The most effective SSDs for PS5 in 2025

In case your PlayStation 5’s inside storage is beginning to really feel a little bit cramped, you’re not alone. With sport installs commonly taking on over 100GB, increasing your storage is among the best methods to get extra out of your console. The most effective SSD for PS5 won’t solely provide you with additional house to your sport library, nevertheless it must also meet Sony’s pace necessities so your video games load simply as quick as they’d on the built-in drive.

There’s a variety of SSDs to select from, whether or not you desire a easy plug-and-play possibility with a heatsink or a budget-friendly decide the place you add your individual. Some provide higher cooling, others include software program instruments for managing efficiency — however all of the drives we’ve included listed below are suitable, quick and dependable. Right here’s what to look out for when upgrading your PS5 storage, and our high picks that can assist you get began.

Learn extra: These are the best SSDs in 2025

Desk of contents

Greatest SSDs for PS5 in 2025

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 Crucial T500 is a superb possibility. With learn speeds of as much as 7,300MB/s, it surpasses Sony’s technical necessities, and you’ll incessantly discover the 1TB mannequin on sale for as little as $60. Essential additionally provides a model with a heatsink, so it’s value including each the Corsair MP600 and Essential T500 to a value watch checklist and shopping for whichever mannequin is cheaper if you’re able to improve your PS5.

Professionals

• Quick
• Obtainable with or with out heatsink

$75 at Amazon

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 checklist, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is essentially the most attention-grabbing. It comes with a singular heatsink that you just set up instead of the storage growth slot’s metallic cowl. Sabrent claims this design improves cooling efficiency. Consequently, count on to pay greater than you’ll 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.

Professionals

• PS5-specific heatsink design

Cons

• Not as quick as different choices
• Costly relative to different drives

$130 at Amazon

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 need to use one to retailer any video games you aren’t enjoying in the mean time, together with older PS4 video games.

Considered one of my favourite transportable drives is the Samsung T7. It could actually write recordsdata at a speedy 1,000 MB/s. In case you plan to make use of the drive solely for at-home use, it can save you cash by shopping for the common mannequin as an alternative of the ruggedized Defend variant. I’ve been utilizing T7 drives to retailer my photographs, music and video games for years, they usually have but to fail me. The most recent mannequin, the Samsung T9, boasts learn/write speeds of as much as 2,000MB/s.

Professionals

• Reasonably priced
• Dependable
• Rugged variant out there

Cons

• Can’t play PS5 video games from exterior drive

$90 at Adorama

How we take a look at PS5 SSDs

I’ve examined many of the SSDs advisable on this checklist, both for PS5 or pc use. I additionally purchased and used our high decide in my very own PS5.

PS5 SSD FAQs

How a lot PS5 storage do I want?

The PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro can settle for inside drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capability. In case you already personal a PS5, chances are high you’ve an affordable concept of how a lot storage you want ​​to your sport library. In case you’re shopping for an SSD with a brand new PS5 or PS5 Professional, or shopping for for another person, it’s harder to inform what you would possibly want for a high-performance expertise.

PS5 video games are smaller on common than their PS4 equivalents, usually taking on between 30GB and 100GB, with some notable (and very fashionable) exceptions. In case you’re a fan of the Name of Responsibility sequence, putting in Black Ops 6 and Warzone 2.0 can eat as much as 240GB. In different phrases, a full Name of Responsibility set up will take up greater than one-third of the PS5’s inside storage. In case you’re not a CoD fan, although, chances are high you’ll be good to retailer between six to 10 video games on an everyday PS5 internally earlier than working into issues.

You additionally want to contemplate your web pace. In case you reside in an space with sluggish broadband, the “you’ll be able to simply obtain it once more” rationale doesn’t actually work. At my previous house, a 100GB obtain took me round eight hours, throughout which period it was tough to concurrently watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Preserving video games round on the off-chance you’ll wish to play them sooner or later is sensible.

Off the bat, there’s principally no level in going for a 250GB PS5 SSD. Economically, 250GB drives aren’t that less expensive than 500GB ones — and virtually, that basically isn’t loads of house for contemporary video games to reside on. 500GB drives is usually a respectable possibility, 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 principally be averted, as you’ll find yourself paying extra per gigabyte than you’ll with a 1TB or 2TB drive.

Whereas the 825GB PS5 solely supplies 667GB of storage, that’s largely because of storage being reserved for the working system and caching. In case you set up a 1TB PS5 SSD, you may have, inside a margin of error, 1TB of storage out there for video games. Out of the field, the PS5 Professional provides 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 laborious drives are inclined to value lower than inside SSD counterparts (and there’s a very good likelihood you would possibly 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 if in case you have something however the perfect high-speed web — it’s quicker to maneuver a PS5 sport out of “chilly storage” on an exterior drive than it’s to re-download it — or wish to preserve your PS4 library readily available.

As a result of limitations right here, you don’t want the highest-performing mannequin, though it is best to go for SSDs over HDDs for improved switch speeds and cargo instances. Any primary transportable 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 answer 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 components to contemplate. The principle necessities Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to hurry, cooling and bodily dimensions.

For pace, Sony says drives ought to be capable of deal with sequential reads at 5,500MB/s. Early testing confirmed that the PS5 would settle for drives as sluggish as 4,800MB/s, and that video games that faucet into the SSD commonly — equivalent to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — 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 danger 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 gained’t be video games that may very well be problematic sooner or later. The worth distinction between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and those that meet Sony’s spec isn’t large, and also you would possibly as nicely cowl all of your bases.

Barely extra sophisticated than pace is cooling and dimension. Most new SSDs are going to be simply positive; 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 might be 22mm broad and 80mm lengthy, so no downside there.

It needs to be famous that the system can match a 25mm-wide drive, however that width should embody the cooling answer. Talking of, Sony says SSDs require “efficient warmth dissipation with a cooling construction, equivalent to a heatsink.” The utmost peak supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which solely 2.45mm might be “under” the drive.

This beforehand meant a few of 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 printed this information in 2021, most NVMe makers, together with Samsung, have come out with PlayStation-specific fashions that meet these necessities. That stated, if you wish to avoid wasting cash, naked drives are sometimes cheaper and it’s trivial to discover a cooling answer that may work for the PS5.

The one element in an NVMe SSD that basically requires cooling is the controller, which with out a heatsink will fortunately sear a (very small) steak. Most SSDs have chips on just one facet, however even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is more likely to be on high, as producers comprehend it must be positioned there to higher dissipate warmth.

So, head to your PC element vendor of selection and decide up principally something that meets the advisable dimensions. A great search time period is “laptop computer NVME heatsink,” as these might be designed to slot in the confines of gaming laptops, that are much more restrictive than a PS5. They’re additionally usually cheaper than those labeled as “PS5 heatsinks.”

One advice is that this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface materials. It really works simply positive, and in performing stress exams on a PC, we couldn’t discover something metallic that didn’t preserve temperatures underneath management. While you’re looking out, simply be sure the answer you go for measures not more than 25mm broad or 8mm tall (together with the thermal interface materials) and has a easy technique of set up that’s not going to trigger any complications.

One last item: When purchasing for a PS5 NVMe, there’s no motive to purchase a Gen5 mannequin over a extra reasonably priced Gen4 mannequin. As issues stand, Sony’s console can’t reap the benefits of the brand new commonplace, and although Gen5 drives are backward suitable, they’re costlier than their Gen4 counterparts. Simply purchase the quickest and highest-capacity Gen4 mannequin you’ll be able to afford.

The best way to set up an SSD into your PS5

In case you want steering on how to install 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 may also help you should you’re caught. Simply make word: Earlier than making an attempt so as to add extra storage by way of a PS5 SSD, guarantee that you’ve Sony’s latest software installed.