Rank #1 in Best 4TB SSD for PS5: 10 Ranked, and the Speed Numbers That Don't Add Up
WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB PS5 SSD with Heatsink
Price and rating as shown on Amazon when we collected them. Both change.
The WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB sits at number one in this guide. It is an internal M.2 2280 NVMe drive built for the PlayStation 5, described in the listing as officially licensed by Sony for the console, with an exclusive heatsink shaped for the PS5's M.2 slot. It costs £413.99 and carries a 4.7 rating from 11,325 reviews. The bullets claim up to 7,300MB/s read and 6,600MB/s write on the 2TB and 4TB models.
The number worth checking here is in the listing's own spec table. Read Speed is given as 7300 Megabytes Per Second, while Data Transfer Rate for the same drive is given as 7300 Megabits Per Second — identical digits, different unit, an eightfold gap in what the figure means. The Media Speed field says 6600MB/s, which does line up with the 6,600MB/s write speed the bullets claim, so the write figure is consistent where the read figure is not. Two other fields read oddly on an internal PS5 drive: Product Features says Portable, and Hard Disk Form Factor says 2.5 Centimetres. The capacity bullet talks about "up to 8TB capacity" and storing up to 200 games, while this listing is the 4TB model. Everything on this page comes from the Amazon advert, not from any drive we have tested ourselves.
How those 11,325 ratings break down
An average hides its own shape. This is the spread behind the 4.7 stars.
Specification
Exactly as published on the Amazon listing, field for field.
| Price | £413.99 |
|---|---|
| Rating | 4.7 out of 5 from 11,325 reviews |
| Digital Storage Capacity | 4 TB |
| Read Speed (as listed) | 7300 Megabytes Per Second |
| Data Transfer Rate (as listed) | 7300 Megabits Per Second |
| Media Speed (as listed) | 6600MB/s |
| Product Features (as listed) | Portable |
| Compatible Video Game Console Models | Sony PlayStation 5 |
What buyers actually say
Quoted from customer reviews on Amazon
Verified purchase“My son said this drive was very easy to install, easy to use and has made a huge difference to his PS5 in performance and speed.The installation video was brilliant, it was up and running in no time. The boot speed is excellent.Great quality drive that arrived very quickly and securely”
Verified purchase“With the internal memory of my PS5 filling up I needed to get hold of extra internal memory in order to store more games on it, especially PS5 games as they won't work if they've been installed on an external drive, Something to do with the external drive being too slow to keep up with the speeds PS5 games need to play.So I searched for an internal drive with it's own heatsink ... which is when I came across this one.It's an M.2 2280 PCIe technology NVMe WD black designed for speed, which is why it's made for gaming.I did read the reviews, which were a mixed bag, some 5 stars, others 1 star, (someone wanting to leave negative stars for his experience) but, regardless of the negative about this drive I went for it when I saw it on offer.It arrived in a well packaged box which helped protect it in transit. I opened it and set about taking the cover off my PS5. Once the cover was off I found the internal spare drive slot, unscrewed the cover. took out the holding screw, placed this drive in at an angle (45o ish) then, when the contacts connected, I pushed this drive home. Locking it in place with the holding screw.Finally, I popped the cover back on, booted up the PS5, formatted the new drive and away I went.It's simple to format, just follow the on screen instructions, a couple of presses of the controlled and it's formatted to use on the PS5... then set your PS5 to automatically download new games onto the new drive...And you're done.Once it's in place it's designed to be left there to do its work, and it does it so well.It offers read speeds of up to 7300MB/s and write speeds of 6600MB/s which is ample speeds for what you need for your PS5 to game without hesitation or annoyance.I went for the 4TB version, (as it was on offer at a cracking price) but there is a 1TB a 2TB and even an 8TB ... but I got the 4TB for the price of the 2TB.In all, this drive really has done exactly what it's designed to do and it does it with the speeds you need.It was pretty straightforward to fit and now holds many, many PS5 games ready for me, or my family, to play without having to uninstall anything or transfer a PS5 game from the external drive to the internal drive. So time saving it's a blessing.As for the price. as I mentioned, I bagged the 4GB version for the price of a 2TB version (at time of writing)This 4GB version cost me just under £340 which was a price I was not going to let slide.Definitely money well spent for time saving and space alone.”
What it is up against
The rivals it was ranked against in Best 4TB SSD for PS5: 10 Ranked, and the Speed Numbers That Don't Add Up.
Questions people ask
Does the WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB fit a PlayStation 5?
The listing says it is officially tested and licensed for the PS5, that the heatsink is optimised for the console's M.2 slot, and it ticks Sony PlayStation 5 under Compatible Video Game Console Models, with Hardware Platform given as PS5.
How fast does the WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB read and write?
The bullets claim up to 7,300MB/s read and 6,600MB/s write for the 2TB and 4TB models. The spec table gives Read Speed as 7300 Megabytes Per Second but Data Transfer Rate as 7300 Megabits Per Second for the same drive, and Media Speed as 6600MB/s.
Why does the spec table list the transfer rate in megabits?
The advert does not explain it. Its own footnote says "1 MB/s = 1 million bytes per second", so the listing works in bytes per second elsewhere while the Data Transfer Rate field carries the same 7300 figure in megabits.
How many games can the WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB hold?
The listing says a PS5 with up to 8TB capacity can store up to 200 games. That sentence refers to the 8TB version, not to this 4TB drive, and the advert gives no separate game count for 4TB.
Is the WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB a portable drive?
The Product Features field says Portable, but the same listing gives Installation Type as Internal Hard Drive, Hard Disk Description as a solid state drive for PS5, and Form Factor as M2.
What is in the box with the WD_BLACK SN850P 4TB?
Box Contents lists "SSD". The listing states the drive has an exclusive heatsink design featuring the PlayStation logo and optimised for the PS5 console's M.2 slot, with installation and setup described as worry-free.
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