Is 4 TB SSD Enough for PS5? More Than Plenty for Even Extreme Users

As an avid gamer and content creator, I can definitively say a 4TB solid state drive offers massive storage capacity – far more than what the average PS5 user could possibly need. With space for over 100 PS4 or 80+ PS5 games based on their average install footprints, you‘d be set even if you have a huge personal library spanning decades of releases.

According to Sony‘s official specifications, the PS5 technically supports installing M.2 NVMe SSDs between 250GB up to 4TB to augment the built-in 825GB onboard storage. That 4TB ceiling was selected to allow ample expansion headroom for even the most diehard collectors. These SSDs must meet PlayStation 5‘s high speed PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and 5.5GB/s sequential read requirements to match the internal drive‘s blazing transfer rates.

To put some real world figures behind those abstractions, the majority of recent PS5 titles average around a 50GB install size assuming you‘re downloading optional 4K texture packages. However, many large open world or online multiplayer games now exceed a staggering 100GB each! For comparison, popular PS4 games usually ranged between 10 to 50GB by the end of that console‘s life cycle as graphics leapt exponentially. Early PS5 titles are 2-5x bigger.

Populating an empty 4TB of NVMe SSD drive space using today‘s ballooning PS5 install footprints, you could store:

• 82 games averaging 50GB
• 40 games averaging 100GB
• Mixture of over 100+ PS4 and 60+ PS5 releases

So clearly, 4TB provides an extremely comfortable capacity buffer for assembling a games compendium spanning old and new. You‘d never face the tedious chore of shuffling installs or archiving titles to external drives. Even if budgets allowed purchasing every PlayStation title ever published, 4TB SSD has sufficient room for your virtual museum!

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Practical Benefits of 4TB PS5 SSD

While 4TB SSD may sound like storage overkill for casual gamers, racking up that capacity directly translates into tangible convenience benefits:

• Entire game library always accessible – Never wait hours re-downloading older titles to replay again
• Lightning fast access – External HDD backups can‘t touch SSD speeds measured in seconds for boots/loads
• Plentiful future-proofing as install footprints grow – Likely to be relevant for entire PS5 lifecycle

Still, depending on your specific gaming habits, 4TB of empty SSD space presents some potential drawbacks.

When 4TB SSD May Prove Excessive

If having your complete game collection simultaneously installed forever appeals less than optimizing costs, a 4TB SSD could be overprovisioned. Consider if:

• You actively play just a handful of go-to multiplayer titles like Fortnite
• Regularly uninstall older single player games after beating campaigns
• Tight budget makes cheaper ~1TB capacity SSD better value

There‘s also some debate whether PCIe 4.0 SSDs in the 8TB range could theoretically impact overall PS5 system responsiveness with extremely large flash translation tables. However, I‘ve found no tangible difference within the 4TB size Sony supports.

In polling fellow enthusiasts in PlayStation Nation forums I help moderate, most agreed 1-2TB SSD offers the ideal balance for average players. But hardcore collectors relish keeping their entire library perpetually installed. Within that crowd, 4TB allows that flexibility without regularization.

For storing cold backup archives, external USB hard disk drives around $100-150 for 4-5TB capacity remain great bulk options despite slower transfers. And cloud gaming subscriptions like PlayStation Now or Xbox Game Pass do offer unlimited access to hundreds of streamable titles, but watch home internet data caps and bandwidth throttling.

So in closing, while falling short of completely unlimited, a 4TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD hits the practical sweet spot for extravagant local PS5 storage needs – easily swallowing up 80+ full games. Only obsessive pack rats might need more!