How to Rebuild PS4 Database
Gaming How To Guide

How To Rebuild Database On PS4

Here’s a super quick guide on how to rebuild the database on the PS4. We’ll show you how to speed up your PS4 by rebuilding the internal database and you don’t need to be a tech wizard or complete computer nerd to do it.

With the PS5 having been released to mass hystera, it was extremely difficult to get a hold of. It was a tough decision many gamers faced, do you stick with the tried and tested PS4 or push the boat out and empty your bank account to buy the PS4? It was a simple choice for me, stick with the PS4, rebuild the database and enjoy hours or gaming!

For others, like me, who are going to stick with the current gen console we’ll need to ensure our PS4’s are fighting fit and ready for action. Once it’s rebuilt and you’re ready to play check out some awesome PS4 games you must play this year!

How To Rebuild Database On The PS4

To make sure your PS4 is working as efficiently as possible and fighting fit a database rebuild is often required. Once complete it’s almost like having a brand new console. The rebuild can and will help a hell of a lot to resolve some of those nagging crashes or unexpected reboots. But how? Well, we’re going to show you in this guide, continue to read below to find out how:

Before we get into the guide there is a quick warning you need to take note of when promoted with the options for fixing the PS4 database DO NOT CLICK ON INITIALIZE PS4. Doing so will wipe everything from your PS4 and you will essentially factory restore it. You will lose all of your game saves, personal data etc. You have been warned.

How To Rebuild Database On PS4

To make your PlayStation 4 run a lot faster you can do with the help of a Database Rebuild. If you are struggling with the performance of your PS4 such as the following:

  • Games Running Slow
  • Frequently Crashing
  • Powering Down
  • Stuttering Video Playback
  • Sound Out Of Sync

You can fix these issues quite easily by following the below steps to rebuilding the database:

Step 1:

Power off your PS4. You’ll need to make sure it’s shut down completely. Don’t use sleep mode, make sure it’s shut down only and nothing else.

Step 2:

Enter Safe Mode. To enter safe mode you’ll need to hold down the power button down until you hear two beeps in quick succession.

The two beeps help indicate that you have entered safe mode. If you don’t hear the two beeps, please repeat step two. You need to be sure you are in safe mode.

Once you’ve entered safe mode you’ll see the below screen:

Rebuild your PS4 Database to make it faster.
Rebuild your PS4 Database to make it faster.

Step 3:

Once you see the screen above you’ll need to connect your PS4 DualShock 4 controller using the front USB-A slot.

Step 4:

Once you’ve connected your controller using the cable you’ll see the safe mode menu. There are options! (DO NOT USE OPTION 6 or 7), you’ll need to use option 5 which is rebuild database.

Scroll down in the menu until you reach option 5, Rebuild Database and press the X button to start the rebuild.

Rebuild your PS4 Database to make it faster.
Rebuild your PS4 Database to make it faster.

Be Patient

The database rebuild may take some time to complete but it’s worth it for the performance improvements. The time it takes is entirely dependent on how much content you have on your hard drive. If it’s full it’ll be fairly slow and take upwards of 10 minutes.

If it’s nearly empty it’ll take no time at all, so you might want to think about deleting some old content such as screenshots and gaming clips from your drive.

Rebuild Corrupt PS4 Database [Video Summary]

A pictures worth a thousand words, well here’s a video! It’ll help give you a visual representation on how to rebuild your corrupt PS4 database.

Fragmentation

Defragging is the rearrangement of data on a computer hard drive so that as many files as possible are contiguously stored.

Mechanical hard drives benefit from the process because it eliminates the need to relocate the disk reader head when loading a single file. Contiguous files minimize the amount of time the hard drive spends seeking data, which improves load times for better performance.

Defragmenting also helps improve the hard drive’s lifespan. Solid state hard drives should not be defragmented as it wears them out and provides no performance benefits.

What the rebuilding does is de-fragment your hard drive. What this means is that it reorganizes your files a bit better so your system can find things quicker and easier thus, improving performance.

Database rebuilding is a really quick and simple task that should ideally be done every few months.

By doing a database rebuild every quarter means it will take less time each time you do it.

Whats the Risk

  • Power Loss
  • Hard Drive Crash

Power Loss

Your computer is relocating data on the hard drive by erasing it and rewriting it during a system defragmentation. If the computer loses power during a defragmentation process, it can leave parts of files incompletely erased or rewritten.

This causes the files to be corrupted and they may not be recoverable. If the corrupted file belongs to a program, this program may cease working altogether, which can be a huge problem if it belongs to your operating system. If an operating system file is corrupted, there’s a chance that you’ll have to reinstall the operating system to be able to use the computer again

Hard Drive Crash

In the traditional sense, a hard drive crash means that the reader head has physically crashed into the disk platter and broken the drive. Laptops are mobile and have a greater risk of being dropped, bumped or generally abused far more than traditional desktop computers.

Hard drive reader heads on laptops are set to dock themselves away from the disk platter whenever they detect turbulence, but it doesn’t always work fast enough to prevent a crash.

If the hard drive is bumped while the reader head is parked, there’s little damage risk; however, when a laptop is running a defragmentation, the head will be actively moving around and at a high crash risk from impact. You can minimize your chances of a hard drive crash while defragging by placing the laptop on a secure surface and refraining from moving it throughout the process

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