When Sony first launched the PlayStation 5, it wasn’t attainable to broaden the console’s storage. Fortunately, that modified with a software program replace that the corporate pushed out lower than a 12 months later. And with how large some sport installs have grow to be lately, it’s a very good factor, too: the PS5’s built-in 667GB of house could have been adequate within the system’s first 12 months, however now, the default drive is totally limiting.
The excellent news is a normal PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD can remedy your entire PS5 storage woes. If that mess of acronyms has you recoiling, don’t fear: you’ll see that it’s not all that sophisticated. And if all you wish to know is what the perfect PS5 SSDs are, we’ve obtained them proper on the high.
Learn extra: These are the perfect SSDs in 2025
Finest PS5 SSDs in 2025
Capability: As much as 8TB | Sequential learn efficiency: 7,100MB/s | Sequential write efficiency: 6,800MB/s | Connection: M.2
The Corsair MP600 Professional LPX makes it to the highest of our record for the perfect PS5 SSD for being the entire bundle. It’s quick, affords glorious efficiency and browse speeds of as much as 7,100MB/s. It additionally comes with a pre-installed heatsink and a five-year guarantee.
Better of all, the MP600 is reasonably priced. After launching at $190, you’ll be able to routinely discover the 1TB variant on sale for as little as $80, whereas the 2TB mannequin fluctuates in worth between $110 and $150. The 4TB and 8TB fashions are much less of a cut price. The MP600 can also be not the quickest NVMe on this record. Nonetheless, so far as no-fuss choices go, it’s arduous to beat.
- Constructed-in heatsink
- Reasonably priced
- Not the quickest Gen4 mannequin
Essential
Capability: As much as 4TB | Learn efficiency: 7,300MB/s | Write efficiency: 6,800 MB/s | Connection: M.2
If you wish to save a bit of cash by putting in your individual heatsink, the Essential T500 is a superb choice. With learn speeds of as much as 7,300MB/s, it surpasses Sony’s technical necessities, and you may continuously discover the 1TB mannequin on sale for as little as $60. Essential additionally affords a model with a heatsink, so it’s value including each the Corsair MP600 and Essential T500 to a worth watch record and shopping for whichever mannequin is cheaper whenever you’re able to improve your PS5.
- Quick
- Out there with or with out heatsink
SABRENT
Capability: As much as 8TB | Sequential learn efficiency: 7,000MB/s | Sequential write efficiency: 6,600MB/s | Connection: M.2
Of all of the SSDs on this record, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is essentially the most fascinating. It comes with a novel heatsink that you just set up rather than the storage growth slot’s metallic cowl. Sabrent claims this design improves cooling efficiency. Consequently, count on to pay greater than you’d for a mannequin with a generic heatsink, with the 1TB variant coming in at round $110 and the 2TB mannequin costing between $220 and $280.
- PS5-specific heatsink design
- Not as quick as different choices
- Costly relative to different drives
SAMSUNG
Capability: As much as 4TB | Learn efficiency: 1,050MB/s | Write efficiency: 1,000MB/s | Connection: USB 3.0
As I clarify under, you’ll be able to’t run PS5 video games from an exterior drive — however you should use one to retailer any video games you aren’t enjoying in the intervening time, together with older PS4 video games.
Certainly one of my favourite moveable drives is the Samsung T7. It may possibly write information at a speedy 1,000 MB/s. If you happen to plan to make use of the drive completely for at-home use, it can save you cash by shopping for the common mannequin as a substitute of the ruggedized Defend variant. I’ve been utilizing T7 drives to retailer my pictures, music and video games for years, they usually have but to fail me. The newest mannequin, the Samsung T9, boasts learn/write speeds of as much as 2,000MB/s.
- Reasonably priced
- Dependable
- Rugged variant accessible
- Can’t play PS5 video games from exterior drive
How we take a look at PS5 SSDs
I’ve examined many of the SSDs really helpful on this record, both for PS5 or pc use. I additionally purchased and used our high decide in my very own PS5.
How a lot PS5 storage do I want?
The PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Professional can settle for inner drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capability. If you happen to already personal a PS5, chances are high you’ve an affordable concept of how a lot storage you want to your sport library. If you happen to’re shopping for an SSD with a brand new PS5 or PS5 Professional, or shopping for for another person, it’s tougher to inform what you may want for a high-performance expertise.
PS5 video games are smaller on common than their PS4 equivalents, sometimes taking on between 30GB and 100GB, with some notable (and very fashionable) exceptions. If you happen to’re a fan of the Name of Obligation collection, putting in Black Ops 6 and Warzone 2.0 can eat as much as 240GB. In different phrases, a full Name of Obligation set up will take up greater than one-third of the PS5’s inner storage. If you happen to’re not a CoD fan, although, chances are high you’ll be good to retailer between six to 10 video games on a daily PS5 internally earlier than working into issues.
You additionally want to contemplate your web pace. If you happen to reside in an space with gradual broadband, the “you can just download it again” rationale doesn’t actually work. At my outdated dwelling, a 100GB obtain took me round eight hours, throughout which period it was troublesome to concurrently watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Holding video games round on the off-chance you’ll wish to play them in some unspecified time in the future is sensible.
Off the bat, there’s mainly no level in going for a 250GB PS5 SSD. Economically, 250GB drives aren’t that less expensive than 500GB ones — and virtually, that actually isn’t a whole lot of house for contemporary video games to reside on. 500GB drives is usually a respectable choice, however after years of declining costs, I believe the candy spot for most individuals is to go for a high-capacity 1TB or 2TB drive, which ought to run you at most $200. The latter will greater than double the PS5 Professional’s storage with out breaking the financial institution.
Except you’re rolling in money and wish to flex, 4TB and 8TB fashions ought to largely be prevented, as you’ll find yourself paying extra per gigabyte than you’d with a 1TB or 2TB drive.
Whereas the 825GB PS5 solely gives 667GB of storage, that’s largely as a result of storage being reserved for the working system and caching. If you happen to set up a 1TB PS5 SSD, you may have, inside a margin of error, 1TB of storage accessible for video games. Out of the field, the PS5 Professional affords 1.86TB of storage for video games, although you’ll be able to eke out extra should you delete the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom (gasp).
Since neither the PS5 Slim nor PS5 Professional characteristic up to date CPU structure, all of our suggestions will work with no matter PS5 mannequin you personal.
Are you able to play PS5 video games on an exterior SSD?
Exterior arduous drives are inclined to value lower than inner SSD counterparts (and there’s a very good likelihood you may personal one already). Sadly, there are restrictions on what you are able to do with them. An exterior SSD connects to your PS5 by way of USB, and is barely appropriate for taking part in PlayStation 4 video games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s helpful in case you have something however the perfect high-speed web — it’s sooner to maneuver a PS5 sport out of “cold storage” on an exterior drive than it’s to re-download it — or wish to maintain your PS4 library readily available.
As a result of limitations right here, you don’t want the highest-performing mannequin, though it’s best to go for SSDs over HDDs for improved switch speeds and cargo instances. Any primary moveable drive from a good model will do, with the Essential X9 Professional and Samsung T7 being choices we’ve tried and may suggest.
Which SSD playing cards are suitable with the PS5?
The official reply to this query is an “M.2 Socket 3 (Key M) Gen4 x4 NVME SSD.” However even inside that seemingly particular description, there are extra elements to contemplate. The primary necessities Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to hurry, cooling and bodily dimensions.
For pace, Sony says drives ought to be capable to deal with sequential reads at 5,500MB/s. Early testing confirmed that the PS5 would settle for drives as gradual as 4,800MB/s, and that video games that faucet into the SSD repeatedly — reminiscent of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Aside — would trigger no points. Just about the one factor the PS5 will outright reject is one that does not match the Gen4 x4 spec.
In our opinion, although, utilizing a drive slower than the specification is a threat that, should you don’t have already got that drive mendacity round, is just not value taking. Simply because we haven’t discovered points but doesn’t imply there received’t be video games that could possibly be problematic sooner or later. The worth distinction between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and those that meet Sony’s spec isn’t big, and also you may as effectively cowl all of your bases.
Barely extra sophisticated than pace is cooling and measurement. Most new SSDs are going to be simply tremendous; the PS5 can match 22mm-wide SSDs of just about any size (30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm, to be exact). The overwhelming majority of drives you discover will likely be 22mm vast and 80mm lengthy, so no downside there.
It ought to be famous that the system can match a 25mm-wide drive, however that width should embrace the cooling resolution. Talking of, Sony says SSDs require “effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink.” The utmost top supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which solely 2.45mm will be “below” the drive.
This beforehand meant among the hottest heatsinked Gen4 SSDs, together with Corsair’s MP600 Professional LP, wouldn’t match throughout the PS5’s storage growth slot. Since Engadget first revealed this information in 2021, most NVMe makers, together with Samsung, have come out with PlayStation-specific fashions that meet these necessities. That mentioned, if you wish to avoid wasting cash, naked drives are sometimes cheaper and it’s trivial to discover a cooling resolution that may work for the PS5.
The one part in an NVMe SSD that actually requires cooling is the controller, which with no heatsink will fortunately sear a (very small) steak. Most SSDs have chips on just one aspect, however even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is more likely to be on high, as producers understand it must be positioned there to higher dissipate warmth.
So, head to your PC part vendor of selection and decide up mainly something that meets the really helpful dimensions. A superb search time period is “laptop NVME heatsink,” as these will likely be designed to slot in the confines of gaming laptops, that are much more restrictive than a PS5. They’re additionally sometimes cheaper than those labeled as “PS5 heatsinks.”
One suggestion is that this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface materials. It really works simply tremendous, and in performing stress exams on a PC, we couldn’t discover something metallic that didn’t maintain temperatures beneath management. Whenever you’re looking, simply be sure the answer you go for measures not more than 25mm vast or 8mm tall (together with the thermal interface materials) and has a easy methodology of set up that’s not going to trigger any complications.
One final thing: When searching for a PS5 NVMe, there’s no purpose to purchase a Gen5 mannequin over a extra reasonably priced Gen4 mannequin. As issues stand, Sony’s console can’t benefit from the brand new normal, and although Gen5 drives are backward suitable, they’re dearer than their Gen4 counterparts. Simply purchase the quickest and highest-capacity Gen4 mannequin you’ll be able to afford.
How one can set up an SSD into your PS5
If you happen to want steering on the way to set up your new NVMe into your PS5 or PS5 Professional, we now have a separate information detailing all of the steps right here. Set up is fairly easy, however our how-to might help you should you’re caught. Simply make notice: Earlier than trying so as to add extra storage by way of a PS5 SSD, guarantee that you’ve Sony’s newest software program put in.
