PS5 owners rejoice. Sony has just dropped a firmware update that has finally brought storage expansion support to its latest and greatest console. Things are still in beta. If everything goes according to plan, gamers across the globe can expand their storage with ease in just a few weeks. You won’t, however, be able to slot in any kind of drive and call it a day. You’ll need to adhere to a long list of requirements, but there’s no need to worry as it’s nothing out of the ordinary.
This beta is currently only available for select users in the following regions: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and France.
Your drive will have to be of the PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe variety. We’re talking about the latest and greatest drives that are currently available on the market. As for capacity, the 250GB — 4TB range will be supported. Your NVMe of choice will also have to be a speed devil with a sequential read speed of at least 5,500 Mb/s. That’s the bare minimum, too.
Additionally, you’ll have to use some cooling structure (like a heatsink) to ensure sufficient heat dissipation. Fortunately, you’ll have an abundance of options to choose from. You can attach one to the drive yourself (either in a single-sided or double-sided format) or purchase an NVMe drive that has a heatsink pre-applied.
Lastly, only the following form factors will be supported: 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, and 22110. The first two numbers refer to the width of the drive, the remaining ones to its length.
Before you whip out your wallet and take the plunge, make sure first to read the fine print.
Certain companies have already announced their “PS5 ready” storage options. Hence the Seagate Firecuda 530 NVMe. It is the first NVMe on the market that will officially support the PS5 (although it’ll by no means be the last). With speeds at up to 7,300 Mb/s and 5100TB TBW, it can endure the harshest of conditions before showing signs of “wear and tear.”
All in all, we’re extremely happy that Sony has actually delivered on its promise. Third-party storage support is the way to go. That said, these blazingly fast NVMe drives will put a hole in your wallet. We’re talking about the fastest and most advanced NVMe drives on the market, so it should come as no surprise that they’re sold at a premium.
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