Sony's First PS5 Software Beta Finally Introduces Expandable Storage Support

Sony’s first PlayStation 5 (PS5) system software beta programme was recently launched, and the M.2 SSD slot for expanding storage capacity will finally be able to be used. Currently, the PS5 beta is only available to selected users in the US, Canada, UK, Japan, France and Germany.

Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

According to Sony, PS5 owners in the beta programme will need a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD with a recommended read speed of 5,500 MB/s or faster. The SSD must have a capacity between 250GB to 4TB.

But if you’re looking to add an SSD to your PS5, do take note of certain requirements, including the one where the SSD needs to have a cooling structure. If your SSD doesn’t have a heatsink built-in, you can also add a single-sided or double-sided heatsink yourself.

Credit: Push Square

By adding an M.2 SSD, players can increase the storage space, letting them download more games on the PS5 console. Aside from that, they can transfer games between the PS5's onboard storage, a USB extended storage drive and the M.2 SSD storage, but do take note that games stored on an external USB drive will not be able to be played from the drive itself.

Players who want to add an M.2 SSD to their PS5 console need to follow the indicated steps on the Sony website. But again, only PS5 owners in the beta can access this feature.

To install games and apps from the PlayStation Store to the PS5’s M.2 SSD storage by default, users need to go to the Settings page, then the "Storage" option and then the "Installation Location" option to assign where they want their games to be stored.

Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

The Verge reported that the PS5 software beta also introduces 3D audio support for internal TV speakers, letting players experience in-game sounds from all around them. To produce a 3D audio effect, the technology uses the DualSense controller to measure the acoustics of a player’s room.

Users can configure this feature by going to the sound menu in the console’s system settings.

Likewise, the Control Centre interface seems to have gotten a revamp as it now allows users to personalise controls as well as access and write messages to fellow players from the Game Base found in the Control Centre.

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Written by Sophia Lopez