How to Manage Your Playstation 5 Storage Space

How to Manage Your Playstation 5 Storage Space.The PlayStation 5 comes with a powerful solid state drive that provides lightning-fast downloads, but it can also quickly fill up with games, save data, and media. Luckily, you have plenty of ways to free up space and clean up your internal storage.This tutorial will show you how to manage your PlayStation 5 storage so you can continue using your console without wasting space.

How to Check Your PS5 Storage

Your PS5 comes with a storage management console that allows you to keep an eye on the remaining space on your internal SSD, including a breakdown of used space by type. To get to it:

Select Settings in the upper right corner of the PS5 home screen.

Scroll down and select Memory from the Settings menu.

Check the Console Storage indicator to see disk size and free space. While the PS5 has an 825 GB drive, it only makes 667.2 GB available after accounting for system software.

Below you should also see the space occupied by games and applications, the media gallery (consisting of screenshots and video clips), and save files. The fourth category – Other – denotes the system cache and ranges around 50 GB depending on usage.You can also view the free space on the additional storage devices configured on your PS5 by selecting Extended USB Storage in the sidebar.

How to Delete Old PS5 Games and Apps

If you’re running out of storage on your PS5, the easiest way to free up space is to delete games and apps you no longer play or need. Here’s how:

Open the PS5 settings menu and select Memory.

Select Games & Apps.

Check the boxes next to the games and apps you want to remove and select Remove.

Note. The Console Memory indicator in the top right corner indicates the free space available if you delete the selected items.

Click OK to complete the removal process.

Please wait while your PS5 uninstalls the selected games and apps.

Alternatively, highlight the game or app on the PS5 home screen, press the Options button on your DualSense wireless controller and select Delete.

How to Delete Screenshots and Video Clips

Frequent screenshots and videos during gaming sessions can quickly take up space on your PS5. To make matters worse, the console automatically takes screenshots and clips of certain in-game moments, such as when you get trophies or complete quests. Over time, these files can fill up your media gallery and cause your console to slow down or run out of space.To remove unwanted screenshots and video clips:

Open the PS5 settings menu and select Memory.

Select Media Gallery.

Enable the Select Multiple button in the left corner of the screen.

Select the screenshots and videos you want to delete and click Delete.

Select Removeto confirm.

You can also prevent the PS5 from taking automatic screenshots and video clips of moments when you earn trophies and complete quests. For this:

Select Captures and Broadcasts from the PS5 settings menu.

Select Prizes.

Customize Trophy Screenshot Saving and Trophy Video Saving to None.

Go back to the previous screen, select Challenge and turn off the radio button next to Auto capture videos.

How to Back Up and Delete Old Saved Games

If you play a lot of games on PS5, save files can take up a lot of memory. Check the saved data and delete unnecessary files. You can also copy them to a USB stick or upload them to Sony’s servers (if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber) before deleting them. Here’s how:

Select Saved Data and Game/App Settings from the PS5 settings menu.

Go to Saved Data (PS5)/Saved Data ( PS4) > Console Storage.

Check the boxes next to the saved games you want to delete and select Delete. Optionally select Upload to Cloud Storageor Upload to PS Plus to create a backup saved data to a USB drive or cloud before deleting it.

Note. Only PS4 game save data can be copied to a USB flash drive.

Press OK to confirm.

Please wait while PS5 deletes the selected files.

How to Clear the PS5’s Cache

If you notice abnormally high disk usage next to Other in your PS5 storage control panel (i.e. it’s over 100 GB), it could be due to a system cache overflow . You can clear it in safe mode. Here’s how:

Turn off your PS5.
Press and hold the Power button until the console beeps twice.
Connect your DualSense wireless controller to your PS5 via USB and press the PS button.
Select Clear Cache and Rebuild Database

< li>Select the optional Clear System Software Cache option to clear the console system cache.

Optionally, you can rebuild the PS5 database to restructure internal storage and remove redundant data by selecting the optional Rebuild Database option. For more information, check out our guide to entering and using Safe Mode on PS5.

How to Disable Automatic Game Updates

If you’re low on storage space, you can turn off the automatic download of game updates and patches. For this:

Open the PS5 settings screen and select Saved data and game/app settings.

Turn off the radio button next to Auto Load.

To install game updates manually, highlight the game on the home screen, press the Options button and select Check for Update span>.

How to Set Up and Use an External Hard Drive

If you’re still running out of space on your PS5, it’s recommended that you set up and use an external hard drive or SSD. This allows you to move games from internal storage and copy them back when it’s time to play.Warning. Before proceeding, back up any data from the external drive to your PC or Mac.To set up a USB drive to act as an extended storage device for PS5, plug it into the USB-C port on the front panel or the USB-A port on the back of the console, then:

Open the PS5 settings menu and select Memory.

Select Extended USB Storage > Format as Extended USB Storage storage< /span>.

Select Yes.

Extended storage is ready to use. To move games to a USB drive:

Highlight the game you want to transfer to the PS5 home screen, press the Settings button and select Move games and apps.

Select Move.

Press OK.

To play a transferred PS5 game, you need to copy it back to your internal storage. To do this, highlight the game on the main screen and select Copy. You can play PS4 games directly from the extended storage. However, copying to internal memory can improve performance and download speed. To do this, highlight the game on the home screen, press Settings and select Move games and apps > < span style="font-weight:bold">Move.You can also set the default installation and download location for PS4 games to an external drive. For this:

Open the PS5 settings menu and select Memory.

SelectInstall Location and set PS4 Games & Apps< /span> to Extended USB Storage.

Note. You cannot download or install PS5 games directly to an external drive.

Optimize Your PS5 Storage

Storage management on PlayStation 5 is critical to a smooth gaming experience. To free up space, you can delete old games, apps, and junk media, clear your console cache, and turn off automatic downloads. It is also recommended that you back up and delete saved game data regularly to optimize available space. Consider setting up an external hard drive or solid state drive to get more storage and manage multiple games if you have a large collection of games.However, if managing your PS5 storage seems like a hassle, there’s a more convenient option: get an M.2 NVMe SSD expansion card. With this upgrade, you can significantly increase your storage capacity (up to 4GB, depending on your budget) and enjoy comparable, if not faster speeds than the console’s internal storage. For specific instructions and requirements, see Sony’s article on M.2 SSD support.