Despite being a brand new console, the internal storage for the PlayStation 5 is surprisingly small. The PS5 comes with an 825GB internal SSD, with 667GB free for you to install your games on. Depending on the type of games you play, getting yourself a portable SSD that you can store your games on isn’t a bad idea.
For example, if you want to install Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or the PS5 version of NBA 2K21, you’ll need roughly 130GB and 120GB of free space, respectively. That’s around 20% of the PS5’s storage taken up with a single game – more if you’re installing both.
To make things a bit tricky, at this moment in time, the PS5 won’t let you store or play PS5 games on an external drive. It’s a bit disappointing, but Sony has announced that there are plans to release a firmware patch that will let users store their games on a portable SSD. Plus, owning a reliable portable SSD isn’t a bad idea in general.
It’s important to note that, even after this patch, you won’t be able to play PS5 games from an external drive. This is because there aren’t that many SSDs currently on the market that can match the PS5’s ultra-high speed drive.
Thankfully, you’re able to freely port over some of your PS4 games to the new console via an external drive. You can even play your games from the drive, but you’ll need a good SSD that’s optimised for gaming. Otherwise, you’ll be spending a lot of time with loading screen due to middling read and write speeds.
You should consider the kind of games you buy before picking up an external drive. A 1TB portable SSD might do you fine if you’re economical about your purchases, but if you’re someone who is frequently picking up new titles, you might run out of space sooner rather than later.
In terms of external SSDs, there are a fair few options available. We’ve collected a few solid choices that’ll help free up your PS5’s storage space.
- Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1TB) – $179: The read and write speeds are pretty average (around 540 MB/s), but if you’re after an external SSD option that won’t break the bank, Samsung’s T5 is a good pick.
- Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD (1TB) – $215.56: A solid all-rounder SSD with read speeds are around 550MB/s. It’s designed for portability, so it’s a good choice if you want something small and out of the way.
- Samsung T7 Portable SSD (1TB) – $299: The upgraded version of the T5. It’s read and writing speeds are capped at around 1,050/1,000 MB/s.
- Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD (1TB) – $349: Seagate’s FireCuda is optimised for gaming, making it it a solid choice when it comes to game storage. It has transfer speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s, which is perfect if you’re playing any PS4 games from it.
- WD Black P50 Pro Game Drive SSD (1TB) – $378:The price might seem a bit off-putting, but if you’re after a portable SSD with gaming optimised transfer speeds, then the P50 is worth every dollar.
