Should you install an SSD in your PlayStation 4?

Best answer: If you are looking for more storage and stability, despite the slightly higher price, an SSD is your best bet. Not only does an SSD provide the same storage capabilities of other drives, but they’ll help load your games faster, giving you an even better experience while you play.

• Bigger and faster: 1TB WD Blue SSD ($105 at Amazon)

SSD drives offer speed, stability, and storage in your PS4

In general, a solid state drive (SSD) is much faster than your normal drives. Mechanical drives, like HDDs, have moving parts whereas an SSD does not. The easiest way to think of it is that an SSD is like a larger memory stick. In recent years, SSD’s have become far more affordable than they have been in the pas. Whether it be an external hard drive or a SSD, giving yourself more space for games is always a plus.

But should you put an SSD in your PS4? A few years ago I probably would have said that there were better ways to spend your money. Recently, however, SSD prices have fallen drastically. Because of this, upgrading your PS4 with one of the many available hard drives is almost a no-brainer. While the SATA interface on the PS4 may not be capable of taking advantage of every bit of speed that an SSD has to offer, the fact that the prices are so much more reasonable than they used to be make picking one up well worth the price in my opinion. Better yet, upgrading your PS4’s hard drive is a fairly simple affair, and doesn’t involve too much hassle at all.

Get an SSD for the reliability

A mechanical drive is certainly still a viable option for some people. They will likely always be cheaper than an SSD when it comes to dollars per unit of storage and if that is all you are concerned about then a mechanical drive may be the right choice for you. However, when it comes to durability the SSD will win out. A mechanical hard drive has moving parts and that can make it susceptible to damage and wear in ways that an SSD is not. While a mechanical drive may win when it comes to price alone, it just doesn’t compare when it comes to speed and durability.

Our pick

1TB WD Blue SSD

WD Blue offers a lot of bang for the buck

$105 at Amazon
$115 at Best Buy
$110 at Walmart

If you want a 1TB SSD at a great price and you want to stick with a recognizable name, consider this Western Digital drive. You will have loads of space for storage with a five-year manufacturer warranty from a company that has been in the storage biz for a long long time.