Did you get an external hard drive for your PS4 to expand the storage, and now it just stopped working, not showing up and has a beeping sound? well you have come to the right place.

 Here we will talk about some reasons why your PS4 external hard drive is beeping when connected to the console. The PS4 external hard drive can be beeping when connected to the console due to the following reason:

  • Insufficient power delivery
  • Faulty USB cable
  • Faulty USB port
  • hard drive adaptor has failed
  • Hard drive failing
why is my PS4 external hard drive beeping

Insufficient Power delivery

The most common reason for a beep on the PS4s external hard drive is that the power is not sufficiently been delivered to the hard drive.

 

The external hard drive can beep when the power been delivered to it is insufficient.  If you plug in the hard drive to your PS4 and it starts making a beep sound, then you can put in mind that you have a problem with the power been delivered to it.

The first thing to do if this happens to you is to check if there is an error message on screen indicating "USB storage not connected" or "too many UBS devices connected".

If there isn't, then go ahead and check out the power being delivered to the hard drive or try another hard drive if you have a spare one. The hard drive is designed to draw power from the source it is connected to in this case the PS4 in order to keep its internal components operational.

If this doesn't happen, your hard drive will begin to malfunction and eventually stop functioning entirely.

You may also want to try to connect your Hard drive to a PC and see how it responds.

Faulty USB cable

The beeping is most likely caused by a bad connection or a loose cable. If the hard drive beeps because of a faulty cable, then this means that the cable is faulty. You will need to replace the cable with one that is known to be good

If the hard drive beeps and shows an error on the PS4 system software "too many UBS devices connected". 

Then this means that there is some kind of short circuit between the PS4 console and the hard drive, probably the USB cable is shorting to ground and may need replacement. 

Try connecting the other end of your USB cable to another device (PS4 controller) and see if that works. If it does, then try rebooting your PS4 console and see if the beeping continues.

You may also see some other errors when using the PS4 system when you plug in the external hard drive e.g.  "USB storage not connected" This error message is not  specific to hard drives but can also indicate issues with your PS4 system software

If you have already done this, but still receive the beeping noise, then move on to the next fix.

Faulty USB port

Your external hard drive can be beeping because of a Faulty USB port. This could happen when you connect the external hard drive to your PS4 and the PS4 does not recognize it. You can try using the other USB port on the console.

There are two common reasons for this:

The USB port on your PS4 is faulty/bad

The USB port on the PS4 can become bad over time as you continue using it. This may cause the hard drive to beep as it is not receiving enough power/data.

 To be sure your USB port is in a good working condition resynchronize your PS4 controller with the USB cable connected to the port. 

To do this you will need to forget the PS4 controller in the Bluetooth settings and then try to synchronize it with PS4 to see if it will sync. If it does synchronize then the port on the PS4 is working.

The USB port on the Hard drive is faulty/bad

The USB port on the hard drive can become faulty/bad overtime. You can try to change the adapter in the casing of your hard drive to see if that resolves the issue.

Hard drive adaptor has failed

Your hard drive could be beeping because the hard drive adaptor has failed. The adaptor is a circuit board that is part of the internal connection between your PS4 and your hard drive. 

It is a small circuit board that connects the USB cable from the PS4 and converts it to the SATA pin. It delivers power to the hard drive on one side, and the data transfer pins on the other. 

When this connector fails, your hard drive will may start beeping as it will fail to deliver sufficient power or because it cannot communicate with the PS4.

In most cases, replacing this part will solve your problem. However, if replacing it does not solve your problem, you can assume the hard drive is failing.


Hard drive failing

Another possibility is that the hard drive itself has been damaged. This can happen if your external hard drive was dropped or bumped. It may also happen if there is an electrical short in the adapter or other component inside the adapter.

Your hard drive is beeping because the Hard drive is failing. Usually, the beep is accompanied by a clicking sound. This is happens because the hard drive's actuator arm is failing or not being able to move the heads into position.

if that's the case it usually means that your hard drive has failed and needs to be replaced. The sound you hear may be different than what I have described but it should be similar to a clicking sound.

Hard drives usually make a clicking sound when they fail. This could be a number of reasons including

  • The drive is getting an error from the disk itself, which is a hardware error
  • The head on the hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced.
  • The drive has failed completely and needs to be replaced.

FAQs

Can you use any external hard drive for PS4?

Yes you can use any external hard drive on the PS4 as long as it meets the requirements below.

PS4 System Version

4.50 or Later

Minimum Speed

USB  5Gbps or later

Minimum Capacity

250GB

Maximum Capacity

8TB

USB Version

3.0 or Later

How do I remove external hard drive from PS4?

There is no harm in removing the hard drive while it is plugged in the PS4 as long as the hard drive is not been accessed by the PS4. 

To make sure the PS4 is not accessing your external hard drive, there is a proper way to do this. To properly remove the hard drive from the PS4 follow the steps below:
  1. Hold the PS button to bring up Quick menu
  2. Select [Sound/Devices]
  3. Select [Stop Using Extended Storage]

Can a PS3 hard drive be used in a PS4?

Yes both the PS3 and PS4 use the same hard drive type. They both use SATA connecter and have same sizes. However, The hard drive needs to be formatted and re-install the system software for it to be used on the PS4 or vice versa.