STACK’s guide to increasing your current generation console’s storage

If the above describes your predicament, read on as we outline ways to expand the storage on any of the three big current-generation consoles.

As games have advanced over the generations of consoles, so have their size, with some premium releases nowadays clocking in at well over 100GB. Considering that your consoles only have limited storage space, it isn’t surprising that they can fill up quickly.

Sure, you can delete and reinstall again later, but that requires time, and if you’re on a limited internet plan, it can easily chew through your data allowance.

PlayStation 5

Sony’s fifth generation of PlayStation is a beast, with the original shipping with an 825GB SSD, while the newer Slim model ups that a tad to 1TB. Ah, but after the system and various bits and pieces are installed, that storage space drops – to around 670GB useable on the original, and approximately 850GB that’s useable on the Slim.

You don’t have to be a wizard at maths to work out that the SSD will fill up quickly once you start installing games. You do, however, have two handy expansion options.

The first option, and you may already have one hanging about that you could format for your PS5, is an external USB hard drive. There’s a big caveat to this, however.

With the speed of the SSD being critical to operation of native PS5 games, Sony has made it so that you can only store your backwards compatible PS4 games externally. If, like us, you’ve amassed quite a collection over the years, this ability to play classic games is very handy – especially as you can tackle them with the superior DualSense controller – and with storage up to 5TB easily and affordably available, it’s a great expansion option.

You can also use an external SSD, which will be zippier, but the rules above apply - PS5 games will only run off an internal SSD.

Here are some gaming-themed options, but any external USB drive should do the job admirably.

So, what if you want to store and play more native PS5 games?

Then it’s time to add an expansion SSD! You may think that it stands for Super Speedy Drive, but it’s actually Solid State Drive, meaning it contains no moving parts. The PS5 was designed with expansion in mind, so it has a slot for an SSD of up to 4TB with a heatsink - that's an attachment, usually included, that sucks heat away from the SSD itself to keep it operating at peak performance - ready and waiting inside.

You'll be wanting an SSD that supports the M.2 standard - which is simply a specific type of SSD, as there are different sizes available. Any SSD that's marked as PS5 compatible will give you all that you need here.

Installation does involve opening up your PS5, however it is a quite simple task, and rest assured that it doesn’t void your warranty. The only tool necessary is a small Philips head screwdriver – and some good light certainly doesn’t hurt!

If you have an original PS5, you remove the bottom cover by a simple lift and slide motion and then encounter an expansion slot cover. Remove one screw and slot your new expansion SSD in, then reverse the process. It takes mere minutes.

If you have a PS5 Slim it’s just as easy, with a small panel on the console’s bottom that requires one screw to be taken out, then the removal of a spacer screw where your new SSD slots in. Reverse the process and you’re ready to rock!

For full instructions, check out PlayStation's official guides for both PS5 models here.

Xbox Series X|S

The latest iterations of Microsoft’s Xbox work in a similar way to the PS5 storage-wise, however they have made the process of expansion even easier.

You can simply plug in a USB external hard drive to instantly enlarge your storage - just add a format through your console - but generally this will be for any of your backwards compatible games from Xbox One, Xbox 360, and even the original Xbox.

Games optimised for Series X or S must be stored on SSD, like the PS5, so that means if you want more than the core 512GB on the S (approximately 364GB useable), or 1TB on the Series X (around 802GB useable) then it’s additional SSD time!

We've said that Xbox makes it easy to expand your SSD storage, and it really is as simple as plug and play – no dealing with covers and screws at all. Two of the most respected names in storage solutions – Western Digital and Seagate - have expansion cards available that you simply pop into a slot in the back of your console, instantly expanding your storage by either 1TB or 2TB. Neat!

Nintendo Switch

The clever people at Nintendo built the Switch to either stay at home, or to go wherever you go. This portability means a different storage solution, which comes in the form of everyday microSD, microSDHC, or microSDXC cards.

The standard storage in the Switch and Switch Lite is 32GB (with around 26GB useable), while the OLED model doubles that to 64GB (around 58GB useable). That really isn’t a lot, so once you amass even a small collection of Switch classics then you’ll be wanting to go the microSD route.

But why are there three types? The designations just represent different capacity limits, so…

microSD (adds up to 2GB of storage maximum)

microSDHC (adds from 4GB to a maximum 32GB)

microSDXC (adds from 64GB up to 2TB)

To really futureproof your storage, the old mantra “the bigger, the better” is applicable. We suggest a minimum of 512GB in microSDXC as a good way to store lots of games - and without breaking the piggybank.

Here are some delightful Switch themed options from memory card leaders Sandisk...