Ever since its launch in 2020, the Sony PlayStation 5 has established itself as the most popular console around. We've even had a second iteration since, in the form of the PS5 Slim, plus the uber-powerful PS5 Pro. Either version of the base PS5, though, has the same slight storage issue.
But never fear: Sony allows you to add a separate SSD card to expand the amount of space to store games on – handy when the likes of Call of Duty weigh in at over 100GB apiece.
T3's top picks
The best expansion card overall
The WD_Black SN850X is a worthy successor to the excellent SN850 – it's faster too, with up to 7,300MB/s speeds. It is one of the most popular cards for a reason.
Great speeds for a very friendly price
Lexar has always been a favourite with photographers and gamers can benefit too – especially with the price of this 512GB card with up to 7,450MB/s read speeds.
A great option for more storage
Samsung's flagship SSD is known to be one of the most reliable and stable cards on the market. It may cost a touch more, but the premium price comes with performance.
Update 14 November 2025: A new FAQ section has been added to this guide, to answer some of the most common queries. Update 22 October 2025: We edited this guide to make it more concise and helpful, removing extra drive options that didn't offer anything different enough.
Rik has written about video games for more than 36 years, having edited numerous gaming magazines. He has also starred on games TV shows, such as Channel 4's GamesMaster and Sky's Games World. He has added extra storage to his own personal PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles, which he uses to review games and generally unwind.
The PS5 SSDs we recommend in 2025
The best PS5 SSD overall
Western Digital's WD_Black gaming range has been going great guns for years. It offers fast storage for a number of devices, including PlayStation 5, and differentiates itself with metal casings and solid build quality.
We've previously recommended the WD_Black SN850 as our favourite in the past, but the more recent SN850X is faster and therefore even easier to recommend now that it's available for a decent price.
It boasts read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s – more than fast enough for the PS5 minimum spec – and has an excellent, solid heatsink included.
This is the SSD I currently use in my console, and I'm constantly thrilled by its performance. It's even better, I feel, than the official PlayStation alternative also sold by the brand.
The best budget PS5 SSD
If you don't have the biggest budget and just want to boost your storage a bit, opting for a 512GB SSD could be a great option – especially when there's the likes of the Lexar Professional NM800 Pro around for relatively little outlay.
It features fast read speeds – much higher than the minimum required to run in a PlayStation 5 – and comes from a brand trusted by camera professionals. That should give you reassurance on its stability and endurance.
It's not the sexiest SSD on the market, but it does come with a heatsink preinstalled so you can slot it straight into the console. And, once you've put the cover back on your machine, you should never have to see it again anyway.
There are other storage sizes available too, as well as a version without a heatsink that is even cheaper – although you will have to source your own third-party heatsink that way.
The best premium PS5 SSD
Samsung is a hugely renowned brand in the world of storage, and its SSD cards are widely considered to be among the best – hence you often have to pay extra for them.
The Samsung 990 Pro is definitely in that category. Far from the cheapest on the market, it is nonetheless highly regarded. It almost matches the superb read speeds (7,450 MB/s) with its write speeds (6,900 MB/s), which allows for quick installation of PS5 games.
Build quality is also exceptional, with a lot of thought going into such a tiny device. So, if you are thinking of shelling out extra for additional storage – such as this 2TB model – you can rest assured that this one will last.
It's also worth noting that the 990 Pro is great with power efficiency, too, so it should keep your console's usage down a touch.
How to choose the best PS5 SSD for you
There are two big considerations to bear in mind when choosing a PlayStation 5-compatible SSD card.
To begin with, the card needs to be an M.2 SSD, and you can't just buy any model; it has to match certain criteria in terms of speed.
You absolutely cannot just buy one of the best SSDs on the market, for example, and bang it in the console. While that drive may be very good, it may not be fast enough to be PS5 compatible.
In addition, your SSD has to have a heatsink to keep the storage solution cool during persistent operation. And that heatsink has to be compatible with the size limits of the NVMe SSD expansion bay in the PS5. Fortunately, Sony has supplied a very useful guide that details these criteria.
If you choose the latter, you'll have to add your own. However, they are reasonably inexpensive and easy to fit.
As a final note, for an SSD to be PS5 compatible, it needs to meet the following criteria:
- PCIe Gen4 interface
- 250GB - 8TB capacity
- 5,500MB/s read speed or faster
- 22mm width heatsink required (included or third party)
How we tested the PS5 SSD cards
We have extensive experience of using multiple PlayStation SSD cards ourselves, in both standard and digital edition PS5 consoles, and in the PS5 Pro.
The best way to test how effective installed storage can be is to record how long it takes to load a game when it's running from the internal drive and then from the added SSD card. Which we have done on many occasions by transferring the same game between the different storage options and using a timer.
The end results can be surprising, with some expansion SSD cards even offering faster load times than Sony's own internal storage.
FAQ
Here we answer some of the most commonly asked questions about PS5 and PS5 Pro storage.
Why does my PS5 only have 667GB of usable space?
While standard PlayStation 5 consoles list 825GB of internal storage as part of the specifications, the actual space available to use is far less – a fraction over 667GB, in fact.
That's because the system software required to run your PS5 effectively takes up a considerable amount of space itself – almost 158GB.
It's slightly different for the PS5 Pro, which comes with 2TB of internal storage – that offers between 1.84TB and 1.89TB of actual storage space after the system software is taken into account.
How many games can 667GB hold on a PS5?
There are a vast amount of games available for the PlayStation 5, and that means they come in a wide variety of file sizes. Smaller indie games can weigh-in around 5GB to 10GB apiece, while big AAA titles are often between 50GB and 100GB in size.
Some of the most popular releases, such as the annual Call of Duty games, can be far bigger still – even over 200GB if you download all the game files.
So, when it comes to 667GB of storage space, you can realistically expect to store between 7 and 13 AAA games on the internal drive before needing to uninstall and redownload them later. More if you play smaller indie titles, less if you are a COD fan.
Is 667GB of storage enough for a PS5?
In all honesty, we haven't found anyone who hasn't maxed out their PS5 storage within a few months of buying the console. If you're a member of PS Plus (Extra or Premium), you have access to 100s of games to download, so are likely to fill the internal solution rapidly.
If you don't subscribe though and often plan one or two games to their completion before buying others, you might not need to expand your storage. It's really dependent on whether you want to go back to a game at a later date.
And it also depends on your home broadband speeds. Do you really want to have to redownload a 100GB game further down the line?
What is the average PS5 game file size in 2025?
As mentioned above, the average file size for a AAA PS5 game is between 50GB and 100GB. However, it's also worth noting that if you have a PS5 Pro, the additional resources required for increased graphical fidelity could bump those numbers up further.
Smaller indie games are often found at around the 5GB to 10GB mark.
Can I use an external hard drive for PS5 games?
While the PlayStation 5 supports external USB hard drives it cannot play PS5 games from them. The read speeds are just not fast enough for the game to work – no matter how intensive or complicated it may be.
However, you can use an external drive to store and run PS4 games from, allowing you to free the internal storage (or SSD card) for more PS5 titles.
How to add more storage to a PS5
The process to install an SSD card into your PS5 and use it to store games is simple. There is a dedicated slot that's easily accessible once you remove one of the face plates on your console.
Sony has provided a step-by-step video to follow, which shows just how easy it is:
