Can You Swap PS5 Slim Disc Drives?

[@CannonKnight]

Taking an original OEM part and having it work in a different identical device? The execs at Apple just had collective heart attacks.

[@Tronicsfix]

Lol, probably

[@JoshuaRamsey765]

@@nooffense911 Great argument (sarcasm)

[@bornlivedie]

@@nooffense911 oh wow... it hurts so much, don't it?

[@tomvleeuwen]

@@nooffense911Nobody mentioned Android before you did, so there must be something about the argument that made you think about Android. Admit it, you secretly love Android.

[@johncarnege]

@@nooffense911Apple is a company that deserves to be bankrupt. If you are watching a repair channel you should know why.

[@HopeRises]

I love that they considered this. The fact that you can register multiple PS5 with one disc drive means a lot for repairablity of the slim version.

[@Tronicsfix]

Yes, agreed. Really glad they did this.

[@MathiasVen]

​@@Tronicsfixalso its good for the used parts market, or if your PS5 dies in an unrepairable state. So you just need to buy a diskless one.

[@TheAmazingSpiderGuy_99]

That’s all well and good until the day comes where you can’t connect to the servers that allow the disc drive to work. This is great for short term repairs but long-term it’s terrible that it requires internet.

[@KaizAmari]

@@TheAmazingSpiderGuy_99 its 2023 and almost near to 2024,..in what world do you living in a place where there is a thing called internet

[@thisisabsurd7420]

@@KaizAmari it's not about the internet, it's about Sony continuing to run and support the authentication servers after it's stopped selling the PS5s entirely after PS6-7-8 are available and supported instead.

[@RevealingRazor]

I really appreciate videos like this. Repairability was always a concern when they said you had to register the disc drive.

[@Tronicsfix]

Yes, exactly

[@TechNPhotoEnthusiast]

I love this. Not only does it make repairability better, but that also means you can lend your disc drive out with a game to your friends without causing any issue. Love how easy it is to install/remove the disc drive too.

[@jokeletsplay]

i fully expected that you have to reregister the drive after every swap, to see it just work on a ps5 that has already registered the drive is awesome imo. nice to see that sony made this so easy

[@richards7909]

Other interesting tests: - With the drive removed, factory reset, log in with PSN, then install the drive with no internet access. - Add a second PSN account with the drive removed, remove the first PSN account and then install the drive.

[@TheCod3r]

This is great news! Im wondering what's different about the drive and whether we woll ever be able to marry new disc drives on the old consoles

[@Tronicsfix]

Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with this. I wish they didn’t make you register it online but I’m glad it doesn’t pair it to the board when you register

[@TheCod3r]

@@Tronicsfix that's definitely a win in itself I guess. I'll be doing some of my own tests soon 😁

[@grimreaper-dp6ly]

Nice and informative video. Sony did a smart move on this,because you can just buy another drive and replace it without any problems. Even replacing or upgrading a SSD is super easy,they built this components like LEGO. Your videos are amazing and super interesting to watch,continue with good work!

[@ppproductions6495]

Thats actually very useful I'm surprised PlayStation is allowing console repairs

[@Tronicsfix]

Yes, I’m also surprised by that

[@michealfunickrr3717]

repair what? games these days don't benefit one bit from disk based mods. what are you going to do mod a cosmetic costume preorder bonus? there's paid shills encouraging people to buy failed games. you got what you guys wanted. new firmware. live that down.

[@jacktayloor]

Until now... Sony: thanks you brought this to our attention🤭

[@Soraviel]

@@michealfunickrr3717 true

[@JackLackSack]

​@@michealfunickrr3717? If the console disk drive gets broken.

[@hawkfeather6802]

That's good to see. Makes it a lot easier to replace a broken one

[@StealthyJim]

This is great news. Thanks for testing it out and clarifying. I know people were concerned about this when we learned about the registration requirement.

[@chamamemestre]

This is great news! I wonder why no one is talking about this from all those other KZbin channels. Thank you for your service.

[@BozQ]

If it remains this way, then it is excellent news! Thank you for testing this!

[@midnitejmpr9429]

Happy to see they made it an easy and very user friendly repair.

[@cedarstuff]

Did you miss the part that relied on having to contact the server to register the drive? This is anti-consumer nonsense.

[@x0Fang0x]

@@cedarstuff So the Xbox is anti-consumer because it has to connect to the server on first start-up?

[@cedarstuff]

@@x0Fang0x Yes.

[@Maverick_Jones45]

It may sound Repair Freindly at first glance but the truth is; u literally need internet to pair the disc drive with ur console meaning that when sony decides to pull the plug on the PS5 servers the PS5 slim becomes E waste and thats sth that we as repair enthusiasts don't want to see happening

[@waynemyatt8262]

@@cedarstuffthen all the current systems are anti-consumer because you have to use the internet to download any updates for software even if it’s physical

[@rockaholictom]

This is gonna be great for the second hand market. It makes it so much better that you won't have to dive into the settings if you get one for cheaper a few years down the line.

[@adamconcepcion79]

This is awesome. I always worry about my disc drive failing me. And I don't have confidence in trying a repair myself. But seeing how easy the ps5 makes it. I will consider this model over a digital one now.

[@lbdjthethird1240]

Saturday night TronicsFix fix? I'm game. Love your work, bruh.

[@Longplay_Games]

That's excellent news for repairs , happy to see. Hope it's "working as intended" not a bug.

[@SolidSonicTH]

I think the reason this works is because the relationship between drive and console is only one direction (the console must be authorized by Sony's servers to be allowed to use the disc drive that's attached to it, which happens after the console authenticates the drive as legit and unmodified). The drive isn't doing anything on its end that ties it to the console it's connected to so when it leaves that system and goes to a different one the other console is simply treating it as a new relationship and they can maintain multiple known drives. Anytime an unfamiliar drive is attached it generates a new authentication request and as long as the drive passes the console's firmware inspection then any request for an authentication token from Sony is approved, even if it wasn't that particular drive's first attachment.

[@RIOT_8K]

*I truly love your videos so much i spend a lot of time watchin’ it even if i am not going to fix or solve anything just for exploring and more knowledge of the PS5 problems, fan from Egypt 🇪🇬 ❤️‍🔥*

[@PurpleSanz]

What? Some TronicsFix? At this hour in the middle of the night? HELL, YEAH!!! 🤘😎

[@Tronicsfix]

Lol, I wanted to get this one out there. I’ll be doing a repairability review too but that’ll be longer.

[@Hortonscakes]

Woah it's not Friday! You're messing with us in a good way! 🖖🖖🖖

[@streetDAOC]

Two videos in a day?! I love it!!!

[@spongebob148]

Thank you, for making this in depth video. It answered all my questions.

[@mr.charchar]

I love these types of tests, without you I wouldn’t ever know what happened if you swap them👍

[@acsniffer]

I'm wondering if you can use disc drives from different regions 🤔 Yes I know games are region free. . But for those who still use Blu-Ray movies, can you install a US Region A disc drive on a UK machine (which would be a Region B drive) and it will still work?

[@Tronicsfix]

I would think so but I didn’t test that

[@sleepykirbo6392]

I think region lock is implemented in the console itself, I might be awfully wrong but that's just my 2 cents

[@netako]

4K Blu-rays are actually region free for the most part, only HD Blu-rays are region locked.

[@acsniffer]

@@netako I was thinking more standard Blu-rays and even DVD's. For the people that collect movies/Series from around the world. Was just a curiosity if the PS5 Slim would be region locked to only work with a drive from your region, or if it will work with a drive from a different country 🤔

[@waynerice4918]

What would be really interesting would be to see if you can take out a disc drive from playstation 5 and add to a playstation 5 Pro. Thanks for a great video.

[@BoolXor]

The Issue isn't swapping so much as it is when the service inevitably ends and you can't re-register the drive with another console making the drive functionally dead without PSN service to register it.

[@bern9642]

That isn't gonna happen.. Sony will definitely patch that out way before that happens. They did with the PS4 and the replacing of the CMOS battery. And even with that, you can still connect to update firmware. Additionally, even though the Wii shop died ages ago, you can still redownload Wii games you bought. And even if your worst nightmare comes to pass let's say 50 years from now, the PS5 would have been cracked by then.

[@SilentHillFetishist]

@@bern9642 The only person who ran Cydia gave up (and the prirate repositories).

[@f3rns]

Steve solving the mysteries of the universe one at a time. 💪🏻

[@t12121]

I wonder if it would make a difference if you waited like a week or a month and then tried switching the drives.

[@GmkSuperstars]

This is so nice so consumer friendly

[@MIForrestguy]

Nice job. Keep doing these repairs for us hobbyists. 😎

[@AyOGroupVe]

Nice information. Thanks Steve.

[@austinborton8693]

As someone whose been repairing consoles for 15+ years this made me really happy.

[@Ubermensch_Salazar]

Thank you for this videos, i was curious about this topic. Glad that they allowed some flexibility on this matter.

[@snowbofr3ak]

Love your videos man!

[@Tronicsfix]

Hey thanks!

[@sehaamluhar9892]

thx for your last vid, really came in handy Thx for this and all of your other great content! keep up the good work🎉

[@galvinpro]

Damn that's really cool. Thanks TronicsFix

[@sg-hu5xq]

Great job. A lot of folks are spreading misinformation on this. Sony is the only company that does this for the benefit of its consumers.

[@ChrisPractices]

As long as the servers are online it works. But what about it becomes a vintage console in 15 years or the servers go offline?

[@Tronicsfix]

Yeah, that’s definitely not ideal

[@YigitCanAydinSS]

Will probably get a last update to make it run on any console. Can't guarantee

[@KaizAmari]

Maybe sony release a firmware that bypass this security check when the console is at the end of life or something,..remember that CBOMB issues on ps4 before ? They release a software update to fix that

[@treytavares1727]

That would be funny, can't play physical games and digital games won't be available to download. It would literally become a useless device.

[@bagos13GR]

@@treytavares1727 i guess we will require modders to step up and save us.

[@leo000730]

thank you for testing it!

[@DjPsYcOtIc]

Thank you very much! Respect from England.

[@OldMan_PJ]

This was exactly what I wanted to know, thank you!

[@HeiLangXiaoDuo]

I also wanted an answer for this question, thank you for trying it out ❤

[@maxhiggins6270]

So there is some benefit to this. If you bought multiple digital consoles for your house and only one disc drive, you can move it as needed. That seems somewhat useful.

[@channelvalitug9086]

Thanks for putting an effort on this.

[@richardbriansmith8562]

Awesome Video TronicsFix🙂

[@DaveYouTube-qr8ct]

had seen different stories saying invey registered it couldn't be unregistered or shared. so good to know thats not the case

[@m-dlg9272]

Registering the disc drive is basically just a simple handshake. That allows the Ps5 system to recognise if you attach the actual disc drive rather than attaching a pirated one made my third party companies. I’m just glad its a one time register.

[@oze-bikes4life663]

I hope it works the same way for the PS5 Pro ? I would love to see that same test on the Pro in a future video. Great Info, Thankyou 👌🙏

[@Sbrillo43]

so, the registration is only on your local console and if you do a factory reset you can choose to cancel the disc drive registration or not and this is bad for preservation. In fact, if in the future, when ps5 will be discontinued and Sony will shuts down ps5 server, could be not possible activate disc drive. But this is a future problem

[@1234luf]

This video needs to be updated for the PS5 Pro?

[@fourthburrito4579]

@@1234luf why would it be any different?

[@1234luf]

@@fourthburrito4579 It would be good to know if it is verified to also works swapping from pro to non pro.

[@itsyaboivoid]

Nice, really wonder if sony will patch this 🤔 Still surprising tho because blocking it from registering with another ps5 would be the first idea sony would think of 😂

[@Tronicsfix]

Yep, I feel like they might. Hopefully not

[@chavawinnie1]

Maybe they allow it for the people that own more than one system.

[@itsyaboivoid]

@@chavawinnie1 For sure

[@MathiasVen]

​@@chavawinnie1we can just hope it.

[@marcoschincaglia]

They will likely set a max number of consoles you can register the disk drive to.

[@Keanine]

I still think its ridiculous you have to register it in the first place, but the system is definitely a lot more user-friendly than I expected

[@norbertnagy4468]

I was waiting for this since this thing got announced, mostly for the second hand market

[@theFrizzleFry]

That Unregister option, made me nervous at first. Because if that was the only option to move a drive to another system, that would have been very dumb. After all you wanna make sure that you can reuse a drive of a ps5 where the mainboard has died. Glad it does work after all.

[@outofstockgarage]

Here pretty early, started watching from the psvita content

[@DRainbowNeos]

3:14 Or how many disc drives can a PS5 be registered with.

[@Tronicsfix]

I’m not sure. Send me 10 PS5’s and I’ll test that, lol

[@TurboBass]

The fact that we need to test this says a lot about the state of consumer technology. Sony is really thinking ahead about this one.

[@typicalthrill]

"Unfortunately I only have two..." Such a great line

[@jralrazaz2828]

Many thanks for the info, keep it up 👍

[@esautrash]

I was undecided on what ps5 to choose, either the original ps5 or the ps5 slim, watching this I think I'll buy the slim one when I finish saving up, unless they find major problems. Either way I already made my mind, slim it is.

[@Diego-zxbnm]

Thank you for taking these tests👏👏🇧🇷

[@elwingy]

PERFECT! Time to steal my friends disc drive while he sleeps! Many thanks for the video!

[@TheSkaldenmettrunk]

Wow! This is really really nice!

[@busterscrugs]

Has this changed since the video released? People are complaining that Sony isn’t going to allow them to take their Slim Disc Edition drives and install them on their PS5 Pro.

[@steven-i6j]

so a disc drive once registered is not bound to that ps5 forever. so if your ps5 slim break's you can take off the disc drive get a digital and put that disc drive on the new digital ps5 slim.

[@Tronicsfix]

Yep, seems to be that way, at least for now

[@brynx24]

been 4 years and I finally decided to start saving for a ps5 😂 since my parents want me to learn to get my stuff the hard way but I still enjoy this video

[@microsoftguy3324]

you need to perform one more test. register a drive to the ps5. register a second drive to that same ps5. Then put the original drive back on the same ps5 and see if it still works. It appears that the information is saved to the ps5 and not to the drive. So, multiple ps5 consoles can have the same drive. but can a single console have multiple drives registered to it?

[@spudeedeelweiss]

now I get why the disc drive needs to be registered online.. because the latest jailbreak or hacking of PS5 came to a bug exploit in the BD-Drive.. so Sony's answer to prevent furthermore hacking is to force your console registering online by updating the firmware so you can update your disc drive.. this video is so helpful that swapping BD-drive will trigger the console to go online again so it can patched up any potential exploits

[@shona-sof]

very nice! This really put a lot of people's worries to rest. But now the question becomes 'What's the point of registering it?!?!?'

[@BowsettesFury]

Wow I didn’t expect that 😮

[@Mystikk666]

So apparently the drive isn't locked or bonded to the console but it's only the PS5 that stores registration info. You can (so it seems) attach a given drive to multiple PS5s and those only have to register it once when first connected. Afterwards the console will remember and recognize a drive that had already been connected to it.

[@CagedPhoenixThe1st]

I've heard you have to connect to the Internet once a month for it to continuously work ? Trying to be informed as possible before even thinking about that nonsense PlayStation is doing with the pro...

[@DeathNSmallDoses]

So for large families who you want to get more than once console for could potentially just get one optical drive PS5 and then purchase digital version for other members of the family saving a little bit of cash but have ability if needed to read any disk based games thats pretty cool hopefully something like this carries over to next gen for all manufacturers

[@Warrior_Resisting_Colonialism]

You're saying families are buying MULTIPLE several hundred dollar game consoles now? My god, I had to work to buy my own Atari 2600 and Nintendo (nes) lol. Now your claiming some are buying even more than one, much more expensive systems for the kids? Amazing.

[@DeathNSmallDoses]

@@Warrior_Resisting_Colonialism not me personally, but I do know couple families who would buy more than 1 console for there household.

[@exclusiveaccess85]

Thanks for the interesting info man you have a great channel

[@MRomano127]

Thanks for helping me with this. I'm considering upgrading to PS5 Pro, but I don't want to buy the disc drive again because I have the PS5 Slim with the disc drive. Thank you

[@devilmikey00]

Color me surprised. When I heard you had to connect online I thought for sure that was going to lock your disc drive to that PS5 forever and essentially mean it would be landfill material if the PS5 ever broke. I won't got as far as to praise them since this is how it SHOULD be.

[@suneben5526]

Concise! Respect.

[@flekkzo]

I wonder if by registering they mean “make the OS aware it’s there” (good), or “register it on their servers with a bunch of serial numbers and silliness” (bad). Just making them swappable is a benefit to Sony. There’s very little to try to gain from anything and the goodwill is big and helpful.

[@humphreybogart2094]

They're just trying to prevent other companies to sell off brand disc drives.

[@a.i.privilege1233]

Good to know!

[@Dannythegreat93]

But can you go the other way? remove a disc drive from a slim and turn that console into the digital one?

[@LKBRICKS1993]

Great video very interesting

[@asmodeusml]

Yeah, that is a very serious issue, potentially. I know Sony isn't going anywhere for now, but who knows what happens in the future and relying on server check to use such a basic feature as a disc drive seems like a really disappointing decision.

[@Eyes-Scream0213]

Yes that's what I'm thinking too. What if the servers are not anymore registering disc drives? Does it mean it will become an e-waste in the future?

[@wolfman210]

Considering how reliant on servers games in general are now I think you have much bigger issues if you're worried about a modern console's usability decades from now.

[@skip485]

@@wolfman210 I hardly play any games that are online only and generally such games unfortunately die in obscurity eventually

[@bern9642]

​@@skip485except it's not a game. You can still redownload your Wii games even today. For a console that will likely sell 100 million, that server is gonna be up even 20 years from now, probably forever. And they will patch that out when the PS5 lifespan ends like they did with the PS4's CMOS battery replacement situation. Additionally, the PS5 console would be cracked in the future.

[@lookitskazzy]

Sure was a lot of concern trolling going on on social media about this. Looks like most of their claims weren't true. Thanks for testing this!

[@higlakol]

Love the music

[@mrkrabsx8669]

I don't understand... My PS5 didn't ask to register the bluray drive during the first startup. Is it only for slims ?

[@Tronicsfix]

Yes, only Slims

[@CarsandCats]

So, if you had a driveless Slim, you could borrow your friend's drive and use it and when you give it back, he just pop's it in like nothing has changed. Brilliant!

[@ParnaAshoy]

it seems internet connection needed for downloading the driver. Not a DRM checking as many youtuber suggested

[@Tronicsfix]

Yeah, might be. The disc drive doesn’t even have power until you register it.

[@gene_takavic57]

Nice experimental video.

[@Tronicsfix]

Thanks.

[@Aaron-zl5gq]

It boggles my mind that more people complained about the disk drive needing to activate once and barely no was talking about how huge of a right to repair move this is for the console.

[@EDOD_EseDelOtroDia]

I noticed. But I don't know how to interpret it yet.

[@klopferator]

It is now, but what about ten, fifteen years down the line when the activation servers no longer exist?

[@oz5150]

If you can register mutiple disk drives to a single ps5 slim console, means you can hold on to 1 extra drive or mutiple and never have to use their servers because you have a few drives on hand. Sure 80 dollars x2 or x3 is pricy. But for those that are afraid of losing physical games its an investment.

[@Kenny4AG]

What a legend thx for doing this

[@tunaphis1362]

Just got home and installed WRC 23 without the internet, Didn't ask to pair, Just read the disc and installed the game. Most likely tomorrow it will require pairing when connected online.

[@B-U-T-C-H-E-R]

I actually hope this is how all PlayStations are designed going forward. Disc drives are a common part to fail, and this really makes that a non issue. Not to mention,if you're short on funds for a pro or PS6,you just buy the digital, and get your disc drive as you can later. Great design in my opinion, because i don't see physical going away completely. I mean we still have CDs and Blu-ray, games are collected even more than those combined

[@flacmaniaflacmania3482]

Please do a test if after you have registered the reader and created a recovery format by installing the same firmware, you will be asked to register the reader again.

[@CooLDEaFY4204Me]

Great video

[@jimmycarpenter6612]

I'm glad you can hook it to multiple consoles. I just wish the network connection wasn't necessary. I know it's only a minor inconvenience now, but it could be an issue in the future when the system is no longer supported. I just find it unnecessary as it's something that was completely doable without the connection.

[@yamisniper]

they can patch that out before that happens

[@brooklyn5754]

Great video thanks for the info..

[@burgermeyer]

Wait... so If I understand correctly, resetting the console unregisters the drive and makes it unusable until its re registered via online connection? I see this as a very bad thing long term. Eventually Sony will shutdown the update servers and then you wont be able to reset your console without bricking its drive functionality. Granted that's probably a long way off.