Delete ‘hidden’ PS5 files silently stealing all of your console’s game storage – free instant upgrade takes seconds
YOUR PlayStation console might be loaded up with content you don’t need – and didn’t know was there.
Scrubbing it only takes a few seconds and can free up a significant amount of storage.
Video games can weigh in at hundreds of gigabytes of storage.
And your 825GB PlayStation 5 only has 667.2GB of usable storage.
Even on the 1TB model, you’ll end up with about 842.2GB of storage – so you may sometimes have to delete games to install new ones.
But hidden on your PS5 is a default setting that is slowly but steadily gobbling up your precious storage space.
It’s part of the Trophy system, which awards you with achievements for completing certain tasks in games.
Some gamers may not realize that when you earn a Trophy, your PlayStation automatically captures footage.
It’ll take a 15-second video in hi-res 4K quality, and even snap a screenshot.
That won’t matter much if you’ve only just got a PS5.
But even casual gamers will have racked up some serious footage if you’ve had a PS5 for a couple of years.
And even if you’ve only just bought your console, it’s better to tackle the problem early.
Decide if you really want all of those Trophy videos – and if you don’t, change your settings.
Just go to Settings > Captures and Broadcasts > Auto-Captures > Trophies.
Then simply uncheck the Save Trophy Videos tickbox.
Now you’ll need to go into your media files and delete any of the Trophy videos that you no longer want – chances are, it’s most or all of them.
You may find you end up saving huge amounts of storage space by doing this.
Other tricks to save PS5 storage
Consider deleting Astro’s Playroom.
It comes installed as standard on every PS5 and is a fantastic title.
The game is designed to showcase the clever features built into the PS5’s DualSense controller.
But if you’ve already played it – or have no plans to – then just wipe it from your console.
You’ll instantly free up around 11GB of storage space.
And you can always redownload it if you change your mind later.
A second trick is customizing your game downloads.
Some games – take certain Call of Duty titles – come in chunks.
So you can split off sections of the game and keep them uninstalled, retaining only what you want to play.
Sony explains: “Your PS5 console monitors how much storage space is used by your games, media content, and saved data.
“When a game has Customize next to its title, you can select and manage portions of the game data.
“For example, if there are add-ons you don’t use or parts of a game that you’ve already finished, you can delete the data and still play the rest of the game.”