If your priority is playing native PS5 games, your best option for expanding storage is installing your own high-speed internal NVMe M.2 solid-state drive. Expanding is a relatively straightforward process, making it one area where the PS5 differs from Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S which depends on pricey proprietary expansion cards.

Why does it have to be an NVMe drive? It’s the kind of drive built into the PlayStation 5 and is necessary to play native PS5 games, which require fast storage for quickly streaming in-game assets like textures. This is why modern games have fast load times and games like Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart can offer a “seamless” experience while jumping between wildly different environments.

Even though your PlayStation 5 console can play older PS4 games (and earlier, assuming you have the right tier of PlayStation Plus), native PS5 games must be stored on internal NVMe storage and won’t run from an external drive. Unfortunately, the console only ships with just over 650GB of free space on its 875GB drive.

You can’t just fit any old drive in your PlayStation 5, though, so first make sure any drive you choose meets Sony’s exacting specifications. To recap, any NVMe M.2 drive you want to fit in your PS5 must:

• Use PCIe Gen4 x4
• Be between 250GB and 4TB in size
• Have a form factor type 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, or 22110
• Use Socket 3 (Key M)
• Be only 22mm wide (25mm won’t fit)
• Be 30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, or 110mm in length
• Be fitted with a cooling structure, like a heatsink.
• Not exceed 110mm in length, 25mm in width, and 11.25mm in height with the heatsink attached.

If that sounds like a lot of things to keep track of, take solace in the fact that many manufacturers market their internal drives as being suitable for the PlayStation 5. You can also check out our best PS5 internal NVMe drives roundup to see a list of recommended drives that will work.

Once you’ve bought a suitable SSD that fits your needs and budget, it’s time to fit it. This is pretty straightforward and requires that you power off and unplug your console, remove the outer plastic plates, unscrew the internal drive cover, and install the drive.