First of all, I know that you can only have one external hard drive active at any one time. This is clear and consistent with PS4.
However, on PS4 there is an option under Settings -> Devices -> USB Storage Devices that allows you to 'choose' from an external hard drive connected to the PS4. That way all you have to do is disconnect a hard drive from the relevant option and choose any of the other drives connected to the system.
To my surprise, I cannot find an equivalent option on the PS5. If I connect three external drives to the relevant ports (USB-C front, USB 3.1 at the back), the system will (seemingly randomly) pick one of the three and recognize it as an external drive. To get the PS5 to 'see' another drive, I not only have to disconnected it from the relevant software/system option, but also physically reach and remove all the devices but the one I want the PS5 to be connected to. It is needlessly arbitrary and surprisingly a huge backwards step over the previous implementation.
Is there something I am missing? Has this option be relocated to another menu option or described in another way? I searched through all relevant menu options but could not find it. As someone who has a vast library of PS4 games, some from PS Plus and some purchased, it is imperative that I am able to have all drives connected. I understand that only one drive will be 'accessible' at any one time, and that's consistent with PS4. But being forced to physically unplug a drive, and plug another - this is not consistent. This is in fact hugely inconvenient and I am so surprised Sony would go to such lengths to make the user experience even worse when it comes to external drives, knowing full well that the 685GB of internal memory is simply insufficient. Why not simply keep things at least on par with PS4?
Please tell me there is a way to do this that I am overlooking!
However, on PS4 there is an option under Settings -> Devices -> USB Storage Devices that allows you to 'choose' from an external hard drive connected to the PS4. That way all you have to do is disconnect a hard drive from the relevant option and choose any of the other drives connected to the system.
To my surprise, I cannot find an equivalent option on the PS5. If I connect three external drives to the relevant ports (USB-C front, USB 3.1 at the back), the system will (seemingly randomly) pick one of the three and recognize it as an external drive. To get the PS5 to 'see' another drive, I not only have to disconnected it from the relevant software/system option, but also physically reach and remove all the devices but the one I want the PS5 to be connected to. It is needlessly arbitrary and surprisingly a huge backwards step over the previous implementation.
Is there something I am missing? Has this option be relocated to another menu option or described in another way? I searched through all relevant menu options but could not find it. As someone who has a vast library of PS4 games, some from PS Plus and some purchased, it is imperative that I am able to have all drives connected. I understand that only one drive will be 'accessible' at any one time, and that's consistent with PS4. But being forced to physically unplug a drive, and plug another - this is not consistent. This is in fact hugely inconvenient and I am so surprised Sony would go to such lengths to make the user experience even worse when it comes to external drives, knowing full well that the 685GB of internal memory is simply insufficient. Why not simply keep things at least on par with PS4?
Please tell me there is a way to do this that I am overlooking!