Sony is about to allow PS5 local storage upgrades and Seagate has the drive for the job

After a long wait Sony has finally announced long awaited details on how users can expand the local storage on the Playstation 5, and it’s not exactly straightforward unless you have the right SSD, but thankfully Seagate has just released their FireCuda 530 SSD which drops straight in..

The update to the Playstation support page came through late last week. At this stage we here in Australia can’t test it out, as the PS5 Beta program which is running the update is only available to users in the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany. So we’ll get the update just as part of an official one, once the Beta testers have finished.

But what do you actually need in terms of hardware? Well, those testing the storage expansion will need a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD between 250GB – 4TB with read speeds starting at 5,500MB/s.

Sony is also getting specific on dimensions of drives, with 22mm M.2 drives supported, though they also require either a heatsink or heat transfer sheet. The total size of the drive and cooling structure has to be under 110mm x 25mm x 11.25mm. 

So, that’s all well and good, but which drive do you need? Well, the best option at this stage is the recently announced Seagate FireCuda 530 with a built-in heatsink. The drive has sequential read speeds of up to 7300 MB/s, and is also currently the only qualified drop-in expansion solution for the Playstation 5. 

If you want to check out the FireCuda 530, you can check them out from leading retailers, MWave, Scorptec and Shopping Express in Australia from this month. The drive is available with and without heatsink – but if you want it for the PS5 you’ll need the Heatsink model. Pricing for the Seagate FireCuda 540 looks like this:

The instructions for installing the drive, once the Beta software is installed, includes a requirement for a well lit room, Phillips head screwdriver and optionally, a torch. Users will then need to remove the fins of the PS5 and slot the unit into the available slot before reassembling the console.

Despite the higher end requirements for the drive, Sony is already downplaying expectations for the update saying ‘Not all games are necessarily playable with the exact same performance provided by the PS5 console’s internal Ultra-High Speed SSD, even where the M.2 SSD device’s sequential read speed is faster than 5500MB/s’.  Still, it’s going to be faster than running an external drive.

If you do decide to strike out on your own in choosing an SSD, it could get a little technical – but that Seagate FireCuda 530 looks to be pretty easy. Frankly it does make the storage expansion slot on the rear of the Xbox Series X look elegantly simple by comparison.

Of course with no access to the PS5 Beta program available we’ll have to wait for the option to expand storage here in Australia.