Game downloads are huge these days, and there’s no sign of them diminishing. These gigabyte numbers are only increasing, so your storage, whether it’s hard drives, solid state drives or microSD cards, has to match it. Tomorrow and Wednesday (July 11 & 12) could be a good time to upgrade the capacity of your favorite console, as Amazon’s annual Prime Day event offers discounts on a variety of excellent storage upgrades.
With that in mind, here’s a no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point list of great external and internal drive deals up for grabs at this year’s Prime Day. And if you’re reading this after July 11th and 12th, 2023, the drives below remain great options, just slightly more expensive than during the sale.
External SSDs for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
External solid-state drives offer one of the easiest ways to expand your storage – especially on the PS5, where you’d otherwise have to break them open to fit an M.2 drive. Here are the current best deals on external storage suitable for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
We recommend: Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD (1 TB / 4 TB)
The Samsung T7 Shield not only scores with its high speed, it is also incredibly durable with IP65 dust and water resistance, so you can take it with you in the bath. (don’t actually do that).
This year’s Prime offerings give you two capacity options:
Save Money and Space: Crucial X6 Portable SSD (2TB / 4TB)
Don’t let its small physical size fool you: the Crucial X6 is a competent solid-state external storage solution. It’s slower in speed than the Samsung T7 Shield, but it’s a bit more affordable and the smaller footprint could prove beneficial if you’re short on space.
You can snag the Crucial X6 in two sizes:
Internal SSD upgrades for PS5
If you want to crack open your PS5 to install a new internal SSD, the PS5 has room for an M.2 drive. Here are some internal M.2 drives that can match the PS5’s high-speed storage requirements:
We recommend: Seagate Game Drive M.2 SSD for PS5 (2 TB)
The Seagate Game Drive M.2 is a great way to triple the size of your PS5’s internal storage. It’s also the more affordable of our two Prime Day deals.
For even more storage space: Internal gaming SSD WD_Black SN850x (4 TB)
If you want to quintuple your internal PS5 storage, that’s going to be expensive, but keep in mind that with 4TB, you probably won’t have to worry about storage for quite a while.
microSD cards for Switch and Steam Deck
If you’re looking to expand the storage capacity of your portable devices, consider the following two great microSD cards. These work well in a Nintendo Switch or even a Steam Deck.
Cheapest: Samsung Pro Plus microSD cards (256GB / 512GB)
If you’re just looking for a bit more storage, the Pro Plus is a solid choice, with options ranging from 256GB to 512GB. A practical USB adapter is also included in the scope of delivery. You can also get 128GB for just $16.99, but definitely spend a few bucks more to get 256GB instead.
Largest memory: SanDisk Extreme (1 TB)
If you’re looking for a major memory upgrade, especially for something like a Steam deck, consider installing a full terabyte.
SanDisk Extreme microSDXC (1TB) – $95.99 – July 11th and 12th
External hard drives and budget options
While we recommend more modern solid-state drives for console use (internal or external), you can also find some good deals on old-school mechanically rotating hard drives. Note that these will save you a buck or two compared to their SSD counterparts, but they’re much, much slower. On PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, hard drives can only be used to store games, not actual games; Saved games must be copied to a fast enough SSD to make them playable.
WD_Black 2TB P10 Game Drive
The WD Black P10 is available for just $62 for 2TB. Like the other drives in the WD_Black series, this drive has a metal casing and also works with PCs. Note that this is a mechanical hard drive and not an SSD. While this is a good way to store more games on your next-gen console, you can’t actually play them from this drive. The WD_Black 2TB P10 HDD will be on sale on both July 11th and 12th.
As mentioned above, for a little more money this is possible Step into a 1TB SSD with the Samsung T7 Shield.
Some pretty good sales. So what will you end up downloading when you have more storage space?
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