Best SSD for GTA 6: PS5 and Xbox Picks With Real Prices

GTA 6 needs up to 212GB of free space, Rockstar says. If you own a PS5 Pro, its 2TB drive has room to spare. On a standard PS5, the best SSDs for GTA 6 are the officially licensed Sandisk Optimus GX PRO 850P and the Samsung 990 PRO with Heatsink. On Xbox Series X|S, only an official Storage Expansion Card can run the game besides the internal drive. Here’s what to buy, what it really costs in November 2026, and the cheap way out.

Do you actually need one?

Maybe not. Grand Theft Auto VI fits on every current console once you make room. The question is what else you want to keep installed. Here’s where each console stands before you add anything:

Usable space is lower than the number on the box, since the system reserves part of the drive. Our GTA 6 file size guide has the usable figures per console and the preload steps. Still picking hardware? See PS5 Pro for GTA 6 and PS5 vs Xbox Series.

Best PS5 SSDs for GTA 6

Any drive that meets Sony’s spec should run GTA 6, though Sony doesn’t guarantee every model. These two are the safest bets, because both come with a heatsink that fits the PS5’s slot out of the box:

The Sandisk is the official one. It’s the drive Sony licenses and lists on PlayStation Direct, for both the PS5 and the PS5 Pro. The catch: PS Direct shows the 1TB model as currently unavailable, so check retailers.

The Samsung is the enthusiast pick. Its heatsink brings the drive to 8.2mm, well under Sony’s 11.25mm limit, and Samsung markets it as PS5 compatible. The 2TB model now lists at $669.99 on Samsung.com, twice the 1TB price.

Both drives are much faster than Sony’s 5,500MB/s floor, but that headroom buys you little. Sony says it can’t guarantee every game performs exactly as it does on the internal SSD, even on a faster drive.

What Sony requires

If you’re eyeing another brand, check these before you buy, straight from PlayStation Support:

You need a #1 Phillips screwdriver. The PS5 formats the drive on first boot, which wipes it. Then set Settings > Storage > Installation Location to the M.2 SSD so the next big download lands there. Better yet, move your older games to it and leave GTA 6 on the internal drive. Here’s Sony’s own walkthrough on the launch PS5 (the slim models follow a slightly different procedure, also on Sony’s support page):

Xbox Series X|S: the expansion card

On Xbox, the only add-on storage that runs Series X|S games is an official Storage Expansion Card in the port on the back. Two exist: Seagate’s, the original, and Sandisk’s newer Optimus GX C50. Both match the internal SSD’s performance, so GTA 6 plays from them exactly as it would from the console drive.

Here’s the twist of 2026: on paper, Xbox owners now have the cheaper upgrade. Microsoft’s estimated price for a 2TB Seagate card is below Samsung’s 1TB 990 PRO. Estimated prices can lag the market, though, so check retailers before you trust them. On a 512GB Series S, a card is close to mandatory if you plan to keep anything next to GTA 6.

Why SSDs cost so much in 2026

AI data centers are buying up the flash memory chips that consumer SSDs run on. TechRadar tracked the 2TB Samsung 990 Pro with Heatsink going from around $170 in November 2025 to $319.99 in January 2026. Samsung.com now lists it at $669.99. TechRadar, citing PC Gamer, reports that Kingston’s NAND costs rose 246% in under a year.

So don’t overbuy. 1TB leaves room for GTA 6 and a few other big games. Go 2TB only if you really keep a large library installed.

The cheap fallback: USB storage

A USB hard drive won’t run GTA 6. On PS5, games can’t be played from USB extended storage. On Xbox Series X|S, optimized games can be stored on a USB 3.0 drive but not played from it. What a USB drive can do is park everything you’re not playing, ready to copy back to the console when you want it.

Hard drives don’t use flash memory, so their prices were still normal in January, per TechRadar: its pick, the 5TB Seagate Game Drive for PS5, sold for $149.99. The plan is simple. Move your backlog to USB, keep GTA 6 on the internal drive, and you may not need an SSD at all. While you’re in the menus, our PS5 and Xbox settings guide covers what to change before launch, and what time GTA 6 comes out tells you when to be ready.