Best External Hard Drives for Game Storage: Picks and What to Look For

For most console owners who want a big shelf for installed games, a portable hard drive such as the Seagate Game Drive for PS5 or the WD_BLACK P10 gives the most space for the least money. Players who want to launch games straight from the external drive, move titles often, or use the drive across a PC and a console should look at a portable SSD such as the Samsung T9, and Xbox Series X|S owners who want current-generation games to run from extra space need the proprietary expansion card instead. The right answer depends far more on which console you own than on raw speed, so start there.

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First, what an external drive can and cannot do

The biggest source of disappointment is expecting an external drive to behave like internal storage. Reviewers at TechRadar and PCGamesN both stress the same console rules, and the manufacturers’ own compatibility lists agree.

• PlayStation 5: an external USB drive, hard drive or SSD, stores PS5 games but cannot run them. You copy a title back to the console’s internal SSD or an installed M.2 SSD to play it. PS4 games, however, can be played directly from an external USB drive.
• Xbox Series X|S: the console runs Series X|S optimized games only from its internal drive or the Seagate Storage Expansion Card. A USB drive can store those titles and can run backward-compatible Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games directly.
• PC: any USB drive works as a library location, but game load times and open-world streaming reflect the drive speed, so a hard drive feels sluggish for modern titles.

Because of these limits, a hard drive is a perfectly sensible archive for games you rotate through, while an SSD matters mainly for backward-compatible titles, PC play, or if you dislike waiting during transfers.

Hard drive or portable SSD

A portable hard drive uses spinning platters. WD lists the WD_BLACK P10 at speeds up to about 130 MB/s, and it is a 5400 RPM 2.5-inch mechanism. A portable SSD such as the Samsung T9 lists sequential speeds up to 2,000 MB/s over USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. That gap is roughly fifteen times on paper, though the real-world gain depends on the port in your console or PC; many console USB ports run at 5 Gb/s or 10 Gb/s, which caps the faster drives.

Capacity per budget is where hard drives win. The Seagate Game Drive for PS5 is offered in sizes up to 5TB, and PlayStation states that this size holds more than 60 PS5 games or more than 100 PS4 games. The WD_BLACK P10 is sold in sizes up to 5TB or 6TB depending on the listing. Solid-state drives at similar sizes sit in the premium tier.

At a glance: the main options

Console owners: pick by platform

PlayStation 5 and PS4

TechRadar picks the Seagate Game Drive for PS5 as its best overall external hard drive for the console. The drive is officially licensed, uses matching firmware for PS5 and PS4 models, and has a blue LED accent. The reviewer’s main caution is the one above: you cannot play PS5 games from it, so each launch requires moving the game back to the internal drive. Tom’s Guide describes the WD_BLACK P10 as probably the best conventional hard drive for external PS5 storage, noting middling transfer speed as the trade-off.

If you still play many PS4 games, a portable SSD is worth the extra spend. PS4 titles run directly from an external drive on PS5, and loading from an SSD is noticeably quicker than from a spinning disk according to reviewers. For PS5 games, the better upgrade is an internal M.2 SSD in the console, which is a different product category from the drives in this guide.

Xbox Series X|S

Because optimized games must run from the internal drive or the expansion card, an ordinary USB drive serves as cold storage. The Seagate Storage Expansion Card plugs into the rear slot, uses a PCIe Gen 4 x2 interface and replicates the console’s internal storage architecture, according to Seagate’s data sheet. It comes in 512GB, 1TB and 2TB sizes in retailer listings. A common approach is to pair the card for the games you are playing now with a large hard drive for the rest of the library.

PC and handheld gaming

For a laptop or a handheld PC, a portable SSD is the sensible choice because installed games read directly from the drive. The Samsung T9 and T7 Shield are the models most often cited by PCGamesN, with the T9 praised for speed and light rubberized build and the T7 Shield for its ingress protection. Check that the cable and port match: full T9 speed needs USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, and a plain USB-A port will limit it.

Trade-offs by budget tier

• Budget: a 1TB or 2TB portable hard drive. It will hold a modest library, runs without a power adapter, and is good enough for PS5 or Xbox archive duty. Expect slow transfers.
• Mid-range: a 4TB or 5TB hard drive such as the Game Drive or P10, or a 500GB to 1TB entry portable SSD. Choose the larger hard drive if library size matters; choose the SSD if you want to run PS4 or backward-compatible games quickly.
• Premium: a 2TB or larger SSD like the T9 or T7 Shield, or the Xbox expansion card. This tier makes sense for PC play, creators who share the drive with video projects, and Xbox owners who need games to launch.

Fit, care and compatibility notes

• Cables and ports: use the cable supplied. Many portable hard drives ship with a Micro-B cable, and WD states that most P10 models use that connector while the 2TB model also includes USB-A.
• Size and weight: WD lists the 2TB P10 at 0.57 inch thick and the larger sizes at 0.82 inch, about 0.51 lb. The Samsung T9 measures 88 x 60 x 14 mm and weighs 122 g.
• Drop damage: hard drives have moving parts. Handle them carefully while spinning and avoid moving the console with the drive attached. Samsung rates the T9 for drops up to 3 metres under controlled conditions, which gives some margin for a bag or desk.
• Formatting: consoles usually format the drive for you, which erases it. Back up anything personal before connecting a drive that already has files.
• Heat and power: bus-powered hard drives can fail to spin up on weak hubs. Plug straight into the console or computer.
• Data safety: any drive can fail. Keep save data in cloud backup and treat an external drive as a convenience copy, not the only copy of anything you cannot re-download.

Pick X if you…

Alternatives worth considering

• Internal M.2 SSD for PS5: this is the path for running extra PS5 games without copying, but it needs the right heatsink and size per Sony’s guidance.
• Lexar SL660 Blaze: PCGamesN lists this portable SSD among its picks for those who want speed in a slim body.
• WD_BLACK D10 8TB: a large desktop-style drive with its own power supply, suited to a fixed setup rather than a bag.
• Network storage: a home NAS can hold installers for PC libraries, though it is overkill for console users.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I play PS5 games directly from an external hard drive?

No. An external USB drive, hard drive or SSD can store PS5 games, but they must be copied to the console’s internal SSD or an installed M.2 SSD to run. PS4 games can be played straight from the external drive.

Is a portable SSD worth it just for game storage?

If you only archive PS5 or Xbox games, a hard drive does the job at a lower cost per terabyte. An SSD pays off when you play PS4 or backward-compatible games from the drive, use it with a PC, or dislike long copy times.

How many games fit on a 5TB drive?

PlayStation says the 5TB Seagate Game Drive holds more than 60 PS5 games or more than 100 PS4 games. Actual numbers depend on the size of each title, and many modern releases take well over 100GB.

Will an Xbox Series X|S run optimized games from a USB drive?

No. Optimized games must run from the internal drive or the Seagate Storage Expansion Card. A USB drive can store them and can run backward-compatible Xbox titles directly.

Do I need a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port for the Samsung T9?

Samsung lists speeds up to 2,000 MB/s only when the host and cable both support USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 and UASP is enabled. On slower ports the drive still works but at reduced speed.

Are portable hard drives safe to carry around?

They are fine for normal handling, but the spinning platter makes them more vulnerable to knocks while in use than a solid-state drive. Let the drive stop before moving it, and keep important files backed up elsewhere.