WD_BLACK 500GB SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive with Heatsink - Works with PlayStation 5, Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 7,000 MB/s - WDS500G1XHE

I'll admit to some trepidation when ordering this, because extended storage in the PS4 and Xbox One generation (and also switching your main HDD) was a mixed bag. I remember many nights wondering why various operations were taking so long. I had nothing to worry about. Installation was easy, which I expected, but holy cow, I didn't expect to move Final Fantasy Remake (PS5, 90GB) from the main drive to this in less than 10 seconds. I didn't know how much of a performance difference I should expect between the two drives, so the night I got the system I was experimenting a lot with launching the same game from both. Not much difference. Honestly, this integrates so well into the PS5 that it's easy to forget it's not standard-issue. I wish I could speak more to the technical aspects, but I gotta Todd Howard this one. It just works. If you get this (I have the 2TB version), you'll have plenty of room for everything that has a permanent place on your system, recent purchases and the PS+ games you're looking to try out, and still have space remaining.

Been a PlayStation user since the original system and have owned two of most of them. Since the PS3 Sony has had the terrible habit of launching consoles with hard drives and SSDs that have laughable capacity considering the file sizes of the games. One of the good aspects of the PS5 is that they make it extremely simple to add an SSD to augment the minuscule stock offerings. Anyway, this is a review of the SSD, not the system I’m using it in. Upon reading many reviews this one seemed to be the one in my price range that had the best quality/bang-for-the-buck I could find. The installation was a snap, (just remember not to over-tighten the screw holding it in, and absolutely don’t lose the little spacer, which is very much needed.) The system immediately recognized it and asked about formatting, which took less that half a minute. Assigning the new SSD to be the installation location of games, also you have to manually transfer your games already on the stock drive, which is also easy to do. All in all, a week in it has been operating without a problem, the speed at which the games load seems to be exactly the same as before; not any slower or quicker. It’s been very nice to be able to reinstall all of my PS5 library as well as a few of my favourite PS4 titles; and I still have more that 1TB remaining. The only drawback I can find with this SSD is that it only seem to max out a 2TB, I think it would behoove Western Digital to make a 4TB version available or more ubiquitous if they already do.

This drive does have a heatsink that is permanently attached so you need to be very mindful of vertical clearance in your system. Other than that it's easy to install and use. The heatsink does not come off so you may want to buy the no-heatsink variant if you don't need it. I used a standalone NVMe to USB adapter to partition and format the disk on a laptop, then put the drive in a desktop and installed Windows 10 from USB. It worked perfectly and without any issues. Performance is good, write speed is good too. I did some continuous OBS video capturing for a 48 hour period and there were no glitches, no issues, and all the SMART specs from Crystal Disk Info were still good after that stress test. And it's been just great in the months since then too for normal, less demanding use. Overall it does a good job and has been reliable. Very happy with this one!

I bought this version to extend my PS5 Storage, I had two options in mind, it was either a HHD which was much more cheaper and capacity to use as backup in order to move my games whenever I wanted to play them from external to internal (PS5 storage is 825 GB, yes, thats right, not even 1TB), but I have one already for PS4 and I got to say the performance is, well not slow when it comes for really high data games. So I had the option for an SSD, there were other options that were a bit more cheaper but didnt have the heatsink, so I could pay a bit more dls for the separate heatsink aside and have my ps5 Storage extended without the need to delete any games and play them directly from internal storage. I looked several options and this one was the best I could find without an expertise knowledge of Hardware PC's (with was the reason I didnt choose a separate heatsink) this SSD was pretty much easy to install, searched for the instructions in a yt channel and in less than 15 min I had it all setup. the performance is fast although not as as its advertised 7000 MB/s (mine stated around 6550-6555 MB/s read speed rate). Still Its really really fast to load heavyset games. I would have know when there prime days had an even more discount but still pretty much happy with my purchase. The package was in perfect conditions too.

Had mine in my PS5 for years, still working fine. Use it everyday. It has a heatsink already so don't worry. Simple install. No need for extra stuff, plug and play.

Great Quality, bought for my playstation so i could expand the memory. Lifespan is great we have had this for three years already no issues. Makes my computer run well with the memory, and I have had no issues with performance or connectivity when using it. If needed to replace. Would replace again. Speed is functional, easy to move data over.

Fist of all, I’m not a tech guy, and I don’t normally open my game systems for any reason. After watching a video, it was very easy to not only install, but to format and use. Took me less than 3 min to install. Though the price is more than an external, I wanted an internal drive. Games load and run flawlessly from the drive. I did use the cover over the drive, and the console does reside in a cabinet that is well ventilated(mesh front door, and a couple of usb fans in back of cabinet). I’ve played long enough to have to switch controllers twice due to battery low in one setting and never has my PS5 overheated. Bottom line; little more expensive than an external HD, but works very well, doesn’t take up a usb slot and load speeds are extremely fast. Again, I don’t have clocked speeds or thermal information, I’m just a gamer who started in 1979 with an Atari 2600. Would buy again with what I know now.

So reading the Playstation docs, I realized I needed the heatsink (since there's no cooling mechanism for the expandable storage). I returned the non-heatsink version of this drive and ordered the one with a heatsink. The install went extremely smoothly. When you boot up the playstation, it will auto-format the drive as an extended drive in the system. So there's no re-installing the OS or anything like the old PS4 upgrade. You can also configure your system to automatically install games to this drive instead of the built-in one. (I recommend doing that). You will also get the option to move games from the internal over to this one. Overall the performance is not noticeably different than the internal (which is a great thing). I'm very happy with it. As an alternative (if you're brave) to purchasing the overpriced heatsink version, you might be able to get away with the non-heatsink version and then attaching your own instead. I noticed there are some reasonably priced third party heat sinks available. The risk of course would be: will it fit and will it be as effective as OEM? Good luck!