The perfect SSDs for PS5 in 2025

In case your PlayStation 5’s inside storage is beginning to really feel slightly cramped, you’re not alone. With recreation installs commonly taking on over 100GB, increasing your storage is without doubt one of the best methods to get extra out of your console. The perfect SSD for PS5 is not going to solely offer you further area to your recreation library, nevertheless it must also meet Sony’s velocity necessities so your video games load simply as quick as they might on the built-in drive.

There’s a variety of SSDs to select from, whether or not you need a easy plug-and-play choice with a heatsink or a budget-friendly decide the place you add your personal. Some provide higher cooling, others include software program instruments for managing efficiency — however all of the drives we’ve included listed here are suitable, quick and dependable. Right here’s what to look out for when upgrading your PS5 storage, and our high picks that will help 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 personal heatsink, the Crucial T500 is a good choice. With learn speeds of as much as 7,300MB/s, it surpasses Sony’s technical necessities, and you’ll regularly discover the 1TB mannequin on sale for as little as $60. Essential additionally presents 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 if you’re able to improve your PS5.

Execs

• 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 record, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is essentially the most fascinating. It comes with a novel heatsink that you simply set up instead of the storage growth slot’s metallic cowl. Sabrent claims this design improves cooling efficiency. Consequently, anticipate 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.

Execs

• 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 beneath, you’ll be able to’t run PS5 video games from an exterior drive — however you should utilize one to retailer any video games you aren’t enjoying for the time being, together with older PS4 video games.

Considered one of my favourite transportable drives is the Samsung T7. It will possibly write recordsdata at a speedy 1,000 MB/s. In the event 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 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 most recent mannequin, the Samsung T9, boasts learn/write speeds of as much as 2,000MB/s.

Execs

• 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 a lot of the SSDs advisable on this record, both for PS5 or laptop 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 the event you already personal a PS5, chances are high you may have an affordable concept of how a lot storage you want ​​to your recreation library. In the event you’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 talked-about) exceptions. In the event you’re a fan of the Name of Obligation sequence, 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 inside storage. In the event 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 operating into issues.

You additionally want to contemplate your web velocity. In the event you stay 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 era it was tough to concurrently watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Maintaining 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 principally 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 plenty of area for contemporary video games to stay on. 500GB drives could be 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.

Until 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 supplies 667GB of storage, that’s largely as a consequence of storage being reserved for the working system and caching. In the event you set up a 1TB PS5 SSD, you will have, inside a margin of error, 1TB of storage out there for video games. Out of the field, the PS5 Professional presents 1.86TB of storage for video games, although you’ll be able to eke out extra when 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 onerous drives are likely to price lower than inside SSD counterparts (and there’s a very good probability 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 through USB, and is simply appropriate for enjoying PlayStation 4 video games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s helpful in case you have something however the most effective high-speed web — it’s quicker to maneuver a PS5 recreation out of “chilly storage” on an exterior drive than it’s to re-download it — or wish to preserve your PS4 library readily available.

Because of the 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 transportable drive from a good model will do, with the Essential X9 Professional and Samsung T7 being choices we’ve tried and might advocate.

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 further components to contemplate. The principle necessities Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to hurry, cooling and bodily dimensions.

For velocity, 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 threat that, when you don’t have already got that drive mendacity round, will not be value taking. Simply because we haven’t discovered points but doesn’t imply there received’t be video games that might 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 may as effectively cowl all of your bases.

Barely extra difficult than velocity is cooling and dimension. Most new SSDs are going to be simply advantageous; the PS5 can match 22mm-wide SSDs of nearly any size (30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm, to be exact). The overwhelming majority of drives you discover can be 22mm extensive and 80mm lengthy, so no downside there.

It must 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 may be “beneath” 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 mentioned, if you wish to avoid wasting cash, naked drives are sometimes cheaper and it’s trivial to discover a cooling answer that can work for the PS5.

The one part in an NVMe SSD that actually 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 prone to be on high, as producers comprehend it must be positioned there to raised dissipate warmth.

So, head to your PC part vendor of alternative and decide up principally something that meets the advisable dimensions. A very good search time period is “laptop computer NVME heatsink,” as these can 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 advice is that this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface materials. It really works simply advantageous, and in performing stress checks on a PC, we couldn’t discover something metallic that didn’t preserve temperatures beneath management. Whenever you’re looking out, simply be sure that the answer you go for measures not more than 25mm extensive 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 motive to purchase a Gen5 mannequin over a extra inexpensive 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 right way to set up an SSD into your PS5

In the event you want steering on how to install your new NVMe into your PS5 or PS5 Professional, we’ve a separate information detailing all of the steps right here. Set up is fairly easy, however our how-to will help you when you’re caught. Simply make be aware: Earlier than making an attempt so as to add extra storage through a PS5 SSD, guarantee that you’ve Sony’s latest software installed.