Deactivate Your Primary Console
When you first set up your PS4, whenever you bought it, you’ll have been asked if you wanted to activate the system as your Primary Console. While you were right to do exactly that at the time, it’s important to deactivate this before moving onto a new system, be it a Pro or just a Slim. Activating a system as your primary console allows any other account on the PS4 to use apps you purchase from the PlayStation Store, enjoy the benefits of your PlayStation Plus subscription, and a few other bits and pieces. Essentially, it allows you to share all your content with any other user on the system. However, you can only activate one system as your primary console.
Therefore, before you head out to pick up your Pro, it’s important to deactivate your old PS4, whatever you decide to do with it. It’ll save you a lot of headaches in the long run. If you’re planning to do the system data transfer, however, you won’t have to worry about this as the process will ask you which one you want to make your primary system.
Storage Sorting
This one only really applies to those users who will be transferring data from their old system to the PS4 Pro. There’s no limit to the amount of data you can transfer through the process, but the more data you have the longer it’s going to take. Unless you enjoy putting yourself through unnecessarily lengthy transfer processes, it’s worthwhile going through the games, apps, and other data you have on your PS4 and seeing if you can delete anything to reduce the transfer time.
Any games you have physical copies for may be worth removing from your hard drive and reinstalling directly onto your PS4 Pro, as these often take a matter of seconds install from the disc. Also, clearing out screenshots and video clips is worth trying as well. Your PS4 will automatically take a number of screenshots when you earn trophies and these can quickly eat up a good few GBs on your hard drive. It may only save you 15 minutes off the transfer process, but that’s 15 extra minutes of experiencing the power of your shiny new system.
Check Your Saves
For those of you who may be trading your old PS4 in for the Pro at your local retailer, you’ll want to ensure that all of your game saves make it over safe and sound onto your PS4 Pro. This should be a completely stress-free process as long as the right settings are enabled, but it’s worth checking before it’s too late and you lose all of those hours of progress.
All you want to do is jump into the Application Saved Data Management option on your PS4 and ensure that any game saves you have on your system are already selected to be uploaded to Online Storage. You can check this by selecting the Auto-Upload option and seeing what games are listed here. If you need to upload other titles, simply go to the Saved Data in System Storage and select the saves you want uploading.
Transfer/ Format
Whatever the fate of your old PS4 system, you’ll want to ensure that any personal and private information is removed before it goes to a new home or is stashed away at the back of a cupboard. Though the transfer process will remove this information from your old system and put it onto the new system, it’s always worth just giving it another format to ensure everything is well and truly deleted before you sell it on or put it away for good.
To format your PS4 and return it to factory settings, all you need to do is jump into the system settings and head down to the Initialization option at the very bottom. Select this and then select the Restore Default Settings option. This will then remove everything from the hard drive of your PS4 and return it to the state it was in when you first plugged it in.
Even if you intend to keep it for a little while, formatting it now can prevent you from accidentally forgetting about it in the future before you sell it to someone else. It may seem like an insignificant and overly cautious step, but it’s better than running the risk, right?
Admire the Views and Bid Farewell
Before you finally power down your old PS4 for the last time, pop in your favorite game and enjoy the beautiful views that it’s capable of outputting. Reflect on the glorious times you’ve shared together, and the tears shed on your DualShock 4 over that painfully annoying Dark Souls III boss. Not only will going back to your fondest experiences on your PS4 right before moving up to the PS4 Pro make the graphical updates more apparent, but it’s a fun way to bid farewell to the system before you part ways forever… or it becomes the newest decoration at the back of your closet.
Are you upgrading to the PS4 Pro this week or are you waiting until a later date? Let us know down in the comments below.
Published: Nov 8, 2016 02:33 pm