of the game drive, one for PS4 and the other for Xbox. So pick the right one for PS4.
- The PS4 system doesn’t accept multiple storage devices connected to it externally. So, make sure your Seagate game drive is the only storage device connected externally to PS4. The PS4 system just recognizes one external storage device at a time. If a device that has been formatted as extended storage is already connected to your PS4, your PS4 will not recognize an additional external storage device.
If you have already followed the pieces of advice above yet the Seagate external hard drive is still not recognized or showing up on PS4, you can continue troubleshooting the issue with the following fixes:
Fix 1: Exclude Hard Drive Errors
Intuitively, if your Seagate PS4 external hard drive is damaged or has a major failure, the PS4 system won’t recognize it. How to check that? Well, you’ll need a computer system to connect the Seagate external hard drive to and check there whether it works properly or not.
Commonly, when a healthy hard drive is connected to a computer, you will get a message prompting Your device is ready to use. If you don’t receive the message, you can also find this drive listed in Disk Management. But if the connected hard drive is damaged, it will not be recognized by your computer as well and you will get an error message stating that thing to you (see image below). In this case, you might have to give up the Seagate PS4 external hard drive and replace it with a new one.
Fix 2: Update Your PS4 System Software
If you have found out that the external hard drive is not defective and other PS4 consoles can recognize it in addition to computers, perhaps the problem has something to do with your PS4 system itself. The Seagate PS4 external hard drive might fail to work if the PS4 system software is outdated. Therefore, you can try updating the PS4 system software in order to fix the Seagate PS4 external hard drive not showing up issue.
Here’s how to simply update the PS4 system software in order to get it to recognize the Seagate Game Drive:
- Make sure your PS4 is connected to the Internet and go to the home screen.
- Go to PS4 Settings and choose System Software Update
- If any updates are detected, click the Next button. Then, select Update to download the available update.
- Select Downloads to install the updates you have downloaded.
After updating the PS4 system software, now, go connect the Seagate external hard drive to your PS4 and check if it is properly recognized by the PS4 system and working flawlessly or not.
Case 2: Seagate PS4 External Hard Drive Stopped Working Suddenly
In this case, you were able to use the Seagate PS4 external hard drive without any problems before it stopped working suddenly and the PS4 system no longer could detect/recognize it. Similar to Case #1, the Seagate PS4 external hard drive might have been also defective here due to misuse or degradation. Therefore, you have to verify first that your Seagate PS4 external hard drive is actually functioning by connecting it to a PC.
If you’ve found out that the Seagate Game Drive is working fine on a PC and other game consoles, you can try the following solutions to fix that issue:
Fix 1: Restart Your PS4
If there’s a device connection issue with your PS4 game console, the first thing you have to try is to restart the PS4. This is a very common first-step solution to work around this problem. So, in order to get the PS4 external HDD working again and recognized by the system, restart the PS4 while the Seagate external hard drive is connected to it, and follow the steps below:
- To restart, you need to go to the PS4 control center menu, which you can access by pressing the PlayStation logo on your new DualSense controller.
- In the control center scroll all the way to the right-hand side of the menu until you’re hovering over the power button.
- Click the power button and you’ll be presented with three options to power down your console.
- This includes ‘Enter Rest Mode’, ‘Turn Off PS4’ and ‘Restart PS4’
- Select your desired option from the three choices, in this case, ‘Restart PS4’, which will close all games and apps, and restart your PS4.
Do note that if you decide to restart your PS4, the console will start to power down but it’s not immediate.
A message will appear which reads: “Restarting your PS4… Don’t unplug the AC power cord when the power indicator on your PS4 is lit or blinking.”
Within around 10 seconds, the PS4 will restart and you’ll load into the PS4. As you’ve not used the DualSense to “turn on” the PS4, you’ll then be required to press the PS button on your controller so that you can log in.
Now, hopefully, the Seagate PS4 external hard drive has got to work again. If this method doesn’t work in your case, move on to the next one.
Fix 2: Rebuild the PS4 Database
One of the solutions you can try in order to fix the not-recognized Seagate PS4 external hard drive is to rebuild the PS4 database.
There is a feature named “Rebuild Database” built in your PS4 system. This feature will scan the PS4 internal storage and create a new database of all your stored content to help resolve various problems, such as the PS4 corrupted data issue. This can also help fix the not-working PS4 external hard drive.
In order to rebuild the PS4 database, please follow the steps illustrated below:
- Press the power button until the PS4 system beeps twice to turn the system off. The power indicator will blink for a few moments before turning off.
- Press and hold the power button for at least seven seconds, only releasing it after you hear the second of two beeps.
- Connect a DualSense wireless controller via a USB cable and press the [PS] button on the controller.
Your system should now be in Safe Mode. - Once you are in Safe Mode, please select option #5: “Rebuild Database”.
Note: Rebuilding the database scans the drive and creates a new database of all content. This operation may take a long time depending on the type and number of data items.
After that, you just need to wait patiently until the process is completed. When your PS4 completes the process and restarts, you can connect the Seagate external hard drive and check if it can work properly now.
Fix 3: Factory Reset PS4
For those unfamiliar, a factory reset is exactly what it sounds like. It resets your PS4 console to its default factory settings as if you were opening it and booting it up for the very first time. You’ll lose all of your game data, save data, and personal account data that are stored on the machine — basically anything on the system’s internal storage will be erased.
Therefore, PS4 factory resetting should be your last resort after trying everything else to get the Seagate PS4 external hard drive working again. So, make sure to take a backup of all your important data before you proceed.
Because of this, it’s recommended you first backup any files you don’t want to lose for good. Since you can’t use the external hard drive on your PS4, you can back up your files using the PS Plus cloud service. Once you have properly backed up your files, you can begin the factory reset. Thankfully, Sony makes this fairly easy on the PS4.
Warning: Don’t turn off your PS4 during the initialization process, or your PS4 system will encounter unrecoverable damage.
In your case, we strongly recommend factory resetting your PS4 from the Safe Mode. Follow the steps illustrated below:
- Press the Power button on the console to turn it off.
- Press and hold the Power button until you hear a second beep (about 10 seconds).
- Connect a PS4 controller to the console and press the PS button.
- Select Reset PS4 from the safe mode menu. Wait for the console to restart as normal.
Once the process is completed, connect the Seagate PS4 external hard drive and check if it works now. In some cases, you might also need to update your PS4 after initialization.
Conclusion
It does happen to many users, to a point or another, that their Seagate PS4 external hard drive stops working and is no longer recognized by the PS4 system. You can try different methods in order to fix that issue. If nothing has worked for you, it means the Seagate PS4 Game Drive might be defective and must be replaced with a new one.
Seagate PS4 External Hard Drive Stopped Working FAQ
Why is my PS4 not recognizing my Seagate external hard drive?
In case your PS4 system fails to recognize your external hard drive, one of the following might be the actual reason for this problem:
- You don't connect your Seagate external hard drive wirely to the PS4 USB port.
- Your external HDD isn't connected directly to the PS4 (i.e. via a USB hub).
- The external hard drive you're using is not compatible with the PS4 system.
- There might be another external hard drive connected to your PS4.
How do I know if my Seagate PS4 external hard drive is broken?
You can know if your PS4 external hard drive is broken or not by observing one of the following signs:
- The Seagate PS4 external HDD gets too hot.
- You hear strange noise from the PS4 external HDD.
- When you were using it before you used to get error messages or the drive might crash or was too slow.
- The PS4 system would sometimes not recognize the external hard drive until you do additional steps.
What happens if you unplug an external hard drive from PS4?
Generally, when it happens that you unplug the external hard dirve cable from the PS4 USB port, the data would be affected only if the external HDD is runnig at that time. Otherwise, there's no worry about the stored data. But be careful and don't that so often or it may result it some kind of failure in the external HDD.
