Sony opts for WD Black’s SN850 SSD as its official choice for the PlayStation 5
1Tb and 2GB flavours of officially-licensed NVMe drives on sale now
Are you a PS5 owner in dire need of extra space to store your library of massive next-gen titles? Now you don’t need to worry if that third-party SSD you’ve been eyeing up will fit inside your console’s M.2 slot. Sony and Western Digital have teamed up for an officially approved SN850 NVMe SSD, which is guaranteed to fit, guaranteed to work out of the box, and should deliver rapid file transfers too.
Hundreds of hours of ‘battle testing’ the SSD in PS5 consoles was enough for Sony to give the SSD its official seal of approval, making it the first of its kind to be officially licensed. Other SSDs might lack the right firmware to play nicely with the console,
According to WD the SN850 is capable of 7000MB/s read speeds, and will maintain temperatures thanks to an integrated heatsink that can stay in place when fitting the SSD into the PS5’s M.2 expansion port. Rival SSDs aimed primarily at PCs could have larger heatsinks and won’t necessarily fit inside.
The PCIe Gen 4 SSD is available in 1TB and 2TB sizes, which the firm reckons is good for as many as 50 PS5 games – although given Gran Turismo 7 eats up more than 183GB, that figure seems a little generous. Still, it’s a welcome boost over the console’s built-in 825GB of on-board storage, which fills up surprisingly quickly. A complete install of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, for example, can swallow an alarming 225GB by itself.
Both the 1TB and 2TB models are available directly from Western Digital’s online store right now. They should begin appearing at other online retailers and bricks-and-mortar stores from the middle of August.
Prices will start at £180 for the 1TB model, and £290 for the 2TB version.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
