The most effective SSDs for PS5 in 2025

In case your PlayStation 5’s inner storage is beginning to really feel somewhat cramped, you’re not alone. With recreation installs often 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 is not going to solely provide you with further house in your recreation library, but it surely also needs to 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 desire a easy plug-and-play possibility with a heatsink or a budget-friendly decide the place you add your individual. Some supply 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 may 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 worth watch listing and shopping for whichever mannequin is cheaper once you’re able to improve your PS5.

Professionals

• Quick
• Accessible 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 listing, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is probably the most attention-grabbing. It comes with a novel heatsink that you simply set up instead of the storage enlargement slot’s metallic cowl. Sabrent claims this design improves cooling efficiency. Because of this, 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.

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 possibly can’t run PS5 video games from an exterior drive — however you should use one to retailer any video games you aren’t taking part in for the time being, together with older PS4 video games.

One in every of my favourite moveable drives is the Samsung T7. It will probably write recordsdata at a speedy 1,000 MB/s. Should you 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 Protect variant. I’ve been utilizing T7 drives to retailer my photographs, music and video games for years, and so they have but to fail me. The newest mannequin, the Samsung T9, boasts learn/write speeds of as much as 2,000MB/s.

Professionals

• Inexpensive
• Dependable
• Rugged variant obtainable

Cons

• Can’t play PS5 video games from exterior drive

$90 at Adorama

How we check PS5 SSDs

I’ve examined a lot of the SSDs really useful on this listing, 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 inner drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capability. Should you already personal a PS5, chances are high you’ve got an affordable thought of how a lot storage you want ​​in your recreation library. Should 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 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. Should you’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. Should 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 think about your web velocity. Should you stay in an space with gradual broadband, the “you possibly can simply obtain it once more” rationale doesn’t actually work. At my previous dwelling, 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 in some unspecified time in the future is smart.

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 a whole lot of house for contemporary video games to stay on. 500GB drives generally is a respectable possibility, however after years of declining costs, I feel 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 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. Should you set up a 1TB PS5 SSD, you may have, inside a margin of error, 1TB of storage obtainable for video games. Out of the field, the PS5 Professional provides 1.86TB of storage for video games, although you possibly can eke out extra for those who delete the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom (gasp).

Since neither the PS5 Slim nor PS5 Professional function 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 likely to price lower than inner SSD counterparts (and there’s an excellent 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 just appropriate for enjoying PlayStation 4 video games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s helpful you probably have something however one of the best high-speed web — it’s sooner to maneuver a PS5 recreation out of “chilly storage” on an exterior drive than it’s to re-download it — or wish to maintain your PS4 library available.

As a result of limitations right here, you don’t want the highest-performing mannequin, though you must 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 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 extra components to think about. 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 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 often — similar 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, for those who don’t have already got that drive mendacity round, shouldn’t be value taking. Simply because we haven’t discovered points but doesn’t imply there gained’t be video games that might be problematic sooner or later. The value distinction between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and those that meet Sony’s spec isn’t large, and also you may as nicely cowl all of your bases.

Barely extra difficult than velocity is cooling and measurement. Most new SSDs are going to be simply tremendous; 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 will likely be 22mm broad and 80mm lengthy, so no drawback there.

It ought 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, similar to a heatsink.” The utmost peak supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which solely 2.45mm could be “under” the drive.

This beforehand meant a number of the hottest heatsinked Gen4 SSDs, together with Corsair’s MP600 Professional LP, wouldn’t match inside the PS5’s storage enlargement 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 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 comprehend it must be positioned there to raised dissipate warmth.

So, head to your PC part vendor of selection and decide up principally something that meets the really useful dimensions. A great search time period is “laptop computer 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 advice 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 checks on a PC, we couldn’t discover something metallic that didn’t maintain temperatures below management. Once you’re looking, simply make sure that 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 very last 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 make the most of 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 possibly can afford.

Methods to set up an SSD into your PS5

Should 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 simple, however our how-to can assist you for those who’re caught. Simply make word: Earlier than trying so as to add extra storage through a PS5 SSD, guarantee that you’ve Sony’s latest software installed.