PlayStation 5: The Best SSDs to Buy to Expand Your Storage

[Terronium-12]

This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

PlayStation 5: The Best SSDs to Buy to Expand Your Storage​

PlayStation 5 racing game fans are will be a little spoiled for choice over the coming weeks, as titles like GRID Legends, Assetto Corsa Competizione, and of course Gran Turismo 7 all launch onto the platform...

 

[fatkid]

Only a 2TB or 4TB would make sense to me. But the prices right now are just too much. Only got my PS5 Disc version at the end of last year with 3 games, which have already taken up a large chunk of space. I am getting Elden Ring and GT7 within the next few days on their respective release dates and then I will have hardly any space left. Having only just brought the console and having to worry about if I even have space to play any games is very frustrating. I wish Sony would have released a 2TB version of the PS5 . I would have definitely brought that instead. But then I guess how much more would that cost? Will just keep an eye on 2TB SSD prices for now.

Thanks for the article.

 

[GTvsForza]

4TB sounds excessive to me...

 

[samdu]

4TB sounds excessive to me...

You can never have too much storage or too much RAM.

I picked this SSD up this week:

SSD

Along with this heatsink:

Heatsink

The SSD is currently sitting at $119 (1TB) in the US Amazon store. Between what I already have installed and Horizon and GT7 coming soon, I was in desperate need for more storage. Installation was simple and, so far, performance has been great.

 

[ICEYOU3]

Only a 2TB or 4TB would make sense to me. But the prices right now are just too much. Only got my PS5 Disc version at the end of last year with 3 games, which have already taken up a large chunk of space. I am getting Elden Ring and GT7 within the next few days on their respective release dates and then I will have hardly any space left. Having only just brought the console and having to worry about if I even have space to play any games is very frustrating. I wish Sony would have released a 2TB version of the PS5 . I would have definitely brought that instead. But then I guess how much more would that cost? Will just keep an eye on 2TB SSD prices for now.

Thanks for the article.

2TBs is probably what most would ever need I imagine.

 

[Pako]

Just dropped in the 4TB Firecuda last night. Considering I'm already having to manage space with my 1TB internal storage, 4TB seemed like the best solution to not having to off load PS5 games to my external storage. Easy install, the PS5 recognized it immediately, formatted and sourced as the new install target for PS5 games.

 

[Peter.]

You guys have PS5's?

 

[kjb]

I am thinking about the 2TB SSD. I like the Crucial drive. Right now I have 250 left on my SSD and I have about 1 TB left on 4 TB external hard drive. After GT7 & ACC will have about 150 gb left. I would like to get 4 TB as that will be more than enough for me but my bidget will not allow that so 2 TB will be good enough. I probably keep most of my PS 4 games on the external drive to keep space for PS5 games. Hopefully more games will take advantage of the Kraken technology

 

[TheCracker]

What are game save file sizes like on PS5 games?

I know when i've been deleting no longer played games on my PS4 to free up space i've been surprised at how big some of the save files have been, but they also vary greatly. You can roughly estimate how many games you can squeeze onto your drive by looking at the games file size (if you are downloading from the PS Store) but that doesn't take into account the save file data, which can really throw your estimated space requirements.

 

[kjb]

ACC - 15gb and GT7 is 85 gb those are a few I know offhand

 

[fatkid]

4TB sounds excessive to me...

Yes. Even for me at this moment. But more to do with their prices being excessive than the storage space. I want a SSD to be a one time purchase. I don't want to run out of space on a 2TB drive I bought, only then to have to sell that and buy a 4TB later on. This generation of games is finally picking up speed and PS5 exclusives like Returnal and Horizon 2, will soon be joined by other AAA titles like God of War Ragnarök and GT7, which if it's anything like GT Sport, will be storage space eater. Not to mention any multi format titles. Or I could go for the vastly cheaper but more inconvenient option of buying an external drive to keep games that I am not playing at that time on ice in conjunction with the expanded 2TB internal drive. I think in terms of cost/storage balance that might be the best option.

 

[Famine]

What are game save file sizes like on PS5 games?

I know when i've been deleting no longer played games on my PS4 to free up space i've been surprised at how big some of the save files have been, but they also vary greatly. You can roughly estimate how many games you can squeeze onto your drive by looking at the games file size (if you are downloading from the PS Store) but that doesn't take into account the save file data, which can really throw your estimated space requirements.

On PS4 they have a hard limit of 2GB. I'd be very surprised if that was abandoned for PS5 with its smaller HDD.

 

[Veinz]

I’m a little nervous about installing one of these tbh. I won’t have much space left once I download GT7 though.

 

[Pako]

I’m a little nervous about installing one of these tbh. I won’t have much space left once I download GT7 though.

Installation is really simple. If you buy one, just be sure it’s “PS5 Ready” with its compatible heat sink. Install video on Sonys site is really easy to follow. No worries.

 

[WLF46]

Yes it's easy to install. The only part that felt worrying to me was prising the plastic faceplate off for the first time, but it's really simple if you follow the video.

If you buy one of the SSD cards in the article at the top you should be fine. If you buy one without a heatsink (which was about half the price of the heatsink version when I bought mine) you'll need to get a compatible heatsink and install it yourself. They're available for under $10, if you get the one suggested in the article you can see user reviews and photos showing it fits in the PS5.

 

[mynameis66]

Firecuda 530 1tb with elecgear combined heatsink/ssd cover.Same as the heatsink in @samdu post.Easy install.👍

 

[opelgt1969]

So I got a PS5 from Sony for $499(PS+ sign-up wait list) also bought a xpg gammix s70 blade the ssd arrived today (sunday) PS5 will be hear on Monday, should I install the ssd before firing up the PS5 or fire up the PS5 and do the updates/setup then install the ssd? I'm old but not worried about the install just wondered which would be best way to do it. Also should I install [all saved games data for all games] before upgrading from PS4 games. Famine I trust you on this. Lucky me getting a PS5 2 weeks before GT5 release

 

[kjb]

I would install it then fire up the PS5 so it already done

 

[edenist]

I still can't justify the price for what is largely unnecessary.
SSD for active games, with cheaper spinning rust for archived games. Sequential read/write isn't terrible on external drives, so I'm happy to spend a couple minutes moving a game to active before I play it [that said, I generally don't move between games that often].

Having terabytes of NVMe storage just sitting there doing nothing 99% of the time just seems like such a waste to me.

 

[vrossi]

I've never seen a PS5 in real life...but I know a guy who knows a guy who's seen one.

 

[opelgt1969]

I've never seen a PS5 in real life...but I know a guy who knows a guy who's seen one.
View attachment 1116204

I'm the guy, UPS driver just left about an hour ago, just wish I didn't have my TV setup all over the living room. Been cleaning all electronics, trying to get everything looking better and seeing about how to get the PS5 to fit with PS3, PS4, cable box, DVR recorder, and surround sound system setup. Also need to install extra ssd card in the PS5.

 

[BloodRaven]

So about installing a new SSD into the PS5.....

Does this replace the existing hard drive or add to it? If it replaces it, how do you get the PS5 software back on it? Do you have to download it from Sony onto a USB drive then install it onto the new SSD? Or does it do it automatically when you boot it up with the new SSD installed?

 

[kjb]

So about installing a new SSD into the PS5.....

Does this replace the existing hard drive or add to it? If it replaces it, how do you get the PS5 software back on it? Do you have to download it from Sony onto a USB drive then install it onto the new SSD? Or does it do it automatically when you boot it up with the new SSD installed?

It doesn't replace the SSD it goes in a different slot. There are plenty of videos to show how to install

 

[opelgt1969]

So about installing a new SSD into the PS5.....

Does this replace the existing hard drive or add to it? If it replaces it, how do you get the PS5 software back on it? Do you have to download it from Sony onto a USB drive then install it onto the new SSD? Or does it do it automatically when you boot it up with the new SSD installed?

If you are installing a new SSD into a PS5 that is right out of the box you need to start the PS5 without installing the SSD and do an update before installing the SSD. The update allows you to use the SSD, after installing you will have a choice as to where to install games. Installed SSD or internal for PS5 and PS4 games.

 

[kjb]

I ended buying the 2TB XPG Gammix S70 Blade off of eBay. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to installing it and moving some games around

 

[kjb]

So the XPG arrived on Tuesday and it was very easy to install. It took longer to remove the bottom face plate than put the drive in. I used the 3rd party heatsink they sent with it