The very best SSDs for PS5 in 2026
Storage fills up quick on a PS5, particularly when a single sport can take up as a lot area as a complete last-gen library. Including moreSSD area is the simplest option to cease taking part in Tetris together with your installs, and as soon as it’s arrange, your console masses video games simply as shortly because it does from the built-in drive. It’s a small improve that makes a giant distinction if you happen to leap between a number of titles directly.
The difficult half is realizing which SSDs truly work with the PS5. You want a drive that meets Sony’s velocity necessities and stays cool below lengthy play classes. Some fashions embody a heatsink, whereas others allow you to use your personal to avoid wasting just a little cash. We examined the highest choices and picked the most effective SSDs for PS5 that will help you improve with out trouble.
Learn extra: These are the most effective SSDs in 2026
Desk of contents
Greatest SSDs for PS5 in 2026
Corsair
Capability: As much as 8TB | Sequential learn efficiency: 7,100MB/s | Sequential write efficiency: 6,800MB/s | Connection: M.2
The Corsair MP600 Professional LPX makes it to the highest of our listing for the most effective PS5 SSD for being the entire package deal. It’s quick, affords glorious efficiency and skim speeds of as much as 7,100MB/s. It additionally comes with a pre-installed heatsink and a five-year guarantee.
Better of all, the MP600 is reasonably priced. After launching at $190, you may routinely discover the 1TB variant on sale for as little as $80, whereas the 2TB mannequin fluctuates in value between $110 and $150. The 4TB and 8TB fashions are much less of a cut price. The MP600 can also be not the quickest NVMe on this listing. Nonetheless, so far as no-fuss choices go, it’s exhausting to beat.
- Constructed-in heatsink
- Inexpensive
- Not the quickest Gen4 mannequin
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 Essential T500 is a superb possibility. With learn speeds of as much as 7,300MB/s, it surpasses Sony’s technical necessities, and you’ll often discover the 1TB mannequin on sale for as little as $60. Essential additionally affords a model with a heatsink, so it’s price including each the Corsair MP600 and Essential T500 to a value watch listing and shopping for whichever mannequin is cheaper while you’re able to improve your PS5.
- Quick
- Out there with or with out heatsink
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 essentially the most attention-grabbing. It comes with a singular heatsink that you simply set up instead of the storage enlargement slot’s steel cowl. Sabrent claims this design improves cooling efficiency. Consequently, anticipate to pay greater than you’ll 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.
- PS5-specific heatsink design
- Not as quick as different choices
- Costly relative to different drives
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 may’t run PS5 video games from an exterior drive — however you should utilize one to retailer any video games you aren’t taking part in for the time being, together with older PS4 video games.
One in all my favourite moveable drives is the Samsung T7. It will possibly write information at a speedy 1,000 MB/s. Should 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 images, music and video games for years, they usually have but to fail me. The newest mannequin, the Samsung T9, boasts learn/write speeds of as much as 2,000MB/s.
- Inexpensive
- Dependable
- Rugged variant obtainable
- Can’t play PS5 video games from exterior drive
How we take a look at PS5 SSDs
I’ve examined many of the SSDs really useful on this listing, 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 Professional can settle for inner drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capability. Should you already personal a PS5, likelihood is you’ve an inexpensive concept of how a lot storage you want on your sport library. Should 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 would possibly 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 highly regarded) 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, likelihood is 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. Should you reside in an space with sluggish broadband, the “you may simply obtain it once more” rationale doesn’t actually work. At my outdated dwelling, a 100GB obtain took me round eight hours, throughout which era it was troublesome 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 sooner or later is sensible.
Aaron Souppouris / Engadget
Off the bat, there’s mainly 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 area for contemporary video games to reside on. 500GB drives could be a first rate possibility, 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 principally be averted, as you’ll find yourself paying extra per gigabyte than you’ll with a 1TB or 2TB drive.
Whereas the 825GB PS5 solely supplies 667GB of storage, that’s largely because of storage being reserved for the working system and caching. Should you set up a 1TB PS5 SSD, you will have, inside a margin of error, 1TB of storage obtainable for video games. Out of the field, the PS5 Professional affords 1.86TB of storage for video games, although you may eke out extra if you happen to 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 exhausting drives are likely to price lower than inner SSD counterparts (and there’s a very good likelihood you would possibly personal one already). Sadly, there are restrictions on what you are able to do with them. An exterior SSD connects to your PS5 by way of USB, and is barely appropriate for taking part in PlayStation 4 video games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s helpful you probably have something however the most effective high-speed web — it’s quicker to maneuver a PS5 sport out of “chilly storage” on an exterior drive than it’s to re-download it — or wish to maintain your PS4 library available.
Because of the limitations right here, you don’t want the highest-performing mannequin, though you need to go for SSDs over HDDs for improved switch speeds and cargo occasions. 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 reply 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 elements to contemplate. The primary 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 repeatedly — reminiscent of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Aside — 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, if you happen to don’t have already got that drive mendacity round, isn’t price taking. Simply because we haven’t discovered points but doesn’t imply there gained’t be video games that could possibly be problematic sooner or later. The value distinction between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and those that meet Sony’s spec isn’t enormous, and also you would possibly as effectively cowl all of your bases.
Barely extra sophisticated than velocity is cooling and dimension. Most new SSDs are going to be simply positive; the PS5 can match 22mm-wide SSDs of just about any size (30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm, to be exact). The overwhelming majority of drives you discover will probably be 22mm broad 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, reminiscent of a heatsink.” The utmost top supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which solely 2.45mm could be “under” the drive.
This beforehand meant a few 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 revealed 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 may work for the PS5.
The one element 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 facet, however even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is more likely to be on high, as producers comprehend it must be positioned there to higher dissipate warmth.
So, head to your PC element vendor of alternative and decide up mainly something that meets the really useful dimensions. A very good search time period is “laptop computer NVME heatsink,” as these will probably 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 suggestion is that this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface materials. It really works simply positive, and in performing stress assessments on a PC, we couldn’t discover something steel that didn’t maintain temperatures below management. Whenever you’re looking out, simply make certain the answer you go for measures not more than 25mm broad 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 looking 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 benefit from the brand new customary, and although Gen5 drives are backward suitable, they’re dearer than their Gen4 counterparts. Simply purchase the quickest and highest-capacity Gen4 mannequin you may afford.
The right way to set up an SSD into your PS5
Should you want steerage on learn how to set up your new NVMe into your PS5 or PS5 Professional, we’ve got a separate information detailing all of the steps right here. Set up is fairly easy, however our how-to may help you if you happen to’re caught. Simply make notice: Earlier than making an attempt so as to add extra storage by way of a PS5 SSD, guarantee that you’ve Sony’s newest software program put in.