Sadly, You Can't Store PS5 Games on an External HDD

.don't know what to comment so here is a
Random 🖼

OMG! And I was going to buy 5 games! 😅

That's really disappointing, but luckily something they can (and probably will) fix with a future firmware upgrade.

That's a big disappointment especially considering this can be done on Series X which already has more useable memory to start with

Sony said it would be a thing months ago, and now it's retracted. I don't get it. Sigh.

@get2sammyb
Is this something that will be implemented later on? My initial plan was to store unplayed PS5 games on my external, then swap them in as I wanted to play. Not that I plan on getting that many next gen games whenever I'm able to secure a PS5, but I know 667GB won't last long without some alternative.

Seems Xbox is more ready than PS5 is. Course since people like me won't be able to find one till next year, I hope all of these issues are worked out.

@Mpquikster Yes but you need to be logged in to the PSN account they were bought with (if digital) or have the disc available (if physical)

It feels like the number of Sony missteps keeps adding up. Obviously the traditional quality of software is the big seller for PlayStation but I think they’ve made many questionable decisions over the last 2 years.

Question: Would the PS Plus 20 collection be considered PS5 games or still PS4 games? If they are PS4 games would my kid be able to log in his PS4 as me and get access to those 20 games if I had an active PS5? If considered PS5 games would they transfer to External HHD?

Of course they weren't going to be supported. Why limit the chances of selling those new SSDs

@AdamNovice but can on XboxSX correct?

@AdamNovice Store, not play from. Like.xbox can. Quicker to transfer back to the console to be able to play them than redownload or reinstall from disc.

So no SSD to buy for extra storage and can't transfer PS5 games to external HDD and no quick resume plus less space than XBOX SX. Plus XBOX SX last gen games boot up faster than PS5 will.

Sounds like Sony is trying to force people to buy the internal SSDs that haven't been announced yet given the internal SSD slot has been disabled.

This is absolutely ridiculous. When can we finally get some good PS5 news for once?

I thought Cerny said you'd be able to...

I feel this will be corrected at some point. Physical disc will be the best option for deleting and reinstalling PS5 games. You bypass downloading and just need to do the install. This could be copy protection or the way games are launched from a external HDD. It should be fixable with a future update.

thats a bloody joke was one best features from recent console generations. never mind now with the space issues. and games like COd going fffffffffffffffffffff optomizing anything 300gb please of space

I swear, the more we've learned about the PS5, the worse of a deal it's gotten. It's no friggin' wonder why Sony went out of their way to reveal so little about the system before people tripped over themselves to preorder it.

The arrogant, far less consumer-friendly Sony is back, full force.

Sony is just waiting for M.2 SSD's to catch up in terms of specs.

Here's a source, and an example of good journalism:
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/5/21551165/sony-ps5-playstation-5-no-m2-ssd-expansion-launch

If only there was a physical media that would allow you to cold store games when you’re not playing them... 🤦🏻

Wow this thing is getting worse by the day....

@SlouchingToast There are already multiple drives that have exceeded the PS5 raw speed requirement now for the last few weeks.

@Khalic This is something I've been very vocally complaining about lately.

If the xbox and PS allowed play straight from physical media, this wouldn't be a huge issue. The fact that current and next gen consoles 100% require installation before play, along with potentially huge updates there after, completely negates the existence of physical games on these platforms, and make storage space a very valuable commodity.

And the more restrictive you make that commodity, the more restrictive the experience, and generally more of a headache for something that's meant to be just a fun easy experience.

@Kirbyboy92 sadly yes it is.

Oh dear, do not worry they will probably add this feature in a couple of years time

@God_of_Nowt Now the ps5 is going senile forgeting what it knew before. I hope this was taken out because they found something during testing they didn't find worked smoothly and will be added back shortly after launch. This will only encourage consumers with disc version to purchase physical media instead of downloading. More used games being purchased not good for developers.

@AdamNovice Just because the games are designed around a SSD doesn't mean they can't be stored on a hard drive for cold storage... Microsoft must've performed a miracle according to you as they allow you to do just that.

@FlawlessG

Your one of the few posters here who care about how damaging the 2nd hand game market is developers

@AdamNovice

People are not expecting to play games off a standard HD drive. The feature to transfer games as needed between SSD would be useful. Now you have to download the full game every time you delete with games coming in over 100gb thats not a 15 minute process

Very frustrating! My plan for Series X is to get a 5TB external drive to store things on, then transfer in and out to the SSD to play.

@Menchi Do you know what that raw speed requirement is? They have never announced that as far as I can tell. They did say it would have to be considerably more than the 5.5 G/s that the PS5 drive has because the PS5 drive has 6 levels of priority vs the 1-2 levels that existing SSD's have, and that this would have to be worked around in software so the drive would need to be faster to compensate.

I would wager the reason this feature is disabled, as well as not allowing expansion right now, is to limit the launch issues (that all new devices tend to have) to the actual PS5 hardware/software. Once we have gotten beyond the launch window, I expect features like these to be unlocked.

I had a lot of fun with my 360 and the lack of a PS3 didn't kill me.
Looks like it's time to go back to Micro$oft and ignore Sony this time.

Or smartly, not sadly. This would cause all sorts of problems. In a month or two we'll get an update to the system and then we can expand it to our heart's content.

@legalstep What sort of problems would you see with allowing a storage only capability?

I hope they put that functionality back.
So far the embargo lifting has been a real anti-climax for me. Apart from some honourable exceptions loading speeds don't seem to be where I thought they would be. Why 4 or 5 second loading in Astros playground? Given what has been seen in R&C that seems too long. BC title boost looks a bit lacklustre. Where's the big surprise that has been hinted at? Have I missed something?
The only thing stopping me from cancelling my pre-order at this time is a free game and the new controller. Which feels like an odd reason to part with £450!
Probably just me, been a crappy week.

They really did not think the tech through at all. Especially not before selling all-digital consoles and promoting the PSN store. File management was a weakness on PS4 as well, but I assumed PS5 would improve upon it, not get worse.

@Grumblevolcano Except they don't actually make or sell the SSDs that go into the slots so they don't profit from that. Which makes it all the more baffling.

This isn't even a "we don't care about BC, we are about the future, we believe in generations" problem. This is "this is how we see the new generation, and yeah, we didn't really stop to think of the details too much there either..." kind of issue. Thankfully it's one that can still be fixed if they so choose to grace us with it, but it's just irksome that they really didn't think it through, and clearly had no real user experience considerations either.

"Just keep re-downloading everything as though Comcast doesn't impose 1TB/mo data caps on most of the continental US" is almost an echo of Matrick's "#dealwithit" except Sony's absentee communications department forgot to post #dealwithit on Twitter.

Guess I made the right choice by ignoring the launch pre orders.
Always a bunch of hiccups with launch models.
Btw, I still haven't forgotten the ludicrous psp memory card prices.

In case y'all are wondering, Sony is fooling the sheeple right in front of their noses and they're busy finding reasons while Sony is laughing their asses of.. again.
If we don't learn from history it's bound to repeat itself.

Guess I'll stop now. Unpopular opinions usually don't go down well.

For the record, I'm a loyal PS fan since PS1, but I can't stand it when a company tries to pull a fast one to their loyal customers. So no, the Xbox fanboy remarks don't fly this time around.

This is just like the PS4 lack of external hdd support, along with other features, at release. Will it also be a 4 year wait for the PS5 to have external hdd support for current gen games. Then too what other features will PS5 owners need to wait months or years for. Features as basic as external drive support?

Those with physical copies will still need to download the huge update files that almost all games now have when reinstalling games unless updates can be stored as separate files. The same for paid dlc files.

If I were someone who wanted both consoles and can only get my hands on one console now assuming I can I would get the series X now and wait till Sony patches up the PS5. There's so much stuff that the PS5 can't do or doesn't have that the competition does perfectly.

At least we can transfer PS4 games to and from an external HDD.

@Mpquikster when you download the game to your hard drive, a unique address is stored on the internal drive so I'd you attach it to another ps4, the game is not recognised.

@Ridwaano random window or painting?

I got a state of the art 2TB WD Black SN750 for £400 thinking IT MUST be compatible with PS5. Thought i'd use it for my PC then switch it over to PS5 when I get my preorder. But ... nope, not compatible apparently. Being so pro-consumer ..... it wouldn't surprise me if Sony had a sneaky, surprise, over-priced, proprietary M.2 SSD in the pipeline.

@thedevilsjester Actually they said equal or preferably a little bit faster to be safe. Per the Cerny deep dive. There was no implication of considerably faster at all. 5.5mbps will work. My guess is 6000mbps to be "safe". PC drives releasing now are considerably faster than the PS5 drive and we're now very close to maxing out PCIE 4.0

@fluggy I hope you mean an SN850, or you chose poorly

@fluggy I told you, they are anti consumer and what you to think about themselves when you buy the console!

As unimpressed with Sony as I am at the moment I don't have an issue with them over the m2 cards. Cerney did say certification would likely come after release and the price of these will drop.

Lucky I'm not getting one for a year or so! 4 or so games would pretty much be the limit until this changes or the second SSD slot gets activated.

@Jayofmaya its a joke right now 😀😀

@huyi Yeah. They must have hidden this info on purpose, knowing a lot of people would be annoyed.

@Menchi
Well, seeing as the SN850 was only announced in October (and still not available to buy yet) and when I bought mine 3 months ago, the SN750 was the best on the market. Sony had said "there would be a "regular" M.2 expansion slot on PS5"(which is why I bought the best "regular" M.2 drive available on the market at the time) . Sony should have said "there's an M.2 expansion slot but compatible drives haven't been invented yet."

@Jayofmaya annoyed is a statement!

@fluggy They actually did say exactly that in the deep dive back in march.

Specifically said "don't go out and buy any just yet because they're not on the market till later this year" and "our drive is 5.5gbps, it will need to at least be equal but preferably faster"

Looking forward to getting my ps5 at Easter, it's a definite, but as mentioned above, the missteps are adding up on this...
It's nearly turning into the Xbox 1 reveal with me and others turning to each other and saying "did they really design it that way? did they really just say that?"
Not as bad of course, but hope you see what I mean.
I think not storing 5tb of ps5 games on an external HDD ready to swap into SSD when ready is a big oversight. It's obviously possible, but just not implemented, making it obvious that is just badly planned out.
It's really not the first time I've thought "it's NOT for the gamers"

@blacklivesmatter and with internet data caps.... this is not good Sony.

Looking at the comments one thing is certain, people aren't half a bunch of whiny little bitches, ooh evil Sony 🙄

@PhhhCough
Picture 😂

This sucks hugely but I can understand why it’s a thing.
My question is can you easily swap out the internal SSD for a bigger one? I mean is this easy for the casual consumer?

Are external SSDs a thing yet?

Sony are being EXTREMELY confusing with their messaging about almost everything. I’m super disappointed- it’s like they haven’t thought basic stuff through...

@Arnna you can't 'swap out' the internal SSD as it's on the mainboard. The expansion slot is exactly that, an expansion for additional storage. And yes, once Sony whitelist approved products for that, it will be an easy job for people to do.

External SSDs are a thing, but none of them can provide anything like the speed of the internal, hence they are only appropriate for PS4 stuff but games will load faster from them than on the PS4 due to the faster USB interface, if that's any consolation.

In short, if you want additional PS5 storage then at this precise moment the answer is that that isn't possible, but Sony could well soon approve a couple if you really need and can afford that extra space.

@GamingFiend ok thanks heaps for the info. That’s a lot clearer now!

Ive known about this since the mark cerny presentation. Surprised ppl didnt know

And you can back up your saves only if you have PS+.
The cheap and easy usb pendrive is not an option... 🙄

SSD is very expensive so it's perfectly understandable a machine that costs 399$ has only 850GB space in. However, I think it's a mistake not to allow to run PS5 games from an external HD leaving it up to the user if he's willing to wait much longer with loading time for some games. I guess the thinking is that games will be allowed to rely on the SSD speed for real time access, not just initial loading, but again, this is redundant

@graysoncharles which you ALSO cannot do even after launch (and who knows for how long til you can) not to mention the cost of these drives is just as expensive as what Microsoft is already selling (and which is hot swappable).

Again I have to give it to Microsoft were now seeing their plans are much more fully realized and realistic and it's paying dividends.

@AdamNovice well 1 it's not about PLAYING games from external but storing them for move back later (which they said you would be able to do) and the expansion thing they ALSO said would have to wait for launch but that they would have options available at that time (again now its "sometime" later).

Just more example of Sonys strategy of not speaking on things as more proof they just weren't ready.

@Snick27 yep its all adding up to what I predicted almost a year ago xbox would be the superior hardware and Sony would ride on their exclusives.

@God_of_Nowt still more and more it seems Microsoft has the better plan (and user friendly) when it comes to external storage and the only one that was ready day 1.

Ps5 feels like a console taken out of the oven a few months too early.

@andreoni79 your situation is what Microsofts entire strategy has been built around they aren't in it to win the console wars they just want to win back some of the users they lost with the poor Xbox one launch...

I'd say it's certainly working.

@graysoncharles saw it coming a year ago almost Microsoft has done everything they can to flip the situation around from 2013 and its working.

GG Microsoft

@vapidwolf @Jayofmaya (Sony fanboy doing damage control as I see.

Suck it up not everyone is some blind loyal fanboy and are calling out Sony for obvious major missteps.

@BansheeNorn really you known since the presentation back then even though just days ago this feature was actually working and in the hands of reviewers?

A feature that you're saying was flat confirmed as no happening all the way back then?

@Eran a weak excuse and even the 299 xbox series s with its 512gb ssd will be able to hold more both of the same speed but also (and more importantly) on. Cold storage medium (ie a external drive) for game parking out of the box and make its value a lot better looking than the 399 ps5 that cant be expanded in anyway at least for now.

Man, im a loyal Sony fan that didnt manage to pre order PS5 but reading all these threads about what the SX can do over the PS5 doesnt sound good to me. Ive just built my lad a £1000 gaming pc and after seeing what that can run i now know i can wait for the ps5 for quite some time. I will deffo get one as exclusives mean more to me than quick resuming, a few more teraflops etc but i will deffo wait for all the bugs to be ironed out first.

@Cybrshrk The 299$ xbox series s has a less powerful hardware, so not a fair compare. But anyway, SSD is very expensive and it's a fact, not an excuse. Especially those tailor made for the PS5 / XBOX. The SSD external storage for the xbox costs alone 200$. Compared to a PC, it's more than fair to have an 850GB fast SSD with a machine that costs 399$.

However, again, I think that the mistake is not leaving it up to the user to decide whether to use an SSD for some games or an external HDD, knowing games will load much slower that way. But as I wrote, it's more complicated - Most likely they wanted developers to be able to rely on the SSD access time for real time performance and not just the initial load

@Cybrshrk what damage control i was stating facts ,whiny little bitches is factual, microsoft have done what they always do rehashed the xbox and just made it more powerful and then stole a few ideas from the playstation, they couldn't even be bothered with one proper next gen game, microsoft don't care about consoles they care about game pass,let's hope the 23 studios they now have can at least make one good game a year and they won't just be the usual gear,forza,halo combination and crappy game pass fodder.

@God_of_Nowt communication has always been a problem with Sony or maybe concise information should I say ,it was clearly removed for a reason maybe they found issues with it during testing and didn't want thousands of complaints , I just hope they've learned their lesson from the extortionate vita memory card pricing and there expandable storage is at least reasonable,im waiting on the dual sense breaking videos next 🙄

As I said over in the PS5 review thread,you'd hope surely this is a feature that they'll enable in a future firmware update? Not great between SSD prices,(which will come down in time,& benefit with competition as Sony approve more models with testing), & your competitor having it as a launch feature.
Given the PSN downloads aren't exactly Road Runner pace to begin with,I'd certainly rather extra options to store them via external HDD & swap games over as you'd wish.
I'm still curious where ps4 save game files reside,do they stay on the external HDD or the internal SSD?

@Cybrshrk What on earth does your comment mean?

@God_of_Nowt Just curious you said the option was there on older OS ver. If out of the box before updating it may allow it still. Not that it would be helpful can't download anything without doing an update just for my curiosity. Like maybe Astros could be moved over.

Sony have said that upgrading the SSD will be disabled out of the box and will be enable in a future update. Maybe transferring PS5 to external storage will be added in that same or separate update? Probably Sony are thinking right now there isn't enough to warrant the need for transferring games off the system or want a error free launch.

This is just nonsense, and something I sincerely hope is (re)added in future firmware.

With the slow release of info over the last several months, the internal expansion port disabled, and now this - a feature apparently once present but now removed for release - I'm starting to think Sony weren't really ready for release, and were maybe caught on the hop by Microsoft. Perhaps they were aiming for an early 2021 release as with PS3.

@ThaBEN @Paranoimia @Paranoimia @Paranoimia @Paranoimia @Paranoimia @ImAPirateSoSueMe this isn’t fair

@FlawlessG I think Sony has a performance goal in mind and if something doesn't meet that then they don't want to support it just yet. When the OS gets updated and can help load things faster it will be an extra storage paradise for us even with PS5 games.

I think this is a huge oversight on Sony's part. But I am pretty sure it will be fixed in due course. PS4 didn't come with the resume feature and the external HDD support at launch when the Xbox One had them from Day 1. I think if enough people complain about it and make it seen then Sony will take into mind these complaints and do something about them.

@get2sammyb I have a very good feeling that the reason why it doesn't allow you to transfer PS5 games to external drives is due to current SSD support limitations/restriction. I think once they've unblocked using the M.2 slot I think along with that this restriction will automatically disappear. This theory is reinforced due to a comment made by Mark Cerny at the 'Road to PS5' presentation that it will only accept SSD's that are either as fast as PS5's or faster so currently they've blocked PS5 game transfers as a result of blocking the M.2 slot.

This is a non-issue. Just be conservative with your data management and most likely SOME kind of fix will be available until you've filled your internal storage up.
Also I feel like this time XBOX is a VERY good competitor for Sony. Also the Bethesda D-move makes sense for them.

Not getting any new consoles, but yeah. Still interesting to observe.

@get2sammyb you can use an external hardrive

Hi, i purchased assassin creed valhalla, and i downloaded it on external hdd, when i purchase ps5 console and pluging the external hdd, can i move the game to the internal ssd and upgrade to ps5 version?

@Cybrshrk
Yes its not hard to figure out if you can keep up with pc lingo. The read and write speeds are different between HDD and SSD and also since newer SSD is using NV.ME, also they said certain nv.me m2 ssd are compatible and taking information sony isnt releasing information of which ones are compatible for launch its easy to sum up that its not possible to put ps5 games on normal external HDD. For one the files must be huge and copying over to slow HDD must take forever. I dare you to find external HDD that can compete with 5.5gb read and 7gb write speed which is the minimun that ps5 ssd is using.

@BansheeNorn we've always knowing games must be PLAYED from internal storage (including when they release models of nvme that you can add inside). The problem is they promised they would have SOME options by launch and they won't and they also mentioned STORING games externally (though again no way to play them from the external just store it) but we find now at launch we won't be able to do that either.

The facts are the Playstation storage overall has little benefit so far (it loses to Xbox in testing so far) and comes with many caveats that the Xbox simply doesn't have.

Xbox can store their games on externals doesn't matter the speed their games are just as big and they'll move to whatever usb 3.0 storage you attach (be it a hard drive or ssd) won't matter which you won't be playing the games from it and that's OK and the point.

It's there as a backup cold storage / archive purpose and a must have necessity when actual usable storage is even less than their competitor.

Heck even the Xbox series s storage solution is at this point better they may have less space but they have quick resume they also have up to 30% smaller Game files AND they can freely move any games not being played to an external for quick swapping back in later if needed.

@Robocod Xboxs storage costs can always remain competitive with Sonys options too though (that's not without saying that Microsoft may enable even more partners in the future to make the drives) but I'm general even with only the one partner the tech used inside is cheaper overall and with stiff competition Microsoft I'm sure will be ready to adjust pricing down to match whatever options become cheaper with Playstation 5.

They have more headroom to play with is what I'm saying so staying competitive for additional storage should be easy for them if they so choose.

My reason for preferring their soltuon over ps5 is that if all things else remain roughly equal the Xbox solution is a faster more user friendly device installation and with hit swappable nature of it could be a huge benefit to those with massive game libraries.

@Cybrshrk backup storage is only a "must have" if your internet is awful and you don't mind waiting staring at a transferring files screen for an hour to play your game.
Also, 1tb of storage for £220 does not equate Xbox storage being better to me! I'm waiting for SSD 2.0 pet to be available, much faster transfer speeds than the Series X external has and can go up to 2tb if I wanna spend big.