How to upgrade your PS5 storage

By Joseph Yaden and Jesse Lennox Updated September 10, 2024

There’s nothing worse than sitting down to play one of the best PS5 games only to find out that you don’t have enough storage space to download it. Even if you have the game on disc, you still need to download the game to your system’s memory in order to play it, and that space can fill up fast if you’re playing a massive title like the best Call of Duty games. When that happens, your options are to either delete a game you have installed to make room or expand your storage. Thankfully the latter option is easier and cheaper than ever before. If you want to make sure you have space for all the upcoming PS5 games without having to delete your current favorites, here’s how to upgrade your storage.

Since the PS5 is backward compatible with most PS4 games, you’ll likely be using your new system to catch up on some last-gen favorites. That’s where an external drive comes in handy. You need to buy one that’s compatible and format it to work with the PS5. Once you plug in the drive to your PS5 via a USB, head to the Settings > Storage > Extended Storage, and you’ll find the option to format it as exFAT. After you do, it’ll be compatible with your new system.

From here, you can enable the drive to be the primary storage location for PS4 games. To enable it, simply click the slider to the right of Always Install PS4 Games to Extended Storage. If you have PS4 games on your internal drive, you can move them to the external drive. To do so, move up to Console Storage > Games and Apps > Items You Can Move. This list will feature every app or game that can be moved to your external drive, so check whichever ones you’d like to transfer, and select Move in the bottom-right. You’ll get a notice that says, “The selected games and apps will be moved to extended storage,” so mark OK, and you’ll be set. If you have a lot of PS4 games, it will take a while, so step back for a bit while it processes.

Also, do note that your external drive must be plugged into your PS5 to utilize any apps or games that are installed on it.

Now that you know how to utilize an external drive, you should be aware of which ones are compatible. Here are the requirements for the PS5’s extended memory, according to Sony directly:

Make sure you pay attention to the SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps requirement when searching for an external drive to utilize with your PS5, as anything slower than that will not function.

If you’re willing to do a little tinkering, you can save some space by installing an SSD directly into your PS5. We have created a full walkthrough of the process you can check out here.

While there is a slew of external hard drives that will work on your PS5, these are the ones we recommend the most:

WD 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive, USB 3.0

Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive, USB 3.0

Seagate Expansion Portable 4TB External Hard Drive Desktop HDD, USB 3.0

WD 8TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive, USB 3.0

SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable External SSD – Up to 550MB/s – USB-C, USB 3.1

Keep in mind that there are a number of options you have when it comes to searching for external memory for PS5. As long as the drive matches the requirements, you’ll be good to go. The number of PS4 games you have and plan to play, in conjunction with budget, will determine which external drive is good for you. We opted to get the 2TB, which is plenty for a hefty amount of PS4 games, but your situation might differ.