I tried an INCOMPATIBLE drive with the PS5

These SSDs are compatible and will play well with games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, as long as they meet the speed requirements.
Even drives that don't meet the spec (older/cheaper gen4 drives) will still play well with _current_ games. But if you're buying a new SSD, the extra $20 - $30 for a drive that will meet specs and maintain its performance outweighs buying a cheaper, slower drive.
As games evolve, load times will probably become more optimized for high speed storage or in-sequence loading, which could be problematic for slower drives.
Gen3 drives are entirely incompatible regardless of storage size.
In terms of heatsinks, your drive will need one as per Sony's recommendations, since there's no airflow in the M.2 compartment in the PS5. Many drives have built-in copper heatsinks that are better than nothing, or will sometimes come with an additional heatsink in the box. Otherwise, even a cheap, generic low-profile heatsink from Amazon will help ensure the longevity of drives. It does need to fit within the space though. Full drive requirements are here: www.playstation.com/en-ca/support/hardware/ps5-install-m2-ssd/
- JB

I love how any news outlet called this a hard upgrade. I don't think they've ever seen the lengths people have gone to to service their own consoles in the last 25 years. Gamers are determined folk

I really like linus's approach of clearly explaining the pros and cons on both PS5 and Xbox sides.

As a Series X owner, I like the freedom of the Sony storage system. I think it’s incredible smart to use PC components to upgrade consoles. Microsoft easily could have done that, as they are literally the first thing installed on nearly every SSD sold! Additionally, the price of those seagate cards is a bit insane

I watched a lot of these tutorials on Clip-Share before I installed mine. Linus is exceptionally clear about the steps and gets to the details in seconds. There’s a reason LTT is on top.

I think the main reason we don't have a certification process for add-on drives is because Sony hasn't fully tested the external storage option at launch, and is still testing now. There may be more specifications to check, and maybe a certification badge once all the science is substantially complete, and the proper drives do begin to proliferate the market.

- "All you need is your SSD of choice"
- Yeah
- "A screwdriver"
- Yeah
- And of course, a PS5
- 🗿

Love that you tested both drives inside and outside of the recommended Sony specs. Showing my props and support by purchasing the Mandscaped Linus package. I think more channels should do these co-branded or limited run practical product opportunities. Like Gerald Undone when he did the Purple Undone Kondor blue HDMI cables. I bought like 5 of those.

Regarding resolution you have two measures, one you might be unfamiliar with is temporal resolution (the hz or refresh rate). This, as you can probably guess, measures the frequency of data points or refreshes. We use this when describing things like the temporal resolution of EMG signals : ) this means that their slider of resolution vs image quality will be FPS vs pretty-value. Hope this helps!

Maybe the reason that you can't record and save images into the extended storage is because the system is always recording in the background so it needs the internal storage to do that reliably. That's just a guess. Nonetheless you should be able to move the data into it afterwards if that is the case.

You should definitely put the cover back over the SSD slot, it's there to keep hot air from escaping into the rest of the system. There are exhaust slots inside the cavity that work with the negative pressure cooling design.

I do hope Xbox do eventually source storage out to more companies than just Seagate but there are different storage sizes available now being 2tb, 1tb and a 512gb SSD on the way the smallest being £130 on Amazon I think. And at least on Xbox we had a next generation storage device at launch but I'd rather have 3rd party options.

Sony said that they would be making a list of compatible drives for the PS5. My guess is, it will be available after the beta program ends.

Interesting comment at 5:59, recently I upgraded my ps5 and the sabrent rocket 4 plus came in a kit with a custom heatsink which replaces the metal heatshield inside and totally screws in place (neat solution), they even sell that heatsink seperately.

Internal SSD controller has support for more priority levels than standard SSD controllers, so if the controller is bombarded with lots of requests, the internal drive will be able to handle pressure better.
In other hand it might be that having more raw performance (above 5.5GB/s) might compensate this.
Time and if developers will actually use this feature will tell.

5:51 - It's been designed so the fan draws air through the fins, across the SSD and out the other side. You need the plate to channel the air. You can just grind the fins on the heat sink down so drives like the Gammix S70 will fit.

Always put the ssd cover back when swapping out your ssd. That cover is required for the PS5s cooling to work correctly.

Are there any SSD options on the market that match the performance of the PS5's internal but in higher capacities?
I'm sure they would be very expensive but it would be interesting to see if we can really upgrade the balls on this thing.
ps. I think the inability to save videos/pics/saves on the secondary SSD deserves further explanation. It seems like an unnecessary and forced limitation which makes me suspicious. Perhaps having certain files on a removable drive introduces a security risk. I would guess that people could take those save files away, find a way to modify them, then reintroduce them into the PS5. This could be used to get unearned achievements or potentially even find an exploit which could gain access to the PS5 OS or even playstation network.

The hardest part of installing a M.2 ssd in a PS5 is to find a PS5.

Interesting that it's not a speed requirement but just a PCIe Gen 4 requirement. I wonder what would happen if you used a SATA to PCIe Gen 4 adapter (if such an adapter even exists)? Would that trick the PS5 into accepting a SATA SSD?

Hmm i think the main issue Sony is fighting with is the limited number of priority levels pc ssds have. I think the internal drive has 8+vs3 or 4 in a m.2
Also i remeber there being mutterings that you might need a 7Gb/s to be more comparitable to the internal deive.

This video helped me realize that I was running on borrowed time with the SSD I had installed on my PS5 (DRAM-less, HMB instead). Upgraded to a Corsair MP600 Pro NH, which I’d originally bought as an upgrade to my PC boot drive. Both my computer and PS5 should be solid now

Interesting. I am curious as to how all of this is gonna turn out in the long run. Maybe Sony did this to some sort of difference between a Console and Pc's.

There are different kinds of reolutions in a signal, one of which can be temporal resolution, e.g. fps. More commonly used for high reoslution audio, but applicable to video signals as well

Yeah that notice on installing a slower drive makes total sense. It'll work for most games so it lets you use it, but if a future game comes up that really uses the PS5 mandated speed, you'll just have to swap over to the internal drive. No biggie, totally makes sense.

Using the beta system software could allow that older Gen 4 drive to be used. However. When using the official system software release that drive may not work at all because of the lower transfer rates.

Always super helpful. Uunderestemate how easy you explain things. Thank you Linus! Now I know how to upgrade properly!

I like this approach of storage expansion Sony made. Allow customers to choose and use standard issue pc parts and not overpriced "Upgrade Kits".
02:03 I have exactly this drive in my PC. Loooooots of space to install games.^^

It's insane how fast storage has become.

Thanks for the video :) If opening any electronics (including microwaves), be sure to unplug the device and allow time for capacitors to discharge to avoid shocks (the time can vary greatly for this and in some cases capacitors could recharge based on electromagnetic properties of the capacitor or circuit so be careful). Electroboom's (search for this channel and a guest one time for Linus Tech Tips) seem good at explaining more electronic safety in depth and are interesting to watch.

Thank you Linus for being the only major tutorial that properly shows how to remove the side panels.

It would have been beneficial to actually have proven that the game was actually installed on the M.2 SSD. Games are installed to internal storage by default unless you specify which drive new installs should land on. You can definitely verify where a game has been installed from the home screen and looking at the basic info of the game(options button). Since there was no mention (that I heard, prove me wrong) that it was verified or the default install location was changed that everything was tested using internal storage. I think this would be a good candidate for a re-test and an update provided with new results, same or different.

When you did the gen 3 8tb you could have tried a gem 3 2-4 tb size to see if it was the size it was rejecting or the gen model.

As much as I agree that m.2, especially in the PS5, is super easy for LTT viewers, as an employee at Best Buy I can tell you the average consumer will have issues with this and will complain that it's not simpler. The number of people I've had come in and not know how to even do things like pair a controller or check the power switch on the back of the unit it astounding. The general public is NOT tech literate, quite the opposite actually. People are relying on everything to be plug and play to such a degree they don't even know how to change their fridge water filter or think "internet comes from the wifi box" and doesn't require any subscription or ISP. This is the level the average consumer is at and I unfortunately think it was a mistake for Sony to assume people can do this on their own.

Thank you for the heads-up on the PS5. This video was very helpful. I'm not buying a PS5 until March or April anyways. Hopefully by then Sony will have better options for us all.

This has probably already been noted among the four thousand comments, but that heat shield cover really should be reinstalled. From what I have read it seals the SSD chamber that then works with the cooling to create a negative cooling flow across the SSD. If you look there are small vents across the bottom for this.

The test with that slower rated drive would have been perfect to see with Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart...would love to see Linus test that drive out with a game that truly utilizes the SSD for gameplay.

Wow installing that SSD is..... Unexpectedly consumer friendly!
Thumbs-up linus!

I'm not sure if it's just me doing it wrong, but I think you need to do the part where you register for the beta and input the key first. I just connected a compatible drive and couldn't get passed a message that prompted me to turn off the PS5 and remove the drive. I've signed up for the beta, so just waiting on the invite now.

I'm a newcomer to LTT's videos but have found them very watchable and entertaining.
Excellent video with one small caveat. Sony's approach means that you can install a theoretically slower drive and use it as a storage device. If you encounter problems in the future, it takes just a few seconds to transfer stuff back and forth from internal to external so you can still play the problematic game. It's a far better way than the proprietary approach taken by Microsoft.

This might be a stupid question, but could you install like all your FPS games on an SSD, and have all your RPG games on another, and then seamlessly swap from one to the other with just a quick swap & reboot ? Or does the PS ask to format when you reinstall the previously used SSD ?

The Nextorage drive w the large heatsink is currently the best bang for the buck by far for an upgraded SSD. The specs are excellent & so is the price at just 100 if you catch it on sale, which it currently is on Amazon.
Nextorage is a subsidy of Sony & the hardware in this SSD is top notch. It's just as good if not faster than the Samsung 980 Pro which is more expensive and does not come with a heatsink.

Imma just quietly watch this whist pretending i can afford an ssd let alone a ps5 lol

I completely agree with you Linus! I was thinking of that SN850 from WD and i was immediately up for a 2TB (4TB is just too expensive). I think 2TB, if you have the money is the perfect solution for now. I don't have any more in my PS4 Pro to be honest. So for my PS5 2TB should be plenty for now. Thinking of that WD or FireCuda. I just want to have the fastest so i guess that's that Seagate? I did like the look of the WD but in the end we won't see that drive, unless we mod the PS5 in some kind of transparent panel lol. Anyway, for now, i'm good. But i am planning on upgrading that drive very soon. Another plus is that there won't be shortages with those drives!

The hardest thing for me was figuring out how to take the stupid cover off, but once I figured out how to do that it was easy. I'm also experienced no issues without a heatsink

I'm interested in getting an NVM.e drive for my PS5, but I'm honestly thinking of waiting until 5.0 comes out in the next year or two. I would rather overshoot Sony's specs than run the risk of wasting my money accidentally undershooting how demanding games could become toward the end of the generation... that is assuming that Gen 5 will even run on a PS5.

If I were to make a grading system for drives, I would make a letter grade but also put a plus or minus telling the consumer what side of the range the drive is on. A consumer who wants top teir hardware would get an A+ or B+, while budget drives would be B- or C-, and midrange being in between.

You probably can't store that stuff on the additional drive because those background tasks are handled by the co processor. It might be that only the cpu/gpu are physically wired to the additional slot. I may be 100% wrong but it's just a guess. The ps4 was the same way if you hooked an external drive up. It only let you load games to the additional drive.

DigitalFoundry has a great analysis of the M.2 performance compared to internal and external drives on the PS5, for people wanting a bit more of a technical view.

I count 2 linus drop tips and 1 linus throw tips. 2 M.2 SSDs and 1 ssd box might have been harmed in the making of this video. ;).
I am glad that manufacturers make most SATA and M.2 SSDs to survive the torture Linus gives them unlike hard drives. If Linus dropped hard drives too much, they most likely would be dead or at least not working correctly at this rate.
By the way, from an earlier video, your cat is also learning from your drop tips, but it is also part of the cat's behavior to see if prey is dead that they push things off tables. They just want to see if the thing they are tracking is just faking death or is really inanimate. This leads to some pretty funny things between cats and their Humans!

980 pro is a great photo video editing drive , no stall in loading and saving big files. Love it.

On my opinion, I think using a closed approach for a storage expansion on consoles guarantees correct performance on games without issues. Also in Spain, the price difference between Xbox series SSD and Samsung SSD 980 PRO less than 2€. Will price go lower on SSDs? Of course. Will price go lower on Xbox SSD? Who told you it doesn't.

Its a matter of time that people will make a list and tutorial guides for the ps5 upgrade. Also SSD moved from console and pc to consumer-market console and pc so itll be a matter of time for companies to start brand them since its a niche commodity for most people to buy a 200$ drive for a ps5

One thing Microsofts approach does give is hotswappable storage, which is nice. Hopefully with time they'll come down in price, but I'll remain skeptical for the time being. Theres another channel that has doen some testing with changing the internal ssd in the xbox series consoles and got mixed results i believe, it can be done, but there are some limitations and obviously the security MS employs.

As a game developer it is beneficial to have a guaranteed spec, so you can be sure that if your game runs on one console, it will run on all of them... more or less. More hardware variations, more time spent testing on various types of hardware.

LTT Labs should start an open standard for SSD's speed and companies can send in drives to LTT Labs and they will bench mark them and give them a rating, you could even make a tool to thats free for personal use and small fee for business use that will rate the drive and give it an LTT Labs rating, but this would all be on the basis that any driver LTT Labs gets for testing they can keep 😉.

Try it (the slower gen 4 drive) with Ratchet and Clank Rift apart, where the game is designed around having the super fast SSD to bounce between full game worlds in an instant.

It was so much easier a few years ago. On my Xbox, I got a usb3 external case and installed an older 500gb spinning rust drive. It's still going fine today, running GTA and outer worlds flawlessly.

I have a strong hunch that Sony will put out and update later down the line which will allow You to save screenshots and video clips onto the Aftermarket SSD.

Should have tried with a QHD gen 4 drive. That Corsair MP600 Core that you mentioned is one. See if even that is "good enough".

I've been building computers for 13 years, and currently work in tech support.
I'm reminded every day about why I shouldn't underestimate the general population's ability to look at literally anything, and cry "Too hard! Too much work!"

*Sony will/should*
Have "PS5 compatible" labels right on the box for supported SSD's, as well as INSTRUCTIONS in the box for both PS5 and PC installation. Hopefully including instructions (once supported better) on how to more easily MOVE GAMES between onboard SSD, M.2 SSD and a USB hard drive.

Thank you Linus. My car microwave is so much better with its SSD upgrade. Playing Skyrim on something as mundane as a main console, PC or Fridge wasn't doing anything for me in my busy lifestyle.

You should do a video on SD cards speeds. Personally I think it’s confusing now a days and I’ll buy a “super fast” SD card and not notice any difference between the older SD cards I already own.

It’s videos like this that I’m grateful to have this channel. I’m expert in computers, but not bery knowledge/can offer “trail & error” test. Also, a PS5 & Xbox owner.

Is gen4 vs gen3 the issue, or was it the 8tb rather than up to 4tb? Linus, could you please verify and confirm?

I love how there is a tiny little chapter dedicated to Linus's drop skills lmao!

you should put an extra heat sink because gen 4 m.2s produce a lot of heat and if its overheating too much then you will have to face problems like bad performance and data loss

The SSD retention screw on mine was EXTREMELY over tightened and had to be replaced as it stripped almost instantly.

Hello great video, but I would like to know if there is no need for the heatsink? Since the Sony recommended it ... Doesn't it reach a certain temperature which leads to the risk of burning the ps5? I would also like to choose FireCuda 530 since it is one of the best, and I would like to know if I need the heatsink, because there is a big difference $$$ between without and with the heatsink 😉 let me know bye

It's far more easier today, I think now you can store clips and media files on the M2 SSD with no problem. You can also just plug in any SATA SSD via USB but you can only store PS4 games and media files on it. PS5 games can only be stored in the internal and M2 SSD.

I actually just installed the 1 terrabite firefox drive and a funny thing that happened was the nail that holds down the spacer fell into the ps5 dust port, so I had to look throughout my ps5 then I finally found it

User friendly approaches are great, but as a proud member of the nerd community being forced to be more technically involved is much appreciated!
Great video as always!

Linus : it’s very easy to do, watch me do it…
Also Linus : installs a SSD with no heat sink

I would give it a try on Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. That was one of the first games that was a true exclusive and that’s due to the load times. Feel that would shed light on if the SSD backup drives speed is interfering

The PS5 has a weird thing where you have to go into the console setting and force performance quality for the settings to appear in games which is probably why you couldn't select it in Dirt 5

i think even when you push a game you do not need that much bandwidth anyways at full time but rather boosts as it loads some areas or textures. in some games

You'd think people would be able to easily do this but I talk to several people a week who have jammed their sim card in their phone because they put it in the wrong way or thought sim trays are just optional. I'm sure there will be a few broken consoles from the average person trying to do this sadly

It feels like a good compromise would be allowing you to use it like a usb drive, purely to store games when you aren't playing them, and use the accelerated read/write speeds to make exchanging data with internal storage a faster process.

Thanks man!
Thanks for making it easy, where as other Clip-Sharers are being an #ass and just skipping the whole part of installing an M.2
No wonder #Linus is a Global #1 Tech reviewer 💐💐💐

It was a great choice of Sony's use an M2 Nvme as their storge of choice and now prices are tumbling.
What was a £250(1tb) 2 years ago is now less than £100(just installed 2tb in mine which cost £135).
Meanwhile the Seriex X/S is lumbered with a slower proprietary SSD solution that is currently retailing at £185.

I got the wd black 2tb licensed drive. The 990 pro was higher plus that firm ware issue steered me away from it

just thinking about drives with a heatsink attached. do you need to replace the silver shield to activate it or could you just run it without? surely having the heatsink would be preferable to removing and having that shield installed?

Does anyone actually run games from their additional memory? How do you find it compares to running from the base memory? I've been using extended memory as more of a library. I swap in whatever games I'm playing most to console memory and leave the rest on the extra memory. It takes less than a minute to swap most games. Much faster than re-installing something.

Sony- please buy brands we made compatible.
Linus- No
At least they might not make the same mistake as the PS Vita

Sony need to update that in future models because the SSD being soldered and having to replace the board is insane. We as consumers/gamers need to advocate for that change for our investments sake

I really don’t see a problem here. Sony has given us all the information we need. Just simply get an m.2 ssd that matches the requirements or exceeds them slightly, just to be safe, and you are ready to go! It’s really simple and there is no need for certification from Sony to let you know if the ssd is right or not, just make sure it matches the requirements. And if you are not sure they recently released their own ssd and you can just get that if you want to be extra safe.

For the life of me I don’t understand why SSD makers don’t put a window on the box so you can see the actual product inside the box. I bought a 2TB Samsung 980 pro from Best Buy and received a toe nail clippers in the box! Wow talk about a freaking stressful situation! I can see this happening on eBay and definitely on Wish but not from Best Buy!

I'm late to the party but I just bought a firecuda ssd, it was marked down from $220 price, and I'm loving it so far.

The hardest part for me was removing the cover

That speed requirement might have a significant buffer in it. Sure it might not hit that (especially as it fills) but a slower drive would likely be even slower in the worst cases.

In the long run, this breaks absolutely nothing. The specifications set are there for the quality of the system in it's lifetime, so we're therefore at the mercy of 3rd party components performance, not someone's ignorance of what works best, if at all without official certification. I know we still have to label gasoline as flammable, but FFS even that can be googled.

I am a technician and work on consoles primarily and sure enough we do have customers willing to pay for the SSD upgrade, maybe 3 per week. You can compare Sony to Microsoft as much as you want, but I see a lot more PS5's come in for repair over XBOX and there are a few common issues which Sony don't seem to be addressing in the newer generations.
As the newer generation motherboards are releasing, the changes seem to be influenced by budget, the boards are getting smaller and likely cheaper to manufacture. Perhaps this is a test exercise in preperation for the PS5 slim?

The Firecuda 530 runs very hot and should be used with a heatsink as should all ssd boards installed on a PS5 console.

Really useful video. This is why the tech industry looks up to Linus.

I just bought a 2tb compatible m.2 drive with a heat sink for 160 dollars so prices are coming down which is nice.

Thank you for including the step of needing a #1 Phillips screwdriver. You can make do with a 'normal' Phillips in every other case, but Ive found you really do need the one for that.

Thanks Linus, this was exactley what i was looking for =)

The idea of an actual drive vs a card from Microsoft is much better. With the drive. You could pull it out and use it I'm another device if you need.

Leaving the cover off defeats the purpose of being there which is the pressure cooling design so that plus the correct size heat sink will help keep your card cooler