How To Get Extra Storage On Xbox One

Does Xbox Series X Series S Support Usb External Hard Drives

Microsoft supports almost all Xbox One accessories with Xbox Series X and Series S, extending to the existing storage ecosystem. That guarantees partial compatibility for external hard drives from the Xbox One era via USB connectivity. It makes them an ideal, budget-friendly alternative to the official Seagate Storage Expansion Card, especially when offloading titles from the internal drive.

However, USB drives don’t match Microsoft’s custom SSD speed, imposing significant limitations on their capabilities. Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox titles all run on an external USB hard drive with Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. And provided previous-generation software doesn’t receive Xbox Series-geared upgrades, it also runs on USB storage.

But Xbox Series X and Series S titles won’t run on external hard drives due to slow transfer speeds, failing to meet next-generation demands. An internal SSD or an external expansion card is required for upcoming releases or older games updated for Xbox Series X or Series S.

Best Xbox One External Hard Drives

Reasons to avoid

Our top pick for best Xbox One external hard drive belongs to the Western Digital 4TB My Passport series. We used to recommend a 2TB drive , but with Xbox One X ownership rising and the increased size of 4K games, this is the best way to future proof yourself. In terms of features, this USB 3.0 compatible hard drive offers 256-AES encryption and cloud storage, along with WD’s own backup software. In reality, all you really need to know is that this hits the sweet spot of size, speed and affordability. This 4TB external hard drive will store up to 40 Xbox One X games , and up to 100 or so regular Xbox One games. Basically, it’s a monster, and with a three-year limited warranty, there’s every reason to buy with utmost confidence. It’s available in a 2TB option, too, but 4TB feels like maximum value. What’s more, the new design is excellent, stylish and keeps all that is good in a sleek new aesthetic.

Reasons to avoid

Reasons to avoid

The WD Black P10 hard drive is a superb portable option for expandable storage. And while not listed as an armored or ‘rugged’ hard drive, we found it to have a really sturdy build-quality with the metal topside giving it a bit of a shipping container aesthetic. We also noticed the hard drive runs cool , even with back to back-to-back 16-hour days for a couple of weeks.

Reasons to avoid

If you’re not worried about official branding, this Seagate 4TB drive at Walmart is currently $40 off at $89.

Reasons to avoid

Reasons to avoid

Add External Drive To Xbox One For More Storage

First, fire up your Xbox One and plug in the drive you want to use into an available USB port on the console. After that, youll be prompted to select how you want to use the drive either for music and videos storage or for apps and games. Since Im going to use it for games, it needs to be formatted to the proprietary Xbox One format select Format storage device.

Then you will be prompted to type in a name for the drive using the onscreen keyboard.

You will be asked if you want all games to be installed on this drive moving forward or still use the original drive. For my purposes, I chose to use the original, but you can change it later in Settings.

After that, youre ready to format the drive. In my case it was a new drive and formatting it took less than 10 seconds, but your mileage may vary.

After the drive has been successfully formatted, head to Settings > System > Storage to view and manage your new disk. From there you can see how much space is used on a disk, view a disks content, and transfer items from one drive to another.

Are you an Xbox owner whos increased storage space with an external drive? Let us know how it works for you in the comment section below. Or, head to our Windows 10 Forums for more discussions and troubleshooting advice.

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How To Use External Storage On Xbox One

Making use of external storage on Xbox One is miraculously simple, much like the PlayStation 4 all you need to do is insert an external hard drive via USB to one of the ports on your console. Youll need to keep this connected at all times, or risk losing data or needing to repair the drive each time its removed.

Its no dealbreaker, but losing a means of charging controllers or connecting a Bluetooth headset are sacrifices worth being aware of. Once youve inserted a new external drive into your console, youll be given an on-screen prompt asking if you want to use it for installing new applications or media or for other means youll want to select the former option.

Weve left some specific steps below to make things easier:

• Connect your external hard drive to an Xbox One USB port and format the storage device.
• Enter a name for the drive
• Select install new things here to automatically install future titles on this drive.
• Select format storage device.

You can also choose to transfer existing games on the internal hard drive over to the external one if you want to free up space, and all your saves and other relevant data will be carried along with them.

Contact via linkedinGaming Editor Jade is the Gaming Editor at Trusted Reviews. She handles all things gaming whether it be news, reviews, events or silly features. Seen at outlets such as MTV UK, Kotaku and Trusted Reviews (obviously

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Moving Games And Performance

Naturally, the performance between an external drive and the SSD inside the Xbox Series X/S is significant.

However, when it comes to Xbox One models, our tests we found no discernible difference in loading speeds generally.

Moving games between drives on the consoles depends on the different technologies – it’s obviously much quicker on next-gen. But, moving around 60GB on Xbox One X to an external drive took just over 40 minutes in total.

One benefit of moving games from the internal to the external drive is that you will be able to play your downloaded titles on a friend’s Xbox One or Series X/S by just connecting the hard drive to his or her console and signing into your profile. You don’t then need to redownload any games you wish to play.

The same is true if you want to move your own games from Xbox One to Series X/S.

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How To Get More Storage On Xbox One Without Hard Drive

Apart from removing unused games, you can free up more disk space as follows:

• Press the Xbox button on your controller
• Select Profile & system > Settings > System > Storage.
• On the Manage storage devices screen, select:
• Clear local Xbox 360 storage: This deletes Xbox 360 games saved locally, but theyll remain in the cloud.
• Clear local saved games: This deletes games saved to your hard drive, but theyll still be saved to the cloud.

Copying To And From External Drives

There are two USB 3.1 gen 1 Type-A ports on the back of the Xbox Series X and S. These should be used to connect any external drives youre thinking of using. First, turn on your Xbox, and then attach the drive. You should then see an on-screen prompt directing you to format the drive, which will delete its contents and prepare it to be used by the system.

After the drive is formatted, you can then use it to store data. By default, all new games will install to the internal NVMe drive . From there, youll have to copy your games to the external drives via the file management tools.

To do this, turn on your Xbox, and then press the Xbox button on the controller. Move across to the Profile & System tab using the LB and RB buttons, and then select Settings. Scroll down to the Settings tab, and then select Storage. Here, youll see any attached drives and their total capacity select your drive, and then choose Move or Copy.

Select the game you want to move . Make sure the destination under Transfer to is correct if you have more than one external device.

Finally, choose Move Selected to begin the process. You can copy games back to the internal drive via the same processjust select the external drive instead of the internal.

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Managing Your Saved Game

Proper management will allow you to continue playing your game the way you want. Plus, using cloud storage should help you avoid mishaps, such as unintentional deletion or power loss.

Your Xbox will sync your save to the cloud whenever you exit a game, but you dont need to worry about space, as each game on Xbox One has its own storage. As a users game library grows, the cloud does, too. In short, Xbox One users get unlimited cloud storage for saved files.

Solution 2 Use An External Hard Drive

In addition to removing unwanted games, Microsoft allows you to use an external hard drive to add more Xbox One storage. Here is a simple tutorial to add an external hard drive to Xbox One:

Step 1. Prepare an external hard drive that has 256GB space at least and supports USB 3.0 or later port.

Step 2. Connect the external drive to Xbox One via the USB port. Once the external hard drive is recognized by your system, select Next to continue.

Step 3. Enter a name for the drive based on your demand and select the Install new thing here option to automatically install games on the drive.

Step 4. Click on the Format storage device button to format the external hard drive.

Step 5. After several seconds, you will see a prompted message saying external storage ready.

Now, you can configure Xbox One for future games and apps to install on the external drive.

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What Uses All That Space

Whether you buy a laptop, tablet, or brand-new game console, system files always eat into the advertised drive capacity.

The $499 Xbox Series X comes with a 1TB internal NVMe solid-state drive, which has around 800GB of usable space once system files have been accounted for. The $299 Series S has the same nippy drive, except its half the size, with only around 360GB of available space once youve plugged it in.

Just like Windows takes up space on a PCs internal drive, so does the operating system that powers Microsofts consoles. In particular, a feature called Quick Resume needs a lot of drive space. It allows your Xbox to save the state of a game so you can resume wherever you left off. It eats up a fair bit of space because it requires your Xbox to save a snapshot of whatever youre playing from RAM to the internal SSD for retrieval later.

If youve yet to purchase a new Xbox, you might want to factor in the discrepancies in available space into your purchasing decision. While the Series X is $200 more expensive, the official SSD expansion card costs $219. It might make more sense to take the bigger hit to your wallet on the Series X, since youll get twice the space and a much more powerful console.

Regardless of which console you have or your budget, though, you should be able to easily expand your storage without breaking the bank.

Option : Seagate Storage 1tb Expansion Card

Note: No limitations.

Since NVMe solid-state drives are so small, Microsoft has opted for a proprietary memory card style system of storage expansion, with a slot on the back of each console. So far, only the Seagate Storage 1TB Expansion Card is available to expand the capacity of your console.

This is the fastest expansion option available since it uses the same drive thats inside the console. Its fast enough to play any game you want to install, including the latest Series X and S and optimized games, which require the fast read and write speeds of Microsofts Velocity Architecture.

The use of a relatively new fourth-generation PCI express interface, and Microsofts decision to use a proprietary connector, is likely pushing the price up significantly. Keep in mind this is the first card of its kind from Microsoft. According to The Verge, the company plans to introduce different sizes from different suppliers in the future.

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Seagate 2tb Game Drive

The 2TB Game Drive from Seagate is another external storage device designed specifically for Xbox consoles. It has an acceptable 2TB of storage space, but its more expensive than the Game Drive Hub because it is an SSD instead of an HDD. While the Game Drive isnt as fast as the P50, its much faster than the Game Drive Hub, with speeds of up to 540MB/s.

Seagate includes some extras to make the Game Drive an attractive proposition to users. It comes with a one-year rescue service, so the company will recover users data if the drive gets damaged. Theres also a two-month Xbox Game Pass membership included so users can download games and play online with friends.

While the Game Drive isnt cheap, it has enough space for most users and decent speeds. The rescue service and Game Pass membership add more value to it to make it a worthwhile option.

Buying Guide For Best External Hard Drives For Xbox One

The Xbox One is one of the most powerful gaming systems on Earth: it plays cutting-edge triple-A titles, streams every different kind of media you can think of, and its got a 4K Blu-ray player inside. Theres only one catch: every Xbox One comes with a limited amount of file storage, and you must install every game you want to play. Game files can be huge, so the storage space goes fast.

At some point, youre going to run out of room on the Xbox Ones built-in drive, so youll have two choices: either delete content to make more room or buy an external hard drive. Most players opt to buy an external hard drive because theyre relatively affordable and can add terabytes of storage.

Buying an external hard drive for your Xbox One is the best long-term option because youll be able to install games to your hearts content without having to worry about sacrificing fast load times. But not every external hard drive works with the Xbox One, and not every drive that works with the Xbox One is a good value, so it pays to do some research ahead of time. Thats probably why youre here, so lets dig in to everything you need to know to pick out the right external hard drive for your Xbox One.

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How To Use A Usb External Hard Drive With Xbox Series X Series S

The Xbox Series X and Series S both feature USB-A ports, making it important to check whether an external hard drive uses the correct connector to hook up to the console. The two consoles each feature twin rear-facing USB-A ports, ideal for hiding external hard drives, with an additional port upfront.

When connecting a USB external drive, your Xbox console will automatically detect external storage, with on-screen prompts to ease the setup process. You’ll also need to permit your console to format the drive, losing all data currently stored onboard.

How To Expand Xbox Series X & Series S Storage With An External Drive

The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S introduce significant storage gains, adopting custom solid-state drives , poised to cut back loading screens to a minimum. Microsoft positions that high-speed fundamental to its next-generation vision, also introducing changes to storage. With that comes the arrival of a proprietary memory card-style SSD, while USB external hard drives take a backseat for backward compatibility. Here’s what you need to know about your available storage options on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and what each entails.

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How To Get More Space On Xbox One

One of the easiest ways to expand your Xbox One memory is to add an external hard drive. This method is approved by Microsoft and helps you add extra storage to your Xbox One console. Setting up an external hard drive also means that you never have to delete your old game titles to enjoy new ones.

Before you set up an external hard drive on your Xbox One, make sure that it fulfills the following requirements:

• The external hard drive must have a minimum capacity of 256 GB
• It does not have any important files
• It supports USB 3.0

Once you have an external hard drive and you have taken a back up of all the important data, you simply need to plug it into the USB port available on your Xbox One. The gaming console comes with three USB ports .

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After connecting the external disk, the system may take a moment to recognise the device. You will soon be prompted with a window asking if you wish to set up external storage on your Xbox. You need to click on the ‘Format storage device’ option, and your Xbox console will take care of the rest.

In the future, if you somehow manage to burn through all that extra space on the external hard drive, you can always connect another external hard drive for even more storage.