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Top Gaming Hard Drives 2025: Must-Have Storage for Consoles & Handhelds

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By Logan Whitmere

Top Gaming Hard Drives 2025: Must-Have Storage for Consoles & Handhelds

Photo of author

By Logan Whitmere

Here are the external hard drives I recommend for various gaming devices including consoles, PCs, and handheld devices.

The vast array of digital games available through online stores and services like PS Plus Premium or Xbox Game Pass makes it quite simple to exceed the storage capacity of your console or gaming PC. Fortunately, top-notch external hard drives designed for gaming are available to solve any storage issues you might encounter.

The type of external drive you choose for your gaming setup largely depends on your preferred gaming device and your specific needs. If you’re looking to upgrade the storage on your old PS4, an external SSD could be the perfect solution. For those using the latest PS5 from Sony, sticking with one of the top SSDs designed for PS5 is a wise choice, though there are also many cost-effective HDD options suited for all your gaming storage requirements. If portable gaming is more your style with devices like the best gaming handhelds, you’ll want a compact option that can easily attach to the back of the device, ideally with Magsafe compatibility.

Note that these external drives won’t allow you to run games directly from them. Nevertheless, each drive mentioned here has undergone rigorous testing and comparison to ensure that their transfer speeds and quality make them worthy of your time and money, regardless of your budget.

The Quick List

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Most Durable

Though it may not be the newest model, the Samsung T7 Shield’s durability and cost-efficiency make it a strong contender.

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Best for content creators

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div the “featured__title”>7. Samsung T9

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Top Pick for Content Creators

The Samsung T9 is unrivaled for fast and efficient transfer of large 4K files, making it ideal for content creators.

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Best for big storage

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div the “featured__title”>8. Seagate Expansion HDD

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Top Choice for Large Storage

For those who record every gaming session or prefer not to delete old games, the Seagate Expansion HDD offers vast storage capacity.

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Most underrated

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div the “featured__title”>9. Silicon Power Bolt B75 Pro

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Most Underrated SSD

This exceptional SSD from a lesser-known brand offers great performance at a reasonable price.

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The Best External Hard Drive for Gaming Overall

1. WD_Black P40

The Ultimate Gaming External Hard Drive

Specifications

Capacities: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Storage type: SSD
Sequential read: 2,000 MB/s
Sequential write: 2,000 MB/s

Reasons to buy

+

Compact design

+

High transfer speeds

+

Stylish RGB lighting

+

Durable build

Reasons to avoid

Expensive

No 4TB option

The WD_Black P40 SSD is a standout in WD’s lineup of gaming-oriented external hard drives, known for its performance and design. It builds on the P50 model with a more compact form that includes attractive RGB lighting.

Unfortunately, the P40 is one of the pricier options in this list, especially as it’s a newer release from WD. However, the investment gets you the drive, a USB-C cable and USB-A adapter, a quick installation guide, and a 5-year warranty that you probably won’t need to use. Thanks to its solid construction with forged aluminum, it’s a robust device.

Performance in terms of read and write speeds was impressive during testing. The 2000 MB/s speed advertised is about as good as it gets for an external hard drive, and in real-world use, it translates to excellent load times and transfer speeds on both PS5 and PC. I had a large amount of game capture footage on my PS5 that I wanted to transfer to my computer for video editing, and even though it totaled about 22GB across 30 clips, the P40 handled it in roughly a minute. The same was true for games once I formatted it for additional storage. I transferred three games totaling 18GB, and they moved in just under a minute.

The Best for Simple Backups

2. Seagate Portable Drive

The Optimal Simple Backup Drive

Specifications

Capacity: Up to 5TB
Format: HDD

Reasons to buy

+

Affordable

+

Reliable performance for an HDD

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USB 3.0

Reasons to avoid

It’s just an HDD

No USB-C

Feels flimsy

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The Seagate Portable Drive won’t blow you away. If you’re looking to play games off an external drive, or you need ultra-fast game transfers, this might not be the best choice. However, if you’re looking for a basic HDD for backing up files, storing older games you don’t want to re-download, or just a straightforward drive for storing documents and media, Seagate’s offering is hard to beat.

First off, it’s tough to find many external hard drives that are more budget-friendly than this. You’re looking at 1TB for under $50 / £50, and options go up to 5TB if you need more space. While it doesn’t include USB-C out of the box, the Seagate Portable Drive does support USB 3.0, so it’s not completely out of the running in terms of read and write speeds. I’ve used this drive for hours of video editing and never experienced any stuttering or freezing, so it’s dependable enough for a traditional spinning disk drive.

The reasons you might want to pass on this drive are if you need anything more advanced than what an HDD can offer. If you’re after the fastest possible option in a portable drive, consider spending more. Also, the plastic casing doesn

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