Seagate Reveals First Sony-Approved PS5 Compatible SSD Expansion

The new Seagate FireCuda 530 internal SSD expansion will be fully compatible with the PS5 internal SSD slot and will come in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB storage sizes. Seagate revealed that the M.2 SSD has met “all of the PS5 requirements” after testing with Sony, making the internal SSD storage expansion the first to be approved by the company. The FireCuda 530 will release in August, just in time for Sony’s planned SSD storage expansion update coming this summer, currently part of the PS5 system software beta

Reports from earlier this year indicated that Sony was planning to release a new firmware update for the PS5 which would allow users to install an additional internal storage expansion to augment the console’s storage space. Currently, the PS5 only offers about 667GB of useable storage space on its internal SSD which many have criticized as being too small. A common example given is Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and Warzone which, combined, can take up more than 400GB of space, depending on the extent of the content installed. Other games regularly run anywhere from 50-100GB, limiting how many the console can hold.

While Microsoft’s Xbox Series X has an expansion slot that uses a proprietary memory card, Sony has yet to unlock its internal SSD expansion port. The PS5 can take external SSDs, but they are limited to PS4 games and PS5 game cold storage (can’t be played from storage) by the USB port’s connection speeds. And while Sony confirmed the internal SSD slot would take M.2 NVMe drives, Sony hasn’t yet talked about what drives would be approved.

That is, until now. In an interview with Finder.au, Seagate Country Manager Jeff Park stated that the company had “done some testing with Sony on the PlayStation 5,” confirming that the FireCuda 530 has “met all the PS5 requirements” even with the heatsink included. (The PS5 system software beta indicates that users may need to research and install their own heatsink on compatible SSD expansion drives without them.)

With the PS5 design, the SSD card slot is very narrow, so there’s not much room for the SSD to mount. However, with the FireCuda 530 – even with the heatsink on the top – the slim design allows for it to fit. Of course, the FireCuda 530 without the heatsink is slimmer, so both of them will fit into the PS5.

The FireCuda 530 boasts 7.3 GB/s read and 6.9 GB/s write times, faster than the PS5’s default 5.5GB/s. The SSD will also come in several storage sizes each with a heatsink-included version. Below is a list of each size and its price, taken from the Seagate official website: