A much needed and welcomed new system update rolled out earlier this week for PlayStation 5. Previously, only PS4 games could be stored on an external USB hard drive. However, now you can store your PS5 games on an external USB hard drive.
Let’s take a look at what this new storage option means for PS5 owners.
Why do I need additional storage for my PS5?
The PS5 comes with 825GB of storage but only 667GB is available to use for storage. As a result, sooner or later, you’ll have to make the decision on what games to delete and what games to keep. Unfortunately, sometimes this can be a difficult decision especially if you have other family members who play games on the same console.
In my past experiences, having to pick and choose what games to keep that you have downloaded and installed on your console is never an easy thing to do. No matter what you do, you’ll end up having to download and reinstall games later when you want to play them.
Now, with the new PS5 system update, you can transfer your PS5 games to an external USB hard drive from your console’s internal storage. And, you can seamlessly copy your PS5 games back to your console’s internal storage when you’re ready to play.
It’s important to know that you can only store PS5 games on an external USB hard drive. PS5 games are designed around the console’s internal ultra high-speed SSD and an external USB hard drive can not match that speed. Furthermore, you can not download PS5 games directly to an external USB hard drive. Games will need to be downloaded and installed to the internal SSD first, then moved over. Luckily, it is faster to reinstall PS5 games from USB extended storage than to re-download or copy them from a disc.
USB extended storage requirements on PS5
- SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps or later.
- 250 GB minimum, 8 TB maximum capacity.
- Not all devices are guaranteed to work with the PS5 console.
- You can’t connect the drive through a USB hub.
- Two or more USB extended storage drives can’t be connected at the same time. You can connect multiple USB drives to your console, but you can use only one at a time.
The following SuperSpeed USB connections are supported on PS5 consoles:
- SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps (USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen1/USB 3.2 Gen1)
- SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps (USB 3.1 Gen2/USB 3.2 Gen2/USB 3.2 Gen1x2)
- SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen2x2).
WD_Black Certified PS5 compatibleÂ
Now that we can store our PS5 games on an external USB hard drive, the next question is “Which external USB hard drives are compatible?”. No worries, we have you covered! The performance storage, purpose-built for gaming WD_Black series of external USB hard drives from Western Digital are 100% compatible with PS5.
How to format a USB drive as USB extended storage on PS5
When you use a brand new external USB hard drive with your PS5 console, you will need to format it. Formatting will erase any data saved on the drive and cannot be recovered. Please note, USB drives that you used as USB extended storage on your PS4 console don’t need to be re-formatted for use on PS5.
For format a USB drive on your PS5 follow these easy steps:
- Connect your USB drive to a USB port on the back of your PS5 console.
- Go to Settings > Storage.
- Select USB Extended Storage > Format as USB Extended Storage.
Make sure you do not turn off the power or disconnect the USB drive while it’s being formatted. Doing this may cause data loss, corruption, or damage to your PS5 or USB drive.
Expanding the storage on your PS5 is easy to doÂ
As you can see, expanding the storage on your PS5 is easy to do. While it is not mandatory to have an external USB hard drive on your PS5, you won’t have to worry about what games to delete to make room for new ones. The less I have to worry about, means the more time I have to play the games that I love!
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