According to The Verge, Sony has confirmed that the console will not support storage expansion at launch. This news comes despite the presence of a dedicated slot for an M.2 SSD. Sony clarifies that the slot will be enable in a future update and that storage expansion will be be reserved for a future update. This comes as confirmation as surfaced that the PS5 will reserve around 20% of the 825GB internal SSD storage for functional operations and the OS, leaving around 664GB usable storage.
In light of the new, it seems like early adopters should avoid buying additional M.2 SSDs to avoid being sorely disappointed. However, it’s not all gloom and doom as Sony confirms that the update will come once it has a list of supported SSDs. Testing for this list should be underway. The delay comes as the PlayStation 5 sports a lot of customised internals including its I/O system which complicates SSD compatibility. That said, the Sony PlayStation 5 supports up to two types of storage: internal and external storage. With internal M.2 SSD expansion delayed, users will still be able to use external USB drives for extra memory as we wait for the update to roll out.
From what we know about PS5 titles – they aren’t small in any way with file sizes clocking in at 120GB. PS5 titles such as Demon Souls and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War are already reported to take up about 200GB. With only 825GB of internal storage, users will undoubtedly run out of storage in no time. However, the PS5 still supports storing games on USB-connected external drives however, this will only work for previous generation games.
What about the disc drive version of the PS5? Well, the Blu-Ray disc will only act as an installer for the game, allowing you to forgo an internet connection. Still, the PS5 will download game data from the disc on to the internal storage to facilitate seamless loading during gameplay.
Nevertheless, Sony has claimed that the PS5 will be more flexible when it comes to storage management; allowing users more control.
