The best PS5 external hard drives are a great investment for anyone with the latest PlayStation. Because although we love this console, it has to be said: it has less storage than gamers would like.
The PS5 comes with an inbuilt sold state drive (SSD) for quick transfer speeds. But that accounts for only 825GB of storage, including the 158GB occupied by the PS5's operating system. Given the average PS5 game is about 50GB large (with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II at over 200GB), most of us will benefit from some extra storage.
Below, we've brought together the best external hard drives on the market today. Alternatively if you'd prefer to splash out on an internal drive (and open up your console to install it), see our roundup of the best SSDs for PS5. Also check out our guides to the best monitors for PS5 and best PS5 controllers.
The best PS5 external hard drives available now
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The best PS5 external hard drive for most people
Capacity: 500GB-4TB
SDD or HDD: SSD
This NVMe SSD can manage fast read speeds of up to 2,000MB/s, reducing the time it takes to get your games on and off the drive. It comes at a cost, and there are cheaper options (see number 02), but this is a premium drive that earns its price tag.
The best PS5 external hard drive if you're on a budget
Capacity: 1TB-2TB
SDD or HDD: HDD
This is a standard external hard drive, so it'll be slower than an SSD, and you probably won't want to use it to play your PlayStation games off. But for an affordable price, it's a great option for storing all your extra games, freeing up the hard drive of your PS5.
The best PS5 external hard drive at a compact size
Capacity: 500GB-2TB
SDD or HDD: SSD
Short on space? This SSD is suitably tiny (so small, you might lose it). But it's still well-built, very fast, and offering a great balance of features. Capacity goes up to 2TB and we can highly recommend this for a quick, discrete external option for use with the PS5.
The best PS5 external hard drive that's Sony approved
Capacity: 2TB-4TB
SDD or HDD: HDD
This hard drive has an official licence from Sony guaranteeing it to work with the PS5 (and the PS4). It's easy to install and get it up and running, and it provides plenty of storage with 2TB and 4TB models to choose from. It's solid, reliable and looks the part too.
Small, tough and pretty speedy too
Capacity: 240GB-2TB (8TB with Pro Ex)
SDD or HDD: SSD
This miniature drive is very portable, built tough, and it's waterproof and dustproof. 1011MB/s transfer speeds are pretty impressive, too. And it comes with a USB Type-A adapter, which means that you can plug it into a PS4 as well as a PS5.
The best PS5 external hard drive for capacity
Capacity: 8TB
SDD or HDD: HDD
This one's a hard drive, so it's slower, but it offers 8TB of capacity, making it the perfect choice if all you want is somewhere to stash your enormous pile of old PS4 games and load them at PS4 speeds. It should easily be able to store all your favourites with room to spare.
The best PS5 external hard drive for lighting
Capacity: 500GB-2TB
SDD or HDD: SSD
Want fast storage and colourful RGB lighting? This SSD offers transfer speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s and a little notch around its casing can be lit up in any colour you want. The five-year warranty's another plus; you should be covered by the time the PS6 comes.
Great value hard drive for the PS5
Capacity: 1TB-5TB
SDD or HDD: HDD
Here's another good option if you want a stack of storage for a decent price and don't object to the slower speeds of an HDD. It's one of the most popular external hard drives out there, comes in a range of capacities from 1TB to 5TB, all at reasonable prices.
HDD vs SSD: which is better for PS5?
Short answer – an SSD is better for PS5 if you can afford it.
Hard disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD) are both storage devices that can be used to safely hold a large volume of digital data. An HDD is an older form of technology that uses a mechanical spinning drive to store and read data. A hard drive is a metal platter that stores data on a magnetic coating, which a read/write head can access when directed.
An SSD, meanwhile, uses interconnected flash-memory chips to store its data. This makes them faster and more reliable than HDDs, as there are fewer moving parts. SSDs run fast enough that you can download games at lightning speed, and even run them directly off a PS5's internal SSD (though not an external one). They're the fastest, most capable choice for the majority of PS5 owners.
But don't count HDDs out completely. As you might have guessed, they're a cheaper option than an SSD. In terms of storage capacity, an HDD gives you a lot more bang for your buck, and if storing your library somewhere accessible is a higher priority than being able to load things in a flash and play them instantly, an HDD might well be the more cost-effective choice.
Overall, an SSD is almost certainly going to be the better choice for PS5 users, as it's just a faster and more efficient way to handle the large volumes of data that gaming involves. But if you need a lot of storage on the cheap, an HDD might be the way to go.
