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To move your settings, save game files and even entire games from your PS5 to your PS5 Pro, you basically have three options — and each option has its own drawbacks. Thankfully, it is always possible to retain all your game progress when you’re switching from one console to another. We’ve gone through all three methods and can tell you which work best, which don’t seem to work at all, and how to transfer all your saved game data to the PS5 Pro.
This was a long process that took us almost a day, but hopefully you’ll have an easier time. Certain functions on the PS5 Pro aren’t working to their fullest potential quite yet — we’re hoping patches and other fixes get these underutilized features working as easily as they should. Some features that didn’t work for us might work for you, so here’s a full breakdown if you’re lost and confused. We’ll start with (what we think) is the easiest way to transfer Save Data.
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Transfer Save Data with PS Plus Subscription
The most surefire way to transfer your save data is with a Playstation Plus subscription. Once you have an active subscription — even the lowest tier subscription will work — you’ll be able to upload and download your save files to the Cloud Storage.
Purchase, renew or have an active PS Plus membership and you’ll be able to access the cloud feature.
- Go to the Save Data selection in the options menu to see your list of Save Data on your PS5 console. There should be an option at the top to “Upload” your data.
- Upload the data, then access the same menu on PS5 Pro. Choose to download your Save Data here.
Depending on how much save data you have, this could take a few minutes or a few dozen minutes. Save Data is relatively small compared to full games, but if you have a lot like use, it might take almost an hour of downloading. The Cloud Storage should have plenty of space for your Save Data.
Make sure to do a fresh upload so all your save data is current and choose to replace any Save Data already on the cloud. I recommend doing this before playing on your PS5 Pro console to avoid conflicting save files — but if you don’t have a PS Plus membership, you may want to try one of the other methods below.
- NOTE: Cloud Storage is only required for PS5 save files. PS4 save files on your PS5 can be transferred via USB HDD — PS4 saves are stored in a different location.
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Use Back Up & Restore
Before using the PS5 Pro to play games, you can use Back Up & Restore to transfer data and system settings from the PS5 to your new PS5 Pro.
- On PS5, go to Settings -> System -> Back Up and Restore.
- Select “Back Up Your PS5” — you’ll need a USB hard drive connected to your PS5 to download the save data and system settings.
- On PS5 Pro, go to Settings -> System -> Back Up and Restore, ad select “Restore” this time.
- Plug in the same USB hard drive you used earlier. This will perform a full system restore on the PS5 and delete any current save data, replacing it with the save data on the USB HDD.
This is a great method for first-time PS5 Pro users, but if you’ve been using the PS5 Pro to play games, you may want to find a different method. Using Restore will reset your system settings and replace all save data. This method also didn’t work for us. When attempting to use it on the PS5, the system locked up completely every time. Hopefully you have better luck.
Use Data Transfer
The Data Transfer function transfers everything from your PS5 to PS5 Pro: profile settings, save game data, console settings and any PS5 games installed on your system. Literally everything on the PS5 will transfer to the PS5 Pro.
Both consoles need to be on and connected to the same wifi network to perform a Data Transfer. Here’s how to get started.
- Check that the PS5 and PS5 Pro console are plugged in, turned on and connected to the same wifi network.
- On PS5 Pro, go to Settings -> System -> Data Transfer. Select Data Transfer to begin searching for your PS5 Console.
- A series of numbers and letters will appear — this is your PS5 console. Select it and the Data Transfer should begin.
This method fully downloads everything on your PS5, so it can take a very long time. If you have multiple terabytes of games downloaded on your PS5, you may want to delete them and redownload them separately instead of waiting for the full Data Transfer to complete.
Data Transfer also didn’t work for us at all. Every time we attempted to use this function; an error message would appear with no explanation and cancel the Data Transfer. The most reliable method for us was uploading save data to the cloud storage and downloading it again on the PS5 Pro. We’ve heard from other players with the same issues — and also PS5 Pro owners that got that Data Transfer function working, so you’ll definitely want to try these alternate methods first before plunking down $10 for PS Plus.
