How to Move Save Data from PlayStation Plus Cloud Storage

by Rian

The title of this post is rather wordy than it should be. If you are planning to subscribe to PlayStation Plus in another account for myriad of reasons, this is the process you want it done BEFORE the subscription runs out. The emphasis is well-deserved, as you would lose access to your cloud storage immediately after the subscription runs out, and Sony doesn’t offer read-only access to the expired storage. (note: save datas on the cloud is stored for up to 6 months, though anecdotally users have reported it’s often longer than that)

Let’s prepare how it’s going to be done. Let us assume there are two accounts: Alice and Bob. Alice’s account had subscription that is expiring soon, and the plan is to move the subscription to Bob’s. It could be for any reasons: they may have moved to different region, they may have had changes in the household, and etc. And as far as I am aware, this is how majority of household subscriptions work —one account with active billing. But the console doesn’t make it obvious what the player will lose access to the moment PlayStation Plus runs out. If you had automatic backup to cloud enabled with any other devices in the past (e.g. PlayStation 4, OG PlayStation 5, etc.), there is a chance not all save data is not present on the physical console. Also, if you are planning for an upgrade, now’s a good time to prepare for that as well.

I am writing this under the assumption you are playing on PS5. PS4 would follow similar setup, —I can’t recall how it’s done from my memory— but there will be one less step. From PS5’s menu bar, not the Control Center, under Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings, download save datas from cloud storage for PS4 and PS5 individually. Do be mindful of the fact that you cannot download all save datas for all generations at once. Also, downloading the save data manually will disable automatic backup, and you cannot upload the saves to the cloud storage if the save was made by another account (e.g. Bob’s new subscription won’t let Alice’s saves to be uploaded). Downloading all that save data could take some time even with the fastest connection.

Now is also the good time to create a backup of your save data to save it somewhere else, since they are all living on the same machine. Oddly enough, PS5 doesn’t let users to simply copy the save datas over in the same menu we were dealing with. That option lives under Settings > System > System Software > Backup and Restore. You can manually create a backup where there are only the game or app save datas, so fret not about the external storage. But you might want to consider using a proper external SSD, not any random thumb drive like I did. In my case, with screenshots and recording included, it took roughly 80+ minutes to copy about 75GB of data. Having your PS5 blasting main menu music for about an hour and a half was a harrowing experience.

Once it’s all done, you are ready to subscribe to PlayStation Plus under the new account, or Bob’s account in our story. You can access all the multiplayer features in both accounts, so long as both account are on the same primary console. This is Sony’s speak for, if this is your main device, you may share the library with anyone who has access to it. Again, the caveat is that the save data is not shared. So if Bob was playing Elden Ring under Alice’s account, when Bob launches the game on his account, the game won’t load any saves. Same goes true for cloud storage; with Bob’s new subscription, Bob’s save datas are the only ones that will be automatically backed up to the cloud.