How to find the best M.2 SSD for expanding PS5 storage

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Sony has unlocked the extra M.2 SSD slot inside the PlayStation 5. The rules are tricky, but these specific drives should all work.

Sony PlayStation 5 owners who are running out of storage space will now find it easier to add extra storage. That's because the PS5's extra internal M.2 SSD slot is now open for business, as long as you have a compatible drive. Previously, that was only available to those with the beta version of Sony's PlayStation OS. 

Before this, and before the beta, you could still add an external drive for PS4 games, but could only play PS4 games from it. PS5 games could be stored on an external drive, but not played. 

Read more: PS5 review: Exclusive games power Sony's sky-high space-age console

These super fast M.2 drives are quite hard to find right now, especially ones with a built-in heatsink. That's required to prevent overheating, so if your drive doesn't have one, you'll have to add it manually. For those who already have an M.2 drive in hand, check out our how-to-install video below:

Sony has listed some specific guidelines as to what types of drives the PS5 will support, but not specific model recommendations. Based on the published specs, however, the SSD drive options listed below should all work. We're in the process of testing some of them, including the 4TB Seagate FireCuda 530, which we installed in this how-to feature. 

Samsung 980 Pro with Heatsink M.2 SSD

This is the configuration a lot of people have been waiting for. It's available in 1TB ($250) and 2TB capacities ($450).