How to Choose an External Hard Drive for PS5

Do you want to know how to choose an external hard drive for PS5? You are on the right spot to know the answer of this question.

If you have a PS5 and are looking for a good external hard drive that is compatible with the new Sony console and has good features.

Here is some good purchase recommendations, with the best brands and models featured. And some tips to know while choosing the external storage medium according to your needs.

See Also: My External Hard Drive Says It Needs to Be Formatted: Solution

How to choose a Hard Drive for PS5?

To choose an external hard drive for your PS5, you should consider the same features that you would consider when purchasing one for your PC. Namely:

1. Capacity

Of course it is one of the most important characteristics when purchasing an external hard drive. Since these storage units are used to store what does not fit in the internal ones.

So you should always have enough space for what you need to put and a little more. It is always better to err on the side of too much than too little memory.

Remember that in the end you will save more than you had planned… It is likely that now you have 8 video games, but surely they are not the only ones that you are going to have in your collection.

Much less if you count those of the PS4, which are also still supported on the PS5 thanks to backward compatibility.

2. Access

Access speed is another important factor for fast reads and writes. This largely depends on the type of disk, whether it is HDD or SSD.

In this sense, I preferably recommend SSD, since it will provide higher speeds. However, HDDs can be a good alternative for those looking for something cheaper and with greater capacity.

3. Interface

The link used to communicate with the equipment, in this case the disc with the PS5, is another point to consider. Always look for it to be USB 3.0, to get better transfer rates.

Remember that it is of little use that the port supports USB 3.0. If the controller of the external hard drives enclosure is not capable of delivering those speeds because it is a USB 2.0 or earlier.

What Hard Drive should I use for my PS5

In principle, all external hard drives that have an interface compatible with the PS5 should be compatible with the Sony game console.

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In this way, you will be able to expand its capacity beyond the internal unit that the console brings.

But not all are compatible. Keep in mind the following factors under which the external hard drive must have to be compatible:

• The maximum capacity supported by PS5 is 8TB. Hard drives above that will not be supported.
• It must be a USB hard drive, interfaces like Firewire, eSata, etc. would not be supported.

Considering these two factors, all external hard drives that comply with them are compatible. However, in the recommendations we have made a specific selection of some models specially designed for gamers.

PS5: Store Yes, Play No

And finally, beware of misunderstandings. On the PS4 you could store video games on external hard drives and also play them. On the PS5 that has changed, and they have put a restriction.

Therefore, hard drives will simply serve to store game titles and relieve internal memory, but you will not be able to play video games from this external drive.

They simply serve as a storage or backup for your video games, but when playing them you will have to transfer the video game from the external storage unit that you have purchased to the internal memory.

In this case, you may think that for this option it is better to have them in the cloud (Sony Store) and download them when you go to play them.

See Also: How to remove the Hard Drive from a Laptop

But this could be a problem for those people who have slow Internet connections, so it is it is advisable to get an external hard drive for PS5.

Eye! This limitation only occurs for native PS5 video games. However, if you want to store your PS4 titles on the external hard drive, then you will be able to access and play them directly from the external media.

That will lose some of the speed advantages of the Sony’s internal SSD-type hard drive, but it will take away the internal memory limit that comes with it as standard.

For PS4 video games it can be used to store and play, for PS5 titles only to store. Now it is in your hands, which hard drive do you prefer and what is the reason for your choice? Don’t forget to comment!