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There are quite a few ways to expand your PS5 storage, most of which involve purchasing additional hard drive space, so this Holiday period is a great opportunity to get some extra space at a bargain price.
While the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation 5 Pro both come with pretty hefty hard drives (825 GB in the PS5 Slim and 2 TB in the Pro), over 150 GB of that is taken up by system storage, and modern games are more demanding than ever when it comes to file size. If you want to have lots of games installed to choose between, you probably need to expand your PS5 storage space.
However, there are a few things you can try out before splashing the cash on some new tech so read on to figure out the best way to expand your PlayStation 5 storage.
Save storage space by managing your game library
Modern games are, to put it lightly, massive. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 requires 102 GB of storage space alone. If you want to check out the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster you’re looking at 94 GB (though it’s even larger for PC players), and Black Myth Wukong needs 104 GB of space.
So, if you’ve played through something and are finished with it, it really makes sense to uninstall it from your PS5. While annoying if you decide you want to revisit the game in the future, it’s the easiest, cheapest way to save storage space for the new title you’re keen to get stuck into.
How to uninstall a game from the PS5
- Go to the home menu and select the game you want to uninstall
- Press the options button
- Select Delete
If the game isn’t on the home page, instead of step 1 above, go to your Game Library, view all installed games, and select the one to uninstall.
Clear up your stored PS4 games
If you still enjoy playing a lot of PlayStation 4 games, there’s a super simple way to minimize the amount of space they take up on your PS5.
You can plug in an external hard drive with a USB cable and transfer PS4 games over to the external drive, from which they can be directly played.
It is possible to store PS5 games on a USB external hard drive, but PS5 games can’t be played this way – they have to be moved to console storage to be played.
System requirements for external USB storage for the PS5
According to the Sony website, there are a few requirements for a USB hard drive for the PS5.
- SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps or later.
- 250 GB minimum, 8 TB maximum capacity.
- You can’t connect the drive through a USB hub.
- Two or more USB extended storage drives can’t be connected at the same time. You can connect multiple USB drives to your console, but you can use only one at a time.
How to format the drive for PS5 storage
You will also have to format the drive to use it as storage for the PlayStation 5.
- Connect the USB drive
- Go to Settings > Storage
- Select USB Extended Storage > Format as USB Extended Storage.
How to set PS4 games to automatically download to the external storage
Keep things nice and neat by automatically sending all your PS4 games to the external storage.
- Go to Settings
- Select Installation Location
Increase your PlayStation 5 storage with an added internal drive
The PlayStation 5 has an internal expansion slot to easily add a new storage drive. It accepts M.2 NVMe SSD drives, a kind of solid state drive that achieves fast speeds making it perfect for gaming applications.
It’s important you get hold of the correct kind of M.2 drive that is compatible with your PS5, ensuring that the drive and any heatsinks fit into the expansion slot. Here are the requirements from Sony’s website.
| Interface | PCI-Express Gen4x4 supported M.2 NVMe SSD (Key M) |
| Storage space | 250 GB minimum – 8 TB maximum |
| Form factor | 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, 22110 |
| Size including heat-dissipation mechanism | Width: up to 25 mm Length: 30/40/60/80/110 mm Thickness: up to 11.25 mm (up to 8.0 mm from above the board, up to 2.45 mm from below the board) |
| Sequential read speed | 5,500MB/s or faster is recommended |
| Socket type | Socket 3 (Key M) |
How to install the new M.2 drive to your PS5
Make sure you’ve got your PS5 on a sturdy surface to work on, and if you want to prevent the case from getting scratched, put it on a desk mat or something made of cloth before getting to work. Also, grab a #1 Phillips head screwdriver – that’s the only tool you’ll need.
- Make absolutely certain your PS5 is turned off and completely unplugged,
- Ground yourself before starting to protect your device and hard drive from static electricity
- Put the PS5 face down (with the PS5 logo down) and remove the back panel
- Locate the expansion slot and unscrew the panel
- Inside the expansion slot housing, there’s a spacer and a screw. Remove those.
- Fit the M.2 SSD – slide it in at an angle, pushing it until it locks in place
- Put the spacer and screw in place to hold the drive snugly
- Put the expansion slot cover back over the top
- While your PS5 is open, it might be a good chance to clean out all the dust to make sure it doesn’t overheat
- Put the back panel back on and plug everything back in again
- When you turn your PS5 back on you’ll be prompted to format the M.2 SSD in order to use it
