Article Updated: 12th December 2022
Although PlayStation 5 comes with 825GB of storage, only 667.2GB can be used for games. If you’re a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Spider-Man Miles Morales Ultimate Edition player, these two games alone will swallow over 320GB of PS5 storage. If you also decided to play the apocalypse survival series The Last of Us 1 and 2, you’re going to rack up another 172GB, meaning your entire PlayStation 5 storage has almost been eaten up by just four games. If any new releases come out and you're not quite done swinging through the streets of New York, or getting all the trophies available to Ellie and Joel, you'll have some difficult decisions to make.
Unless you’re ready to constantly delete and download/re-download games, an SSD storage upgrade is going to be necessary. If like me, you like to have games stored on your system then go back to them periodically, or if you switch between a few games at the same time, having to re-download large files every time you’d like to play one of your favourites is less than ideal. And that’s to say nothing of the time it takes to download >200GB if you don’t have a super-fast connection.
As such, it wouldn't be a good idea to consider SSDs that are under 1TB, as their read and write speed might be lower than your PS5's capabilities. This is aside from not offering much more space, when you look at the storage requirements of most new AAA games and some Esports titles.
Do you really need an SSD, or can you just buy an external SSD for storage?
Technically, you can just get an external HDD for storage for your PS5, but an SSD will speed things up to the tune of about 40%. You will not be able to run PS5 games from the external drive, however. Whilst it is possible to run PS4 games direct from your external storage, playing PS5 games means you will need to copy game data from your USB extended storage drive over to your console's internal SSD storage. To give you an idea of the time involved, it will take around 6 minutes to transfer God of War from a 2,000MB per second NVMe external SSD like the Kingston XS2000 2TB to your PS5 console.
Kingston XS2000 2TB Mobile External Solid State Drive in Silver - USB3.2
The PS5 is no slouch for data transfer speeds, and comes equipped with an SSD of a rather impressive speed of about 5.5GB per second, making it about 100 times (yes 100 times!) faster than a PlayStation 4.
To put that into perspective, PS5’s bandwidth is at least 5,000MB/s (compressed can reach up to 9,000MB/s), while the bandwidth on PS4 between 50 to 100MB per second. PlayStation 4 can load 1GB in 20 seconds, while a PlayStation 5 can load 2GB in 0.27 seconds. HDD simply cannot compete with an SSD.
To ensure you get the fastest read and write speeds with your extra PS5 storage, you should use a M.2 NVMe SSD that is capable of 5,500MB/s minimum, which will match the internal storage of your console. External drives are not currently capable of these speeds. An external NVMe SSD like the Western Digital Black P50, for example, is going to top out at 2,500MB/s.
What type of SSD do you need for PlayStation 5?
The PlayStation 5 uses an NVMe SSD, and any expanded storage should be NVMe for 100% compatibility. There is an expansion slot inside the PlayStation 5 where you can install extended SSD storage, and removing the cover and installing it will not void the warranty. That is, of course, if you follow the instructions set out by Sony, and don't go wedging in an incompatible SSD.
There are a range of SSDs that are compatible with your PS5 and they vary in speed and storage, so choosing the perfect one for you will depend on how much you play, what types of games you play and your budget.
Do I need a heatsink?
Yes. it is recommended that you use a heatsink when extending your PS5 storage, as this will ensure you are prolonging the life of your storage, as well as keeping your data safe. Overheating can cause irreparable damage to an SSD, and will often result in corrupted data at a minimum.
For all of the SSDs we're recommending in this article, a Sabrent Rocket heatsink is a great choice, compatible with any SSD and should set you back less than £20.
What is the fastest PS5 M.2 NVMe SSD?
This article has been updated to include the latest and greatest M.2 NVMe SSDs we recommend for PS5 extended storage. We use a combination of our in-house testing and the updated chart (below) from TweakTown. Our top three SSDs are based on value for money, performance and reliability.
TweakTown PS5 SSD Speeds
Our Top 3 PS5 M.2 NVMe SSDs
- Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB
- Samsung 990 PRO 2TB
- Seagate FireCuda 530 1TB with Heatsink
Below we have detailed why these are the best 1TB and 2TB M.2 NVMe SSDs, and tick all of the boxes for anyone upgrading their PS5 storage.
Solidigm P44 Pro M.2-2280 2TB PCI Express 4.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
Solidigm have been heralded as one of the biggest disruptors in the SSD storage industry for years, with storage capable of incredible speeds, reliability that exceeds that of several industry giants, and pricing that makes them appealing at every sector of the market. Whilst predominantly our favourite PC SSD storage right now, we have no hesitation in recommending Solidigm NVMe storage to our PlayStation 5 customers at CCL. You are getting an amazing 6,467MB/s read speed, a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) that beats just about all SSDs, 5 and a price tag that is significantly less than both Samsung and Seagate competitors at the same capacity.
Manufacturer specifications:
| Read Speed | Up to 7,000 MB/s |
| Write Speed | Up to 6500 MB/s |
| Data Storage Life | 600 TBW |
| Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) | >= 1,600,000 hours |
Other storage capacity options:
Samsung 990 PRO M.2-2280 2TB PCI Express 4.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
Samsung 990 PRO is an SSD with an excellent theoretical read speed of 7GB/s, although in benchmark tests, the 990 Pro reached a blistering 6,559MB/s read speed. The 2TB version is perfectly priced for such a reliable and performance focused SSD, and will perform admirably when paired with a heatsink.
Manufacturer specifications:
| Read Speed | Up to 7,000 MB/s |
| Write Speed | Up to 5,000 MB/s |
| Data Storage Life | 600 TBW |
| Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) | 1,500,000 hours |
Other storage capacity options:
Seagate FireCuda 530 Heatsink M.2-2280 1TB
Seagate FireCuda 530 is a solid and reliable SSD, that offers an excellent read and write speed for the money, reaching over 6,500MB/s in benchmark tests. The data storage life is slightly better than the PS5 and offers a much more budget-friendly option than the 2TB SSDs we've highlighted. Better still, you will also get a heatsink attached to the SSD, so there's no need to buy anything extra - you can just plug & play.
Manufacturer specifications:
| Read Speed | Up to 7,300 MB/s |
| Write Speed | Up to 6,000 MB/s |
| Data Storage Life | Up to 1,275 TBW |
| Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) | 1,800,000 hours |
Other storage capacity options:
Which is the best PS5 M.2 NVMe SSD?
For the ultimate upgrade of your PlayStation 5, Seagate FireCuda 4TB SSD is our recommendation. 4TB is going to be plenty of storage for most gamers, and there will rarely be a need to uninstall any games you're playing at the same time. For a diehard PlayStation 5 console gamer, this SSD is the perfect and ultimate upgrade.
If you're on a tighter budget and do not require as much space, smaller SSDs of either 1TB or 2TB are recommended, and you won't go far wrong with the Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB. Solidigm are rapidly becoming one of the most talked about vendors in the industry, being able to squeeze out extra performance without suffering a drop in durability or reliability.
Remember: anything smaller than 1TB isn't really worth it for the PS5. You can only install one SSD as your extended storage, so should make the most of it when you upgrade. We've included our top three SSDs that are all faster than the shipped storage of the PS5, and don't recommend buying anything slower; you can extend storage, but don't want a performance decrease as a result.
Article Updated by Mark Byrne
