PS4 – Removing Disk While Game is Suspended

ps4

On a Playstation 4, if you suspend a game (either by going into Rest Mode or by starting up another service such as Netflix), what happens if you eject the disk?

Will the game remain suspended (such that if you insert the disk you may resume the game once again as if nothing happened) or will it be closed (as when the disk is ejected during play)?

If the game remains suspended, what then happens if you enter a new disk (perhaps on another user)? Can you play that other game and then resume the suspended game later?

I assume the game is closed upon disk ejection, but would like confirmation.

Best Answer

Based on 6 tests using a single game (Danganronpa V3), it appears that in most cases the game will be closed and you will lose any and all unsaved progress without any kind of warning or means of prevention.

The tests I've run:

  1. Launched the game, waited until I got past the intro movies, suspended the game by going back to the home screen, removed the disk, and tried to return to the game.

    The PS4 wouldn't let me resume unless I put the disk back in. After re-inserting the disk, the game launched as if it had been closed; I had to sit through the intro movies once more.

  2. Launched the game, loaded a previous save (to be safe), removed the disk with the game still running in the foreground.

    The PS4 immediately returned to the home screen. After re-inserting the disk and trying to resume the game, I realized the game had been closed yet again.

  3. (As requested by @BenMillwood) A repeat of test 1, but without trying to resume the game until after I re-inserted the disk (bypassing the error message as result).

    Same result as before: the game restarts.

  4. (Following @Wondercricket's comment) Using the option "Keep application suspended in Rest Mode", put the PS4 in Rest Mode with the game running, waited for PS4 to stop its fans, turn on PS4 by pressing the eject button (instead of the power button), re-insert the disk before the console fully booted.

    I could see the game's splash screen while the disk was spinning. The game then resumed exactly where I left it when I put the PS4 in Rest Mode.

  5. Same as test 4, but this time I'm waiting until the PS4 has fully booted before re-inserting the disk.

    The game restarted, just like it did in tests 1 through 3.

  6. One more test: I suspended the game, launched another app (namely: the PlayStation Store app), removed the disk, re-inserted the disk, returned to Home, and resumed the game.

    The game restarted.

According to @ChaseSandmann, this behavior could be game-dependent. I'll have to test this with other games when I find the time. In the meantime, if anyone knows of a game that behaves differently, feel free to post it as an answer.

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