The WD_Black SN850 NVMe 1TB SSD with Heatsink is a highly recommended addition to your PS5 or PC and very easy to plug and play.
Ever since at least the mid-2000’s, I’ve been using Western Digital Black hard drives. I tried various brands prior to discovering them and many didn’t last more than a year or two. Since then, I’ve never had an issue with a WD drive and will always recommend them to friends. With Sony recently enabling the addition of SSDs to the PlayStation 5, WD has launched the WD_Black SN850 NVMe 1TB SSD with Heatsink for the PS5. It’s super easy to install, and Sony has got a detailed video available for those that are a bit hesitant to open their PS5. It’s easier than installing a NVMe drive into a PC so go on, be adventurous!
Once installed, the PS5 will detect the drive and prompt you to format it ready for use. It took 5.8 seconds to format the drive which is super-fast for a 1TB drive. These M.2 SSDs are used to store and play both PS4 and PS5 games. You can set this new drive as the default install drive by going into Settings > Storage > Installation Location. You can also move any games from your internal drive to the new drive by highlighting the data you want to move, press the Options button, and then select Move Games and Apps. The theoretical maximum sequential read speeds of the WD_Black SN850 NVMe 1TB SSD go up to 7,000MB/s and after formatting the drive, the PS5’s internal benchmark rated this drive as a read speed of 6550.635MB/s. Prior to moving 2018’s God of War game files between drives, it took 24.88 seconds to load the game from fresh to the game’s menu. Copying God of War from the internal drive to the new M.2 SSD took 32.83 seconds to move the 45.93GB of data. Then loading God of War from the new drive took 25.83 seconds to get to the game’s menu from a fresh start, so one second slower to load than the internal drive. Still, taking advantage of the full 1TB drive means you’re not having to delete games to make room for new ones, or moving them between drives often to fit the latest PS+ monthly games.
The WD_Black SN850 NVMe 1TB SSD with Heatsink is a highly recommended addition to your PS5 or PC and very easy to plug and play. If you’re using this in the PC, you get the added benefit of customising the RGB lighting with the WD_Black Dashboard software. Stock is available at PLE Computers ($399) and MWave (on special for $355). There are also 2TB variants valued at $789 from PLE and on special at MWave for $649. There are also cheaper models without the heatsink for PCs, but heatsinks are recommend for SSD’s when installed into the PS5 to prevent overheating. This review utilised a loan unit provided by FleishmanHillard.
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Written by: @ChrisJInglis
