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.
How To Add Xbox Series X/s Storage
Adding the Seagate Expansion Card couldn’t be easier. Just rip it out of its packaging, plug it into the expansion port at the back of the console, and it will work instantly. Adding an external SSD or HDD via USB involves a few more steps, but is still very simple.
And that is it, your Xbox Series X external storage is ready to rock! Now you can get to adding all those Game Pass titles to it!
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First Lets Talk Capacity
Xbox consoles come in standard capacities of 500GB or 1TB, which is enough storage for about 10-20 Xbox One games.1 Perfect for new gamersbut not so perfect for seasoned players who want classic favorites in addition to new releases at their disposal. Which is exactly why we built Game Drive for Xbox. Its a compact, portable drive with up to 4TB of space for storing 100+ Xbox One gamesand up to 8TB for 200+ if you opt for the hub!
Thats intense.
So lets say youve decided to make the leap with this flashy little green drive. Great. Space for a ton of games sits before you. Now what?
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Manage Your Internal And External Storage
After you connect and configure external storage, heres how to manage your internal and external drives:
You can hover over any drive and press the Menu button on your controller for a list of options. Herere things you can do:
View Contents
It takes you to games and apps, and you can see how much space any game or app is using. If you want to uninstall something:
Install Here by Default
It will choose the drive as the default install location of any game or app you download.
Move or Copy
The option allows you to transfer files from one drive to another. That includes games, apps, screenshots, videos, and more.
Heres how to do it:
Uninstall Things
As I explained above, it will allow you to uninstall games and apps. You simply check the boxes and then uninstall games and apps.
How To Upgrade The Storage Capacity Of Your Xbox Series S
The Xbox Series S is more than just the Series X’s little brother. It is a fairly capable current-gen gaming console, which can give any gamer a lot of enjoyment for this gaming generation.
However, while it doesn’t exactly lack the power, it does lack in one major aspect: the storage space. And that’s where this article comes in.
If you recently bought a Series S and are wondering how you can expand the relatively meager 512GB , then pay close attention to this how-to guide.
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How To Use The Seagate Expansion Card On The Xbox Series X And S
The Seagate Expansion Card plugs into the Xbox Series X and S in a similar fashion to traditional memory cards. You’ll find a proprietary connector called Storage Expansion next to the rear HDMI port. Plug the Storage Expansion card firmly into the slot.
The Storage Expansion Card plugs straight into its own dedicated slot on the Xbox Series X and S.
Microsoft
You don’t even need to turn the console off to do this, which means you can hot swap different Storage Expansion Cards on the fly if you want to play something else. Once inserted, it should be immediately recognized by the console. Open up My games and apps and look at your overall storage size.
When you install games, you can now decide whether you want to install them to the internal SSD or to the expansion card. To see where your games are installed, go to My games and apps > See all > Games, then select Filter > All Storage, and choose the storage device to see what’s installed on it.
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
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Dont Want To Delete Games Add An External Hard Drive
This one will cost you some money, but its worth the investment. Adding an external hard drive can double your Xbox storage space.Before you take this route, make sure it meets these three criteria:
Once you connect your hard drive to your console, youll be prompted to select Format storage device. Your console will take it from there. Remember, if you run out of room on your external hard drive, you can always purchase a second one.
How To Expand Xbox One Storage With An External Drive
Games are getting bigger than ever, but the internal hard drive in your Xbox One is not. The majority of Microsoft’s Xbox consoles now ship with 500GB or 1TB hard drives, unfit for a sizeable library, which makes it increasingly necessary to expand your Xbox One storage.
External drive support comes baked into Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles, now a fast and affordable method to add more storage. It’s relatively simple, boasting plug-and-play compatibility across most off-the-shelf USB hard drives and solid-state drives on the market. That increased capacity means less time stressing about free hard drive space and more time playing video games. You get more space for the biggest blockbusters out there, and with the right drive, you can also expect a drastic reduction in load times.
The most popular video game releases now decimate any Xbox One drive space, with top franchises like Call of Duty, NBA 2K, and Halo all north of 100GB on consoles. While you can juggle your favorite titles, uninstalling and redownloading as desired, that’s hardly feasible with large file sizes. External hard drives are the remedy, hugely expanding your virtual shelf for games, and incredibly affordable, too.
Hooking up an external hard drive is one of the best ways to expand your Xbox One console when running low on storage space. While internal hard drives cannot be replaced or upgraded without voiding your warranty, external USB storage is simple and hassle-free.
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Uninstall Unwanted Games And Apps
You might be asking yourself how to get more storage on Xbox for free. The easy answer is to delete games or apps youre not using. Downloaded games and apps easily use the large majority of your storage space. Take a look at your downloads and clear out any games you arent playing anymore.How to uninstall games and apps:
If you previously purchased the game, you can always reinstall it when you want to play it againas long as you have enough space on your Xbox that is.
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Solution 1 Remove Unwanted Games To Get Extra Storage
It is easiest to delete unwanted apps and games and save data. As per the previous section, you need to know how much space is available on your Xbox hard disk. To delete unneeded games, follow the steps below:
Step 1. On the Home screen, select the My games & Apps from the left pane.
Step 2. Select Sort by Size from the drop-down menu, and then you will see how much space each game uses.
Step 3. Select the game that you want to remove and press the Menu button on the console, and then select Manage Game and you can view the used space for different Xbox profiles.
Step 4. Select Manage All > Uninstall All to delete the unwanted game and its saved data.
Tip: If the game is already synchronized with Microsofts servers you can still download it from Microsoft servers and then restore it to your console.
This can be a great way to increase your Xbox One storage. You will need to delete certain apps and games. How can I increase my Xbox storage without losing data? Keep reading.
What Are Series X
Both the Series X and S are backward compatibility powerhouses. This means they maintain compatibility with all Xbox One titles, over 500 Xbox 360 titles, and a handful of original Xbox games . But not all games can be run from all types of storage.
For example, games that were designed specifically for the new Xbox Series X and S consoles can only be run from the internal NVMe drive or via a Seagate expansion card.
Similarly, games that have been optimized for Series X and S, like Forza Horizon 4 and Gears 5, feature enhancements dependent on the internal SSD. This means they can also only be run from the internal NVMe drive or Seagate expansion. Optimized games are labeled as such in the Microsoft Store.
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Clean Up Hidden Leftover Game Add
Freeing up existing Xbox storage doesn’t mean uninstalling your favorite games, and there’s one lesser-known feature that feels like a “trick.” The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S both stow a menu dedicated to clearing up leftover add-ons, and that could highlight several unwanted gigabytes blocking up your system.
Leftover add-ons on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S can accumulate over time as you delete titles on your hard drive. While uninstalling games usually removes the associated content, various expansions, map packs, and other downloadable content may linger over time. It means that while an Xbox game may disappear from your games library, some leftovers could eat up space in the background.
The remedy? Microsoft cooked up a dedicated “leftover add-ons” tool, accessible through the Xbox system settings. It provides the ability to quickly see which stray add-ons remain installed and remove them in a button press. Here’s how to access the leftover add-ons and uninstall them from your hard drive.
While your mileage may vary, we’ve previously managed to save upwards of 30GB using the feature. That number will change both on the titles you’ve uninstalled and the type of DLC that remains. It’s also worth ensuring any external drives are also connected to clear all space occupied by leftover add-ons.
How To Free Up Space On Your Xbox One
Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He’s written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami’s NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly one billion times—and that’s just here at How-To Geek. Read more…
Microsofts Xbox One includes a 500GB hard drive, but games are getting larger and larger. Halo: The Master Chief Collection takes up more than 62GB alone, even if you have the game on a physical disc. Heres how to free up space so you have room for more games.
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Can I Upgrade My Xbox Internal Hard Drive
You may read tips that tell you to replace the internal hard drive, but we dont recommend that because it requires that you take your console apart and put it back together. Unless you know what youre doing, you could easily damage your console which can result in data loss and a void in your warranty. Instead, play it safe and choose one of the above options.
How To Use An External Hard Drive On Xbox One
With an Xbox-compatible hard drive in hand, it’s now time to connect it to Xbox One. Microsoft has made the process effortless over the years, with concise on-screen instructions throughout the setup process.
Connect the drive to a vacant USB port using the included cable. Once automatically detected, follow the on-screen prompts, permitting the drive to be formatted. By using the external hard drive on Xbox One, all prior data is erased.
Now configured for Xbox One, future games, and apps automatically install to your external drive. You can also add additional drives to your Xbox One console, using the same setup process.
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