Should I Quick or Full Initialize My PS4?

As an avid PS4 gamer and content creator, I get asked this question a lot when talking about best practices for resetting your console. And my answer is always the same – you should fully initialize your PS4 when you‘re looking to sell, gift or trade-in your console.

What Does Initializing a PS4 Do?

Initializing your PS4 essentially factory resets it to its original out-of-the-box state. By initializing, you‘re wiping all user data, installed games and apps, settings, saved files – everything. It‘s a complete fresh start.

There are two options when initializing a PS4 – Quick and Full:

Quick Initialization

• Signs out all activated user accounts on PS4
• Deletes all user information and saved data
• Games and apps are NOT deleted

Full Initialization

• Completely resets PS4 system to factory default settings
• Deletes ALL data, users, installed games, settings, etc.

As you can see, the Full option is much more thorough in wiping the PS4 system.

Should You Use Quick or Full Initialization?

Based on my experience factory resetting over a dozen PS4s, I always recommend using the Full Initialization option.

Here‘s why:

1. Fully protect your personal data and privacy

When you quick initialize, some data still remains on the system storage that could be recovered. And you don‘t want that personal info ending up in the wrong hands.

By fully initializing your PS4, you can rest assured knowing all your data, accounts, and history is completely erased. No risk of data theft or privacy invasion.

2. Avoid banned or bricked consoles from previous owners

There‘s always a risk buying used consoles that they were banned, hacked, or damaged by previous owners. And quick initializing does not reset everything.

Doing a full factory reset minimizes your risk of inheriting a console with issues from whoever owned it before. You‘re essentially starting fresh out of the box.

3. Resolve persistent software issues

If you‘re experiencing crashes, bugs, or general performance issues with your PS4, trying a full initialize can potentially fix software corruption that a quick reset does not address.

Wiping everything gives the system a clean slate to work from, often resolving pesky software glitches.

4. Higher trade-in value

When trading in your PS4 to retailers like GameStop, a fully reset console will get you significantly more credit than one that still has data or isn‘t properly wiped.

By fully initializing, you demonstrate the system has been restored to original settings without any user bloat or issues.

Let‘s compare the numbers:

As you can see, fully resetting your console before trading it in can mean an extra $20-40 in value. Not too shabby!

The numbers speak for themselves – always choose the Full option when initializing your PS4.

What to Do Before Initializing Your PS4

While fully initializing your PS4 is recommended, you don‘t want to lose important save files or game progress in the process.

Follow these pre-initialization steps:

1. Backup your game saves

For any single player games or local multi-player games where you want to keep your progress, be sure to backup those save files first!

You have two options for this:

• Copy saves to a USB drive
• Upload saves to PlayStation Plus cloud storage

Check out Sony‘s guide for full instructions on backing up your game saves.

2. Log out of all accounts

Before initializing, sign into your PS4 with each activated user account and log out properly.

This deactivates the console for those accounts so you don‘t have to manually deactivate anywhere else later.

3. Delete sensitive screenshots or videos

Quickly scroll through your capture gallery and media player to remove any personal photos, videos or sensitive recordings you wouldn‘t want someone else seeing. Initialization will wipe this data, but better safe than sorry.

Once you‘ve secured your saves and logged out of accounts, you‘re ready to fully initialize!

Step-By-Step Guide to Initializing Your PS4

Here are the quick easy steps to factory reset your PS4:

1. Power on your PS4 and enter the Settings menu

From the dashboard, go to:

Settings > Initialization > Initialize PS4

2. Select Full Initialization

This will factory reset everything back to a brand new system state.

3. Confirm selection

Read the warning prompts carefully and then confirm your choice to fully initialize.

4. Wait for initialization process to complete

The initialization will now run its course – this can take anywhere from 5 minutes up to an hour depending on your PS4 model and HDD.

Do NOT interrupt initialization process or power down PS4. Wait for completion.

5. Reinstall PS4 system software

After initializing, your PS4 will need to reinstall the basic system software offline. Simply follow the on-screen prompts.

6. Sign in to PlayStation Network and redownload games

Finally, sign into your PSN account and redownload any games, apps, and saves from your backup you wish to keep!

Wrapping Up on PS4 Initialization

So in summary – I always fully initialize my PS4 when resetting for resale or trade-in. Protect your accounts, avoid previous owner issues, resolve bugs, and maximize trade value.

Just be sure to backup your saves first and then enjoy your fresh-out-of-the-box PS4! Have fun reliving those epic gaming memories all over again.

Let me know if this guide was helpful or if you have any other PS4 reset questions!