Everyone Pre-Ordered GTA 6. Nobody Is Ready to Install It.
GTA 6 has broken every pre-order record in gaming history. Sensor Tower estimates 4.77 million copies sold before anyone has played a single second of it. Newzoo calls it “the strongest pre-order campaign on record” and projects 37 to 51 million copies sold in the first week alone — generating somewhere between $3.3 billion and $5.2 billion in seven days.
Ninety percent of those pre-orders are the $99.99 Ultimate Edition. Seventy-seven percent are on PlayStation 5. People are not just buying this game — they are buying the most expensive version of this game, overwhelmingly on one platform.
Here is the part almost nobody has thought about: the average PS5 does not have room to install it.
GTA 6’s install size is estimated at 150 to 200 GB. The PS5 ships with 825 GB of raw storage, but only about 667 GB is available after Sony’s operating system takes its share. A PS5 owner with a handful of installed games — not even a large library, just four or five modern titles — is already working with fewer than 200 GB of free space. GTA 6 arrives on November 19, and for millions of players, the first experience will not be exploring Vice City. It will be staring at a storage management screen, deciding which games to delete.
This post is for everyone who pre-ordered and has not checked their PS5 storage since. You have five weeks. Here is exactly what to do with them.
Why Your PS5 Storage Situation Is Worse Than the Numbers Suggest
The 667 GB number is already a fiction by the time you count your installed library. Every PS5 comes with Astro’s Playroom pre-installed. PlayStation Plus subscribers accumulate catalogue downloads. System updates, saved data, screenshots, and video clips erode the total further. Before you install a single full-price game, most PS5 owners are realistically working with under 500 GB of usable space. Three modern AAA titles at 150 GB each and you are at capacity.
GTA 6 is not a normal-sized game. The install size estimates of 150 to 200 GB come from scaling GTA V’s trajectory. GTA V launched at 36 GB in 2013. By 2026, with thirteen years of updates and GTA Online content, it exceeds 100 GB. GTA 6 launches into a generation where 4K textures, ray tracing assets, and massive open worlds are baseline expectations — not premium additions. And GTA Online for GTA 6 is confirmed for post-launch, which means the install footprint will only grow from wherever it starts. The 200 GB estimate is not pessimistic. It is probably conservative.
The delete-and-redownload cycle is not a storage strategy. Some players have been managing tight storage by uninstalling games they are not actively playing and re-downloading them later. With 50 GB titles, that was annoying but survivable. With 150+ GB titles on anything less than a fibre connection, re-downloading a single game takes hours. And with Sony’s confirmed shift toward digital-only releases, there is no disc on the shelf to reinstall from. Every game is a download. Every deletion is a future re-download. The maths gets worse with every title that launches, not better.
The Concert Ticket You Cannot Use
Imagine buying front-row tickets to the most anticipated concert of the decade. You paid full price — the VIP package. You waited years for this tour to be announced. You have the confirmation email on your phone. But you never checked whether your car has enough fuel to get to the venue.
On the night of the show, you are sitting in your driveway, watching the clock, waiting for a tow truck while the opening act plays without you.
That is what launching GTA 6 on a PS5 with 30 GB of free space will feel like. You paid for the game. You waited for the game. And now you are staring at a progress bar, deleting things you paid for, trying to make room for the thing you just paid for. The fix takes fifteen minutes and costs less than the game itself. But you have to do it before November 19, not on November 19.
Your PS5 on GTA 6 Launch Night: Four Scenarios
Here is what launch night actually looks like at every storage tier — from a base PS5 with no expansion to a fully upgraded setup. The “typical free space” column assumes a PS5 owner with a moderate library of installed games, PlayStation Plus downloads, and accumulated media files:
Your Setup | Total Usable | Typical Free Space | After GTA 6 (~200 GB) | Launch Night Reality |
Base PS5, no expansion | 667 GB | ~150–250 GB | 0 GB — does not fit without deleting | You spend launch night choosing which games to sacrifice before you play |
PS5 + addlink A93 1TB | ~1,650 GB | ~1,100 GB free | ~900 GB remaining | GTA 6 installs instantly. Room for five to six more major titles alongside it |
PS5 + addlink A93 2TB | ~2,650 GB | ~2,100 GB free | ~1,900 GB remaining | Your full library stays installed. No delete-and-redownload cycle for years |
PS5 + addlink A93 4TB | ~4,650 GB | ~4,100 GB free | ~3,900 GB remaining | Storage becomes invisible. Every major title currently available fits with room to grow |
The gap between the first row and the second is not incremental. It is the difference between a launch night you remember fondly and one you spend troubleshooting. An expansion SSD does not just add capacity — it removes the entire category of “which game do I sacrifice” decisions from your gaming life.
Why the Drive Spec Matters, Not Just the Capacity
Sony’s PS5 expansion slot requires a PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD with a recommended sequential read speed of at least 5,500 MB/s. Drives below this threshold trigger a console warning on boot. Gen3 NVMe and SATA M.2 drives are firmware-blocked entirely — they physically fit but the PS5 refuses to recognise them. Getting the wrong interface is not a performance compromise — it is a rejected drive and a wasted purchase.
The addlink A93 runs at 7,400 MB/s sequential read on a Phison E21T controller — comfortably above Sony’s recommendation with margin to spare. It ships with a low-profile heatsink designed specifically for the PS5’s expansion slot dimensions: total height under 11.25 mm, under 8 mm above the board. Single-sided construction means no clearance issues on either side of the circuit board.
One specification buyers frequently overlook: the PS5 expansion slot does not natively support Host Memory Buffer (HMB) in the same way a PC motherboard does. For gaming workloads — which are overwhelmingly sequential reads once a game is loaded — this is rarely a practical issue. But the drive you install should deliver consistent, sustained read performance without relying on borrowed system resources. The A93’s HMB implementation is optimised for exactly this read-heavy profile.
For anyone also planning a PC build ahead of GTA 6’s eventual PC release: pair your storage upgrade with adequate system memory. The recommended PC spec will almost certainly require 32 GB of DDR5. The addlink DDR5–5600 kit handles the dual-channel, 16 GB-per-stick configuration that modern open-world engines demand — and unlike the PS5’s soldered RAM, PC memory is something you can choose to get right from the start.
Your Five-Week Countdown to Launch Day
Week 1 — right now: Check your storage and order the drive. On your PS5, go to Settings → Storage and look at exactly how much free space you have. If you are under 250 GB free, you cannot install GTA 6 without deleting something — and you should not be making that decision on launch night. Order the addlink A93 in the capacity that matches your situation. 1TB if you actively manage your library and just need room for GTA 6. 2TB if you want to stop managing altogether. 4TB if you want to forget storage exists for the rest of this console generation.
Week 2–3: Install the SSD. The physical installation takes about fifteen minutes with a #1 Phillips head screwdriver. Three things trip people up and all three are avoidable. First, move the spacer screw inside the expansion slot to the “80” marking for a standard 2280 drive — it ships at the “110” position by default. Second, insert the drive at an angle, push it fully into the connector before pressing it down, and then secure the screw. Third, peel the thermal pad protective film off both sides — the film is thin and clear and easy to miss, and leaving it on means the heatsink is sitting on plastic instead of conducting heat. When you power the PS5 back on, the format prompt appears automatically. It formats only the expansion drive — your internal storage is untouched.
Week 4: Move your existing games to the expansion drive. Once the expansion SSD is installed and formatted, go to Settings → Storage → Console Storage, select the games you want to move, and transfer them to the expansion drive. This frees internal storage for the OS and frequently played titles while your back catalogue lives on the expansion drive at identical load performance. Moving a 100 GB game takes minutes, not hours.
November 12: Pre-load GTA 6. Pre-loads are expected to open one week before the November 19 launch. Set the download to target your expansion drive and let it run overnight. When launch day arrives, you press play. No storage screen. No delete decisions. No waiting. That is the experience 4.77 million people pre-ordered — make sure your hardware can actually deliver it.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. When exactly can I pre-load GTA 6?
Digital pre-loads are expected to open on November 12, 2026 — one week before the November 19 launch. If you have already pre-ordered, the download should queue automatically through your PS5’s library. Make sure your console is in rest mode with automatic downloads enabled so the game is ready when you wake up on launch day. If you have an expansion SSD installed, set it as the default install location under Settings → Storage → Installation Location so the pre-load lands on the drive with the most room.
2. How big will GTA 6 actually be on PS5?
Rockstar has not published an official install size. Industry estimates based on comparable Rockstar titles and insider reports place it between 150 GB and 200 GB for the base game at launch, with GTA Online expected to add to that footprint over time. The safe planning figure is 200 GB — that covers the base install plus a likely day-one patch. When the PlayStation Store listing goes live for pre-load, the official file size will appear on the product page.
3. Do I absolutely need a heatsink on my PS5 expansion SSD?
Yes. Sony’s official position is that a heatsink is required, either built into the drive or added separately. The PS5’s expansion slot generates significant heat under sustained gaming loads, and drives without adequate cooling will thermal-throttle — reducing read speeds and potentially triggering performance warnings. The total height of the drive plus heatsink must stay under 11.25 mm, with no more than 8 mm above the circuit board. Drives with a built-in PS5-designed heatsink, like the addlink A93, eliminate the measurement guesswork entirely.
4. Can I use a PCIe Gen5 drive for even faster PS5 performance?
Gen5 drives physically fit the PS5’s M.2 slot and will function, but the expansion slot is limited to Gen4 bandwidth. A Gen5 drive runs at Gen4 speed inside the PS5 — you pay a Gen5 premium for exactly zero performance advantage. Save the Gen5 budget for a PC build with a compatible motherboard and put the savings toward higher capacity at Gen4 instead. The performance ceiling is the console, not the drive.
5. I already have a 500 GB or 1 TB expansion SSD that is nearly full. Do I need to start from scratch?
You do not need to start from scratch. Back up any saved data to USB or cloud storage, power down the PS5, swap the old drive for a larger one, and format the new drive when the console boots. Your game library re-downloads from your PlayStation account — nothing is permanently lost. If you are replacing a 500 GB expansion drive, the addlink A93 2TB gives you a 4x capacity jump at the same Gen4 performance tier. The physical installation process is identical to a first-time install.
The Verdict: What to Buy Before November 19
Here it is in plain terms:
If you pre-ordered GTA 6 and your PS5 has fewer than 250 GB free right now: The addlink A93 1TB is the minimum upgrade that solves the immediate problem. It clears Sony’s 5,500 MB/s speed recommendation at 7,400 MB/s sequential read, ships with a heatsink built to fit the PS5 expansion slot dimensions, and single-sided construction means no clearance issues on either side of the board. This is the “I just need it to work on launch night” option.
If you want GTA 6 and your existing library without choosing between them: The addlink A93 2TB is where the storage pressure actually disappears. Internal plus 2TB expansion gives you roughly 2,650 GB usable — enough for GTA 6, its inevitable GTA Online expansion, and a full shelf of other titles without ever opening the storage management screen. This is the capacity most PS5 owners wish they had bought the first time around.
If you are done making storage decisions for the rest of this console generation: The addlink A93 4TB means every major title currently available fits with room to grow through the end of the PS5’s lifecycle. At the rate install sizes are increasing — and with Sony’s digital-only direction making downloads the only option — 4TB is the version of this upgrade that never comes back to haunt you.
Before you buy any drive for your PS5, verify two things: that it is PCIe Gen4 NVMe with a sequential read speed above 5,500 MB/s, and that the total heatsink height stays under 11.25 mm. You can find the full addlink PS5-compatible SSD lineup at addlink.com.tw/m-2-pcie-ssd. Pre-loads are expected to open November 12. Sort your storage before then — not during.
How much free space does your PS5 actually have right now? Drop a comment — we are genuinely curious how many people are about to discover they cannot fit the biggest game of the year.
Amazon: https://shorturl.at/dScLx
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