Skip to main content
DEAL WATCH: Up to 43% off Alexa devices $22.99

Snag this sale on Amazon's Echo devices in 12 sizes, colors, and versions. Read Review

BUY NOW
A collection of M.2 SSDs next to a gaming controller Credit: Reviewed / Joanna Nelius

Best PS5 SSDs of 2024

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

A collection of M.2 SSDs next to a gaming controller Credit: Reviewed / Joanna Nelius

Why trust Reviewed?

Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.

Learn more about our product testing
1
Editor's Choice Product image of PNY XLR8 CS3140 M.2 NVMe SSD Gaming Kit
Best Overall

PNY XLR8 CS3140 M.2 NVMe SSD Gaming Kit

Check Price at Amazon

Our top pick, the PNY XLR8, offers great performance at a reasonable price and excellent cooling. Read More

Pros

  • Great performance
  • Large heat sink dissipates heat effectively

Cons

  • None
2
Product image of Samsung 980 PRO w/ Heatsink PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD

Samsung 980 PRO w/ Heatsink PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD

Check Price at Samsung

A simple, straightforward SSD that does what you need at a decent price. Read More

Pros

  • Strong performance
  • The attached heat sink won’t slip or fall off

Cons

  • None
3
Product image of Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD with Heatsink

Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD with Heatsink

Check Price at Amazon

The Western Digital WD_Black SN850 is a good SSD that includes a blinky light. Read More

Pros

  • Includes a blinky LED
  • Good performance

Cons

  • None
4
Product image of Seagate FireCuda 530 w/ Heatsink NVMe - Gen 4

Seagate FireCuda 530 w/ Heatsink NVMe - Gen 4

Check Price at Amazon

The Seagate Gaming Firecuda 530 offers a large built-in heatsink. Read More

Pros

  • Large heat sink protects drive
  • Good performance

Cons

  • None
5
Product image of Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s SSD w/ Heatsink

Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s SSD w/ Heatsink

Check Price at Amazon

The Aorus Gen 4 7000s wins the prize for the fanciest-looking drive, even if it will be hidden inside your PC case. Read More

Pros

  • Fancy-looking
  • Good performance

Cons

  • Heat dissipation centered around one spot
  • Best Overall PNY XLR8 CS3140 M.2 NVMe SSD Gaming Kit
  • Other PS5 SSDs We Tested
  • How We Tested PS5 SSDs
  • What You Should Know About PS5 SSDs
  • More Articles You May Enjoy

Your PlayStation 5 is probably packed to the rafters with games, media, and other stuff, which also means you’ve probably run out of storage space. Time to add an extra solid state drive (SSD) and increase the amount of space for your game library. With the latest SSDs, you can also play games straight from the add-in drive, making your PS5 more flexible for multi-game sessions.

Choosing the best PS5 SSD is an exciting task because there isn’t much difference between them. Every internal SSD we tested had very similar performance and transfer speeds, with similar reads and writes and load times. The differences came in installing the drives and how cool they remained under pressure.

My top pick is the PNY XLR8 1TB (available at Amazon for $109.98) for expanding your PS5 storage, because it offers the best balance of price, performance, and ease of use. It’s a well-priced drive with a well-designed heatsink that does the best job of dissipating the heat from the drive. That’s because it offers the largest surface area to take advantage of the limited airflow inside the PS5, and I found that it had the lowest temperature. Plus it looks cool if you leave the side panel off.

It’s a tight race, though, and the Samsung 980 Pro and Western Digital Black SN580 also do an excellent job of providing the great balance of price, performance, and cool temperatures we were looking for in the best SSD for PS5.

The SSDs reviewed here are designed specifically for use in the PS5. Sony recommends against installing internal storage without a heatsink because it will get very hot, and heat will kill your SSD over time. So, buy one that has a built-in heatsink or get a heatsink separately to provide more surface area for this heat to dissipate.

Credit: Reviewed / Richard Baguley
Best Overall
PNY XLR8 CS3140 M.2 NVMe SSD Gaming Kit

This combination of a PNY CS3140 SSD and its custom PS5 heatsink is our Best Overall pick because it offers the best combination of price, performance, and heat dissipation.

This SSD is an M.2 PCIe 4.0 4x4 device with a standard 5-year warranty. It is available as a 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB model. We tested the 1TB model.

The SSD drive fits well onto the aluminum heatsink, which has a curvy design that fits right into the PS5 SSD space, replacing the cover panel with a flat heat spreader that sits over the ribbed heatsink. Under this is a large aluminum plate that fits on top of the SSD with the included thermal pad, which sticks the two together and transfers the heat.

This heavy combination means it has plenty of metal to absorb the heat and the ribbed heatsink has plenty of surface area to dissipate the heat. That gave the best thermal performance in my tests, with the heat of the top plate reaching 3.2 degrees Celsius (37.9 degrees Fahrenheit), while the heatsink was only a few degrees hotter, even after an hour of intense data transfer. That means the heatsink does an excellent job of keeping the SSD as cool as possible.

Installing this drive is simple: remove the PS5 cover, unscrew the SSD bay cover, install the SSD and use the small screw to secure it. The heatsink then fits into place above it. (Use the longer screw included with the heatsink to secure it.) It fits neatly against the case and will keep dust and dirt out.

Pros

  • Great performance

  • Large heat sink dissipates heat effectively

Cons

  • None

$109.98 from Amazon

Other PS5 SSDs We Tested

Product image of Samsung 980 PRO w/ Heatsink PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
Samsung 980 PRO w/ Heatsink PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD

Samsung knows a lot about SSDs, which shows in the 980 Pro, a simple but effective SSD that does a great job of adding more space to your PS5. The drive is an M.2 2280 drive that supports PCIe 4x4 and comes with a 5-year, 600TB TBW (Total Bytes Written, a way the manufacturers measure how heavily the drives have been used) warranty.

This SSD comes with an attached heatsink and an aluminum fin that covers the SSD drive's top, so you won’t see any chips on the board. This fits into the SSD drive bay neatly but still leaves some space above the drive. You can replace the cover that fits over the drive bay or leave it open for ventilation. You don’t need that much ventilation, though; the drive reached a maximum of 6.9°C (44.5°F) in use, which should not be a problem.

Installing the drive is simple: remove the PS5 bay cover, snap it into the slot, and use the screw to hold it down; that leaves about a third of the bay empty.

However, be warned that users absolutely need to update this drive’s firmware before they use it or it has a chance of failing. This can’t be done if it’s installed in a PS5, so buyers will have to do it on the PC, instead. And once it fails, it can’t be recovered, so this is an absolutely crucial step to prevent that.

Pros

  • Strong performance

  • The attached heat sink won’t slip or fall off

Cons

  • None

$144.00 from Samsung

$102.95 from Amazon

$109.99 from Best Buy

$109.99 from Walmart
Product image of Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD with Heatsink
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD with Heatsink

The Western Digital Black SD850 is the only SSD we tested that offers a feature dominant in the world of PC gaming components: a blinky LED light. For this drive, a small LED under the heatsink blinks slowly when the drive is in use. (Whether that appeals to you, especially when hidden under the PS5 cover, is another matter.) This SSD performs well, copying games and other data at a decent speed and without getting too hot. The temperature never rose above a very reasonable 3.9°C (39°F).

The SD850 has a heatsink attached to the drive, which covers all the data chips. This is a bit larger than the heatsink on the Samsung and leaves less room above for airflow, but the heatsink is not solid; there are channels in the body for air to pass through. This heatsink performed fairly well.

Again, the installation was simple. After removing the PS5 drive bay cover, the SD850 snaps into the M.2 slot, and a single screw holds it tightly. Depending on your taste for blinking lights, you can put the cover back over the drive bay or leave it off.

Pros

  • Includes a blinky LED

  • Good performance

Cons

  • None

Buy now at Amazon

$210.00 from Walmart
Product image of Seagate FireCuda 530 w/ Heatsink NVMe - Gen 4
Seagate FireCuda 530 w/ Heatsink NVMe - Gen 4

The Seagate Gaming FireCuda 530 has a fancy name, but it’s a standard SSD with a built-in heatsink. It’s the only SSD with a metal heatsink that completely covers the drive, wrapping all of it (except the end that fits into the M.2 socket) in a metal frame.

You might assume this would keep it cooler than the rest, but surprisingly that isn’t the case. It isn’t a big problem, since it did a good job keeping the drive cool, but it was a little bit warmer than some others, hitting a maximum of about 41°F (5°C).

The FireCuda 530 was as fast as the other drives and easy to install. Once you have removed the drive bay cover, you snap the drive into place and install the single screw that holds it there. This is a little awkward because of the larger heatsink: I had to find a screwdriver with a longer, thinner shaft to fit than the one I usually use.

Pros

  • Large heat sink protects drive

  • Good performance

Cons

  • None

Buy now at Amazon

$109.99 from Best Buy

$139.00 from Walmart
Product image of Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s SSD w/ Heatsink
Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s SSD w/ Heatsink

The Aorus Gen 4 7000s wins the prize for the fanciest-looking drive; the heatsink that covers the drive has chrome and anodized metal highlights that make it look like a racing car. Whether you need this in a drive that will be hidden most of the time is a good question, but it is certainly nice looking.

The heatsink fulfills its purpose: the raised ridges and grooves provide plenty of surface area for dissipating heat, but most of the heat seems to radiate from the exposed ridges at one end. That’s odd, but it doesn’t seem harmful. The drive worked without problems and didn’t overheat.

Stock has been low as of late, but the 2TB model is consistently available.

Pros

  • Fancy-looking

  • Good performance

Cons

  • Heat dissipation centered around one spot

Buy now at Amazon

$180.99 from Walmart
Product image of Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD + M.2 NVMe Heatsink for PS5
Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSD + M.2 NVMe Heatsink for PS5

The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is a two-part package: the Rocket 4 Plus SSD, plus the PS5 heatsink. (Make sure that you get the right package which includes the heatsink because the drive won’t perform well without it.) The SSD is a standard M.2 PCIe 4x4 drive with a 5-year warranty, but don’t forget to register the drive with Sabrent. The warranty only runs for two years if you don’t.

The heatsink has an interesting design, with a black anodized heat spreader on top and a large aluminum heat block that fits on top of the drive. Like the PNY drive, this is designed to replace the PS5 drive bay cover, sealing the bay from dust and dirt while still conducting heat away from the drive. It’s a nice design, down to the Sabrent logo swoosh on the top in shiny metal.

Sabrent also included a small screwdriver, which is useful if you don’t already have one. It is also pretty simple to install: snap the drive into place, remove the cover from the thermal pad, and put the heatsink in place so it sits on top of the drive. Those who like logos will also be pleased to see that it uses the original PS5 screw to hold the heatsink in place, so you can still see the PS5 icons on the screw head.

Pros

  • Nicely designed heatsink Includes small screwdriver

Cons

  • None

Buy now at Amazon

$129.99 from Walmart
Product image of Kingston Fury Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD w/ Graphene Heat Spreader
Kingston Fury Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD w/ Graphene Heat Spreader

Kingston’s Fury Renegade SSD is advertised as working with the PlayStation 5 but has no real heatsink. Instead, a heat spreader on the drive tries to vent the heat to the surrounding air, but it doesn’t do a great job.

The SSD gets up to a toasty 60°C (140°F). That was on the end of the drive near the M.2 connector, right over the controller chip that does the hard work of moving data around on the drive.

To be fair, the SSD's temperature didn’t seem to affect its performance. It worked as well as the other drives, and read and writes data without issues. However, this is a bit warmer than SSDs should generally be, and the way that heat is concentrated in one area could adversely affect the drive's lifespan. Kingston offers the same 5-year warranty as the others, though, and you can get this drive with a heatsink if you’re worried about the temperatures.

Pros

  • Well priced

  • Good performance

Cons

  • Gets hot

$107.99 from Amazon

$107.99 from Walmart

How We Tested PS5 SSDs

To test SSDs for the PlayStation 5, we looked at ease of use and performance. We tested ease of use by installing the drives. (How easy was the process? Was installing the heatsink in the small space the PS5 offers awkward?)

Then, we tested performance by timing how long it took to copy several large games to and from the SSDs.

The results here were interesting because there was no significant difference between the different SSDs. Over the several minutes it took to copy a large game from the built-in drive to the new one, there was only a difference of a few seconds between the cheapest and the most expensive drives.

We also tested playing games from each drive. (Did the game load slower, or did it pause during play while it was loading data?) Again, we found no significant difference. The games loaded as quickly as from the built-in drive, and there were no glitches during play.

Finally, we looked at the drives in use. (While copying or playing games, did they get hot?) The PlayStation 5 does not leave much room for heat to dissipate, so we used a thermal camera to look at how hot each drive and SSD heatsink got in heavy use and how well it got rid of this heat.

The Tester

I am Richard Baguley. I’ve been testing and writing about technology since connecting to the internet using a 300-baud modem was the cool and new way to do things. I’m a freelance writer whose work has appeared in places such as Wired, CNet, Tom's Guide, and, of course, Reviewed. I’ve written guides for hard drives, WiFi routers, USB batteries, and many, many other devices.

What You Should Know About PS5 SSDs

The PlayStation 5 is a seriously advanced bit of kit with a lot of technology built in, including a fast Solid State Drive (SSD). This built-in SSD uses memory chips rather than the spinning glass disc that hard drives use and can hold up to 825 Gigabytes (GB) of data, which includes the software that the PS5 runs to create the user interface and access the Internet. After that, you usually have about 650GB of space left for games.

While designing the PS5, Sony realized that games would get bigger and bigger, so they included a way to add more storage, a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) M.2 port. That is the same port used to add SSDs to laptops and desktop computers.

This port was not initially available to users, but an update in April 2021 offered the ability to install an SSD that can be used to store game content. This supports drives up to 4 Terabytes (TB) in size, more than four times larger than the built-in SSD.

It is a good job that they did because modern PS5 games are monsters; Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War takes up about 325GB of space or about half of the built-in drive. That doesn’t include the game's various seasons of downloadable content (DLC).

Another recent update to the PS5 software added the ability to play games directly from the add-in SSD, so you can install games straight to this larger space and play them from there. One thing to note about these SSDs is that they are much slower at writing data than reading it. Copying a game to the add-in SSD typically took about six minutes while copying from the add-in SSD took about two.

That’s because all of these SSDs use Multi-Level Cells (MLC), where each cell (the part that stores the data) holds multiple bits of data by using multiple charge levels to indicate the different combinations of data. So, when you write a bit of data to the drive, the drive has to read the cell charge level, recalculate the cell's charge level with the new data, then write the new charge.

To read data, the drive only has to read the cell charge. Before buying any new drive, make sure you double check the listed sequential read speed, as this is how fast the PS5 will read data from the SSD.

  • The Best PS5 Games
  • The Best Gaming Headsets
  • PlayStation 5 Review
  • The Best TVs for PS5

Meet the tester

Richard Baguley

Richard Baguley

Contributor

@@rbaguley

Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.

See all of Richard Baguley's reviews

Checking our work.

Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.

Shoot us an email

Up next