Here are some of the best external hard drives for PS5 game storage • Eurogamer.net

With the announcement this week that a new PS5 update Will finally let you move PS5 games to external USB storage, we thought it would be wise to take a quick look at some of the best external hard drives for PS5 game storage.

Before I get into the thick of it, if you’ve ever purchased a external hard drive for PS4, you should have no problem using any of these for your PS5 as well. It may need to be reformatted when you plug it in (which will erase all current data on the drive), but after this quick process, you’ll be good to go.

If, perhaps, you’ve upgraded your PS4 with an internal hard drive, you may also want to consider purchasing a cheap hard drive enclosure and convert it to an external drive. This will be a quick and easy fix, but it will obviously put your PS4 out of service for all future use – unless you reinstall the old drive.

Remember, more importantly, all PS5 games moved to an external hard drive cannot be played and can only stay there for storage purposes. When you want to read them again, you need to transfer them to internal storage and apply new updates. It’s not a perfect solution, but this process will generally be much faster than installing or downloading the game each time.

This is the best solution for now, at least until Sony reveals the list of compatible PS5 SSDs that you can install in the console’s expansion bay (currently inactive). Digital Foundry is still monitoring this situation and will no doubt update its list of best SSD for PS5 once we have concrete information.

Okay, let’s get back to what we’re all here for:

Best external hard drive for PS5

Old favorite, the Seagate Portable is an easy choice for the best PS5 external hard drive thanks to its reliability and affordability. There are a few different sized drives available for purchase, although 2TB is probably the smarter and more cost effective choice. The 4TB version is probably overkill for the most part, while the 5TB version isn’t a bad option if you really want to get your money’s worth at less than 2p per gigabyte.

Different versions of this PlayStation-branded player are also available – including one that sports a Last of Us 2-inspired design – but it’s essentially the same at a higher price point. There is no need to spend your money on it unless you really want your hard drive to be some kind of centerpiece.

For another option, you can also consider the Western Digital My Passport range. These drives typically float around the same price range as the Seagate Portable and will offer similar performance, but can sometimes be a bit more expensive.

Cheapest external hard drive for PS5

For a slightly cheaper option, you can opt for a hard drive from the Toshiba Canvio Basics line. The smaller 1TB drive typically costs around £ 40, so the difference isn’t that big compared to external hard drives from Seagate and Western Digital. Any savings are useful, no matter how small!

It’s a great choice if you don’t feel like you need a lot of extra storage space or are using a smaller game library. That’s probably a lot of us right now, considering the lack of full-blown PS5 games. However, the likes of Return and Deathloop are still set for release this year – barring any unfortunate delays – and more PS5 upgrade fixes for many last-gen hits and PlayStation exclusives could still be on the way.

Fastest external hard drive for PS5

It’s a draw between two, here, depending on your budget and your needs.

The first recommendation is the Samsung T5: a slim and sleek portable SSD. Transfer speeds can reach 500MB / s and the price of a 500GB drive is quite reasonable. Sure, you’re paying a premium to upgrade to faster, more robust flash storage, but it’s gotten a lot more affordable in recent years.

Your other option is the Crucial X8. A digital foundry favorite in their roundup of best SSDs for gaming, this offers speeds up to twice as fast as the Samsung’s. At a much higher cost, this drive is probably a bit over the top if you just want something for PS5 game storage.

Keep in mind that the value of an external SSD is somewhat limited on the PlayStation 5, given that you can’t run PS5 games from extended storage. That said, you will gain some perks if you think you are going to be doing a lot of roundtrip transfers. Plus, any PS4 games you decide to play from external storage will benefit from fast load times.

Overall, these are the drives you should consider if you plan to get a PS5 external hard drive after the last console update. Now we are looking forward to the news of internal SSD storage upgrade! Or, if you’re still in the market for a console, you can keep an eye out for our dedicated page to keep up with all the latest. PS5 action new.