Best Hard Drive for PS5: Our top compatible external storage picks for 2021

If you're among the lucky few to have bought a

PlayStation 5 amid this stock shortage

, you might quickly realise the PS5 suffers from another shortage - storage space. As games such as 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 

are on the brink of hitting 200GB in size, the PS5's 825GB SSD storage will fill up pretty quickly with all the

new PS5 games coming in 2021

.

To solve these storage problems, you'll want to pick up an external hard drive. This plugs into your PS5 via the USB port, and is one of the most essential items a PlayStation owner should buy.

It's also worth remembering that for now, the

PlayStation 5 does not support external SSD devices

. There has been no update in the three months since the PS5's release about when support will come, but for now, we'd recommend

transferring all your PS4 games to an external hard drive

, leaving as much space as possible for your next-gen games.

With that in mind, here are our top hard drives for the PS5 in 2021...

Best PS5 Hard Drive: WD 4 TB My Passport Portable Hard Drive

To put into context just how much 4TB is, you could fit around 23 copies of 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare/Warzone 

on this hard drive. That might not be the best use of the space, but having space for approximately forty 100GB games sounds impossible to beat.

WD is one of the most trusted hard drive brands around, promising superfast transfer speeds and hardware encryption if you plan on using it away from your PlayStation 5. Costing just £86.99 right now (down from £104.99), this works out at just over £21 per TB - making the WD hard drive our favourite hard drive on the market.

Best Value PS5 Hard Drive: Seagate Portable 1 TB HDD

If you don't really fancy splashing out on a huge external HDD, we'd recommend Seagate's 1TB hard drive that offers high-quality, high-performance storage without the premium prices.

1TB should allow you to be fairly liberal with your game downloads, and for just £42.99 it's our pick for those looking to save money after dropping £449.99 on a PlayStation 5 console.

Best Looking PS5 Hard Drive: Seagate Ultra Touch HDD White

When the PS5 was first revealed, its two-tone colour scheme divided fans who were used to the more

classic all-black

look of the PS4 and PS3. Since then, more gamers have come to love the PS5's iconic design, and if you want an external hard drive to match, we'd recommend Seagate's Ultra Touch HDD.

Coming in white with a woven fabric design, this HDD will fit into your gaming setup as seamlessly as it is to set up this hard drive. Costing just £61.08 for 2TB, it's not a bad price, either.

Best PS5 external SSD: Samsung T5 1 TB USB 3.1 Gen 2

Okay, we're slightly cheating here, as the PS5 currently does not support external SSD storage devices. However, if you're looking to get ahead of the crowd, or maybe even beef your PlayStation 4 up to a PS5-level of storage, this 1TB Samsung SSD looks like a solid choice.

SSD storage tends to be more expensive than a HDD simply because it has faster transfer speeds, making for improved loading times. While Samsung's SSD fits into this category, it appears among the better priced SSD devices- especially for 1TB.

Best Special Edition Hard Drive: Seagate Game Drive 2 TB The Last of Us II Special Edition

While 

The Last of Us: Part II

may not have received a PS5 upgrade yet, celebrate Naughty Dog's award-winning PS4 exclusive in style with Seagate's special edition hard drive.

Designed exclusively for the PlayStation, Seagate's 2TB hard drive feature's Ellie's iconic fern tattoo, and offers players a substantial amount of storage space at a decent price - especially for a special edition product.

Best HUGE PS5 Hard Drive: WD_BLACK D10 8TB Game Drive

If you're the type of person who likes to jump in and out of countless games at your choosing, this 8TB will mean you'll never need to delete any game again. An 8TB, or 8000GB will allow you to store one hundred 80GB games on your device. For just £169.70 (down from £199.99), the price per GB (PPGB) comes in at around 2p per GB.

It's not just the sheer volume of this hard drive, however. WD_Black remains a trusted hard drive company, and this product reflects that reputation. Featuring 7200RPM 250MB/s transfer speeds, WD_Black ensures your loading time will remain fast via its active cooling technology.