PS4 Can’t Read USB? Try These Solutions Here

As to this issue, it always happens to the PlayStation 4 (PS4) which is a home video game console. Generally, a USB flash drive is used in PS4, for example, create a backup for some important PS4 files to avoid data loss in case of PS4 system failure, or transfer PS4 video files to a USB drive if you want to watch them in other places and more. When plugging a USB flash drive into your PS4, it is most likely the game console fails to read the USB.

To be specific, this issue contains two error messages:

“The USB storage device is not connected” or “The USB storage device cannot be used. The files system is not supported”, as shown below:

What if when PS4 can’t read USB? In fact, it is quite easy to fix this issue. Just try the following solutions according to the actual error message.

How to Fix PS4 Not Reading USB Drive

Case 1: PS4 USB Storage Device Not Connected

In PS4, if you have connected your USB to PS4 but not recognized, in all probability, it is due to the compatibility. To put it simply, PS4 is one new game console, thus, some old USB drives are not compatible with PS4. In this situation, you had better use one branded USB flash drive, such as SanDisk, Sony, Samsung, etc. Besides, the USB can’t be plugged into one PS4 port if the drive is too big. As to this situation, using USB 3.0 cable to connect the storage drive to PS4 is a good choice.

Case 2: PS4 USB Storage Device Cannot Be Used

When you receive this error message, you know PS4 fails to read USB due to the unsupported file system. In general, only exFAT and FAT32 are supported in PS4. If you use NTFS or another file system, PS4 will be not compatible with PS4, then PS4 not recognizing USB hard drive issue appears. How can you solve this issue? Two ways are useful here: convert USB drive to FAT32 or format USB to exFAT or FAT32. See the details below.

Way 1: Convert USB Flash Drive to FAT32 without Losing Data

To change your USB drive to FAT32 or exFAT will be a good option when PS4 can’t read USB. How to do this work? Under normal circumstances, formatting is selected firstly but some important files saved on one USB drive will be deleted. Well then, converting your drive to FAT32 without data loss by one third-party partition manager is the best solution.

 (Note: Almost all partition programs only supports converting disk to FAT32, not exFAT.)

MiniTool Partition Wizard, one professional and reliable partition magic, has won a great praise from the worldwide computer users. By means of it, you can easily convert the file system between NTFS and FAT32. Follow the following guidance now to know how to convert the drive from NTFS to FAT32.

Before you do:

1. Connect your USB flash drive on your computer.
2. Get MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Edition from its official website.

Step 1: Launch the MiniTool Partition Wizard on your computer. Then, select the USB partition, and choose “Convert NTFS to FAT” from the right-click menu.

Step 2: MiniTool Partition Wizard will go back to its main interface. Here, you can preview the file system of your USB drive shows FAT32. Then, you need to hit “Apply” to make this operation effective.

After the conversion from NTFS to FAT32, please plug your USB drive to PS4, then, you won’t face PS4 USB storage device cannot be used issue.

Way 2: Format USB to exFAT or FAT32

Suppose that no important files are stored on your USB drive. In this case, disk formatting is a good solution to PS4 not recognizing USB hard drive issue. Simply speaking, three format tools can be used to perform this operation.

• Via Disk Management

1. Run this free partition management tool by clicking “Win + R” and typing “MSC”.
2. Choose “Format” feature from the right-click menu.
3. Select FAt32 or exFAT as the new file system of the USB drive.

• Via Windows Explorer

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Right click on the USB drive, and click “Format”.
3. Choose one file system, FAT32 or exFAT for your PS4.

• By MiniTool Partition Wizard

The above two free tools have one obvious limit: the partition larger than 32GB cannot be formatted to FAT32. Under this circumstance, the third-party partition software should be recommended. Here, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is also useful for this job. Download the Free Edition of this software and install it on your computer.

Step 1: Launch this program, select the USB drive, then click “Format Partition” in the action panel.

Step 2: Choose FAT32 or exFAT from the file system list.

Step 3: Execute this operation by hitting the “Apply” button.

In this post, we show you some information about how to fix PS4 not reading USB drive issue in two cases. For more details about this issue, you can learn from this tutorial: PS4 Can’t Read USB Flash Drive, How Can I Fix It. By the conversion from NTFS to FAT32 without data loss or formatting the USB to FAT32/exFAT, the USB drive can be used in PS4 proper