New PS4 Accessory Will Let You Swap In Larger, Cheaper Hard Drives

Not too long ago, it would have been hard to imagine filling up a game console with more than 500GB of stuff, but many of us have already reached that point. At CES, Nyko announced the Data Bank for the PlayStation 4, which both replaces the internal drive and allows 3.5″ drives to qualify as internal storage. Basically, it means you can use larger and cheaper hard drives.

Assuming this press photo is close to the final product, what’s neat about the Data Bank is how it fits with the PS4 design. There’s even an LED that lights up when the hard drive’s memory is being accessed. No dangling cables to hide, no external drives to potentially become unplugged.

Though PS4 does technically “support” external hard drives, it cannot be used for game installations or save data, so the functionally is pretty limited. The Data Bank is potentially a nice middle ground, even though replacing the PS4’s internal drive really isn’t that hard

While Nyko is waiting on a patent, the Data Bank’s planned for the “first half” of 2015.

Nyko revealed a few other accessories at CES, but the Type Pad stands out. Am I the only person who fell in love with and used Xbox 360’s tiny keyboard add-on? I was actually sending messages to people! I never do that on the Xbox One or PS4, but maybe the Type Pad helps out.

The Type Pad is also set for the “first half” of 2015, but these devices don’t have prices yet.