Choosing the best 1TB to 4TB SSD for your PlayStation 5 upgrade

 

 

Unless you’re ready to constantly delete and download/re-download games, an SSD storage upgrade feels necessary. If like me, you like to have games stored on your system then go back to them periodically, or alternatively if you play a few games at the same time, having to re-download large files every time you’d like to play one of your favourites is less than ideal. And that’s to say nothing of the time it takes to download 200GB+ if you don’t have a super-fast connection.

As such, you might also not want to consider SSDs that are under 1TB. Their read and write speed might be lower than your PS5 in addition to not offering that much more space, especially for AAA games and some e-sports.

Do you really need an SSD, or can you just buy an external HDD for storage?

Technically, you can just get an external HDD for storage, but you will not be able to run the games from the external HDD, as the external hard drive would be way too slow for PlayStation 5. You will still need to move your games around to your SSD to get them to play, so investing in an HDD isn’t ideal and it doesn’t really solve the initial problem of low storage space in any meaningful capacity.

The PS5 comes equipped with an SSD of a rather impressive speed of about 5.5GB per second, making it about 100 times (yes 100 times!) faster than what the PlayStation 4 can achieve.

To put that into perspective, PS5’s bandwidth is at least 5.5GB per second (compressed can reach up to 9GB), while the bandwidth on PS4 between 50 to 100MB per second. PlayStation 4 can load 1GB in 20 seconds, while a PlayStation 5 can load 2GB in 0.27 seconds. HDD simply cannot compete with an SSD

What type of SSD do you need for PlayStation 5?

PlayStation 5 comes equipped with NVMe SSD, which is the type of SSD that is compatible and the one that you’ll need to expand the storage. There is a space inside the PlayStation 5 where you can install an SSD, and removing the cover and installing it will not void the warranty. That is, if you follow the instructions set out by Sony. You can find more information here.

There are a range of SSDs that are compatible with your PS5 and they vary in speed and storage, so choosing the perfect one for you will depend on how much you play, what types of games you play and your budget.

The Holy Trinity of the best compatible SSDs for PlayStation 5 are the Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate FireCuda 530 and WD Black SN850.

The choice of which one would be the best for you will entirely depend on your budget and the speed you’re looking for. You probably don’t want an SSD that is slower than the one that is in your PS5, so you ought to be looking at 5.5GB/s and up.

Below are our selections for the best 1TB and over for your New Year PlayStation 5 upgrade. Please note that we’ve excluded SSDs that are better suited to servers, or those that have a large storage but are slow, such as the Corsair MP400 8TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD.

While the Corsair MP 400 SSD has large storage of 8TB, the speed of the SSD is actually below that of the PlayStation 5, with a read speed of 3.4GB. As discussed above, the read speed of your PlayStation 5 is actually 5.5GB, so aim for that read speed or higher with your upgrade.

Samsung 980 PRO 1TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD

Samsuing 980 PRO is a 1TB SSD with an excellent read speed of 7GB/s, but with the TBW (total bytes written) that are somewhat low. TBW refers to the number of terabytes you can write over the warrenty period before the drive starts to degrarade, which may eventually lead to data loss. For all SSDs mentinoed here, including Samsung 980 PRO, the standard warrenty is five years. TBWs are important factor when choosing an SSD, in addition to the speed and storage as this will give you an idea of durability of your component.
Samsuing 980 PRO will definitely give your PS5 a play and storage boost, and is a good choice if you're not looking to spend a lot, as bigger SSDs, especially over 1TB, are much pricier. 
Samsung SSDs are all excellent all-rounders, they're durable and are perfect for commercial use, esepcially when it comes to upgrading something like your PS5.

Read Speed	Up to 7,000 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 5,000 MB/s
Data Storage Life	600 TBW
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	1,500,000 hours

 

Samsung 980 PRO 2TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD

The 2TB Samsung 980 PRO boasts the same read and write speed, but as it is double the size of 1TB SSD, the data storage life is twice the size. A bit pricier, but double the storage. The warrenty of the SSD is 5 years, and with its data storage life being 1,200 TWB, your SSD can essentially write over a petabyte after the five years before needing a replacement - by this time, a new gen of consoles will probably be out as well.

Read Speed	Up to 7,000 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 5,000 MB/s
Data Storage Life	1,200 TBW
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	1,500,000 hours

 

Seagate FireCuda 530 1TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe

Seagate FireCuda 530 1TB and 2TB are an even faster SSDs in both read and write speed. It is already way faster than the PS5, as well as the Samsung SSD, and its data storage life is slightly better. It is also somewhat cheaper than other SSDs in its class, making it durable and budget-friendly.

Read Speed	Up to 7,300 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 6,000 MB/s
Data Storage Life	Up to 1,275 TBW
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	1,800,000 hours

 

Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe

The 2TB Seagate FireCuda 530 has the same read speed, but a boosts a higher write speed comapred to its 1TB counterpart, and it comes with a bit of a higher pricetag. Double the storage for less than double the price is a good investment.

Read Speed	Up to 7,300 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 6,900 MB/s
Data Storage Life	Up to 2,550 TBW
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	1,800,000 hours

 

Seagate FireCuda 530 4TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe

If you’re looking to go all out with your upgrade and are planning on having a lot of games stored on your system that are ready to play, then Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with 4TB of storage is a worthy investment. This SSD is a lot pricier than others on our list, but it has 4TB of storage and an incredible read speed of 7.3GB per second.

This is faster than your PlayStation 5, so load times will be even more impressive. Both the TBW and the MTBF are extremely good, so the investment is in storage, speed and durability. For the price tag though, it is to be expected.

Read Speed	Up to 7,300 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 6,900 MB/s
Data Storage Life	5,100 TBW
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)	1,800,000 hours

 

Western Digital Black SN850 1TB M.2-2280 SSD

With the write speed a bit faster than the Samsung one, WD Black SN850 is another good choice for a PS5 storage upgrade. The difference between WD Black and Samsuing is not that great at all, so the choice between the two will be up to you, which brand you trust and prefer, and of course, the price. 

Read Speed	Up to 7,000 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 5,300 MB/s
Data Storage Life	600 TBW

 

Western Digital Black SN850 2TB M.2-2280 SSD

An alternative to the 1TB, for double the storage, but at slightly lower write speed. The difference in write speed isn't great enough to really make a difference, especially for the PS5 upgrade, so go with the one that suits your gaming needs and your budget. 

Read Speed	Up to 7,000 MB/s
Write Speed	Up to 5,100 MB/s
Data Storage Life	1,200 TBW

 

For the ultimate upgrade of your PlayStation 5, Seagate FireCuda 4TB SSD is recommended. 4TB is a lot of storage, however you will likely not need to uninstall any games for a very long time. For a diehard PlayStation 5 console gamer, this would be the perfect and ultimate upgrade.

If you're on a bit of a budget and do not require so much space, smaller SSDs of either 1TB or 2TB are recommended. As previously mentioned, anything smaller than 1TB isn't really worth it for the PS5, as you can only install one SSD, and the PlayStation 5's internal storage is already below 1TB. You should also not be looking at any SSDs that have the read and write speed lower than your PlayStation 5, as this may add more storage, but it might be slower than your native PS5 SSD.