While many are still waiting to get a Sony PlayStation 5 at MSRP prices in the UAE, the company has now announced the rollout of its beta firmware update for the console that allows users to start using the M.2 expansion port for more storage space.
Up until now, PS5 owners have been stuck with the fast but limited internal storage space to load PS5 games. Even when Sony had released firmware updates that allow PS5 owners to store PS5 games on external drives, it was not possible to load the game from the external drives and you will need to copy them back to the internal drive to play the game. With the new beta update, PS5 owners should finally be able to load games from the faster NVMe drive.
However, Sony did release a list of requirements and instructions on the type of drive that you should buy and the installation steps you need to follow. First and foremost, Sony does mention that you will need to invest in a PCIe 4.0 based NVMe drive. The company did not state the specific models that are 100% compatible. However, it was also mentioned that the game loading performance may not be the same for all games as compared to the internal SSD (even if the read speed of your new PCIe 4.0 drive exceeds the 5500MB/s read speed of the PS5 internal drive).
Interestingly, Sony does specify that a heatsink should be installed as well, either as single-sided or double-sided. There are already many PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives out there with heatsinks included, and if you happen to have one without a heatsink, then you will need to spend on third-party options. Sony also explained the exact dimensions that are required for both the NVMe drive and the heatsinks, if you wish to fit the drive properly.
Currently, it looks like the beta firmware is only available to certain countries and it will be a matter of time when the official firmware update will allow all PS5 owners to install and load PS5 games from the NVMe drive.
