Sony confirms the PS5 can only support a single external USB 3.0 hard drive at one time.
Unlike the Xbox Series X with its 1TB memory card, the PlayStation 5 is gridlocked on storage space for next-gen games. But what about legacy games? Luckily, the PS5 will support external USB 3.0 HDDs for expanded storage. You can hook up your PS4's existing external drive right to the PS5 and launch backward compatible current-gen games right from the HDD.
There's just one catch: PS5 games can't be stored on HDDs and must be put on the internal SSD--a drive that only has 667GB of available space. Sony could change this in the future, but it'll be this way at launch.
There's another catch, but this one's to be expected: The PS5 can only use one external HDD at a time. That means you can't hook up two or more drives to the PS5's high-speed slots. This isn't a surprise, though, because the PS4 also supports a max of one external HDD at a time.
"Not all USB drives will work with PS5. An extended storage drive can't be used through a USB hub, and two or more extended storage drives can't be connected to PS5 at the same time," reads the PS5 FAQ.
The external drive has to meet the following requirements (just like with the PS4):
- USB 3.0 or later
- 250GB minimum, 8TB maximum
- exFAT format
