PS4 Firmware 4.50 Will Bring External Hard Drive Support and More

Written by Brandon Hofer on February 03, 2017

News: Sony has revealed that they are finally bringing external hard drive support to the PS4 along with some other nice features.

Sony has revealed some of the features that you can expect in the next big firmware update for the PlayStation 4 and one of them has been heavily requested by gamers for years.

External Hard Drive Support

External hard drive support is finally on the way from Sony and will arrive with firmware 4.50. Once this update is installed you will have the option to store content to an external hard drive that is USB 3.0 compatible. The PlayStation 4 will recognize external hard drives up to 8 terrabytes and once it is installed you will be able to download and install applications directly to it and the saved contents on the external drive will be easily manageable through the settings menu.

Custom Wallpapers

The next thing that is a part of the 4.50 update is another features that gamers have been wanting for awhile, custom wallpapers. You will now be able to set your favorite in-game screenshot as the background image for your PS4 home screen. There will be drop-shadows on text and the option to dim the Function Area that will help keep system icons and text on the home screen visible even if you pick a really bright picture for your background.

Quick Menu Refresh & Simplified Notifications

A couple of other things arriving on the PS4 with this new update will be a quick menu refresh and a simplified notification list. Sony introduced the quick menu feature with firmware 4.0 and this update will bring some additional improvements to make it more accessible. Once firmware 4.5 is installed the quick menu will cover even less of your screen and it will allow you to access some party features via online friends such as creating new parties, inviting friends and joining parties. With the simplified notifications list they have condensed all of the tabs that you currently see in the notifications area to a single simplified list which will theoretically make it easier to see all of your notifications at a glance. You will also be able to turn off or customize which pop-up notifications appear so you are only notified about things you consider important.

PSN Activity Feed and 3D Blu-Rays for PlayStation VR

The last two additions Sony revealed relates to the PSN Activity Feed and 3D Blu-rays on PlayStation VR. With the activity feed they have added the ability to post directly into the activity feed. Under “What’s New” you will be able to see a new option to post things like screenshots, gifs, text and more. You will also be able to tag games as well as your friends so that they don’t miss out on your post. 3D Blu-ray support is also on the way for PlayStation VR with this update adding the ability to view 3D movies in stereoscopic 3D directly on the PS VR headset.

Sony has said that these are only a few of the features that will be included in the 4.5 firmware update. What other features do you hope shows up? Tell us in the comments below.