Earlier this month we reported on Sony starting up their PlayStation 5 Software Beta Program, where selected PlayStation 5 owners from specific regions would be able to participate in beta trials for new system features. Well, it looks like that program has officially begun as some people have been reporting that they have received the next version of the software, version 2.0, in this format. While there were some interesting facets to this update, the most intriguing one is the long-awaited memory storage expansion update. It appears that version 2.0 will in fact allow owners to use an M.2 SSD stick with their PlayStation 5, albeit with some restrictions.
According to Sony, users will be able to have between 250 GB and 4 TB of storage to the PlayStation 5. This is a much higher threshold of storage compared to the measly 800 GB that came with the system itself, and only giving a little more than 600 GB off the bat. With that said, Sony has also made some restrictions to the size, speed, and technical aspects. For instance, read speed needs to be at least 5,500MB per second, anything higher and it will not work. Another example is that the M.2 SSD needs to be one of these sizes to fit; 30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, 110mm, and 22mm in width.
Other aspects include requiring a heatsink, which is something that most M.2 SSD’s should already have installed. If for some reason yours doesn’t, then get ready to take it apart and install one yourself. Lastly, you will need to remove one of the large plates and use a screwdriver to screw the M.2 SSD into the actual slot. This last part shouldn’t be a major surprise as it was one of the features shown by Sony when first introducing the console in 2020.
Is it an improvement? Yes, it is, but it also has the owner going through a bit of hoops in order to achieve this. Microsoft handled things a bit differently for the Xbox Series X|S memory storage expansion by introducing a proprietary SSD 1 TB Expansion Card that inserts directly into the console, that’s it. Since this is still in beta format, it’s possible that Sony will actually keep the feature back a bit until they figure out a new way to implement a more effective process of updating the storage. For the time being, we recommend you check out the linked site to the M.2 SSD Storage page in case you’re planning on adding in some more memory.