One of the PS5's key features is a custom SSD. However, expanding the PS5's hard drive could make load times even faster.

The ability to expand the console's internal SSD is currently only available in the first PS5 software beta. Testers are testing this feature before it is available to all console users. Recently, Digital Foundry, a specialist in technical analysis, conducted extensive testing and found that adding an SSD improves the loading speed of the console.

Sony has not released an official list of compatible SSDs, but it does provide a list of criteria that hard drives must meet to be compatible with the console; Digital Foundry has found that the 1TB model meets all of Sony's benchmarks and costs about $200 The Samsung 980 Pro SSD was selected.

Testing revealed that the PS5-exclusive "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" performed nearly identically on both the base drive and the Samsung 980 Pro. Says Thomas Morgan of Digital Foundry, "The 980 Pro is fast enough to handle a loaded PS5-exclusive like Ratchet and Clank and performs just as well as the stock PS5 drive in delivering high-bandwidth scenes."

Surprisingly, running PS4 games on the Samsung 980 Pro SSD actually improved load times; games like "The Witcher 3," "Fallout 4," and "Cyberpunk 2077" compared to when played on the PS5 stock drive, load times were reduced by two to three seconds. The only exception was "Battlefield 5," which loaded faster when played from the PS5's base storage.

Native PS5 games loaded at essentially the same speed on both the stock drive and the Samsung 980 Pro, which is not a huge surprise given that the PS5 has some of the fastest load speeds available. Rather, it is impressive that the additional internal SSD can keep up.

Game transfers between the two drives was the area where the greatest disparity was found; Digital Foundry's testing revealed that copying games from the stock drive to the Samsung 980 Pro was significantly faster than transferring games the other way

For example, the Samsung 980 Pro is a very fast transfer device.

For example, transferring "Cyberpunk 2077" to the Samsung 980 Pro took only 1 minute and 11 seconds, while copying it back to the PS5 base drive took 7 minutes and 18 seconds. That's a significant increase.

Digital Foundry emphasizes that different SSDs have different performance levels, and choosing an alternative drive that meets Sony's requirements, such as the WD_Black SN850, may not yield exactly the same results as above. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see that upgrading PS5 hard drives can provide both increased storage and a slight performance boost.