The present technology of consoles may need elevated gaming to a brand new degree, however because of Microsoft’s determination to make the Xbox Series X and S a part of the identical ecosystem as Xbox One, they’re all appropriate with the identical equipment.
That features exterior arduous drives to retailer massive recreation collections.
There are some caveats, particularly with the newer machines, however if you wish to retailer 10s (even a whole lot) of Xbox One and/or backwards appropriate video games in your new or outdated console with out having to redownload them every time, you are able to do so on a USB 3.0 drive (or above).
Plus, unique to Xbox Sequence X/S, it’s also possible to use an official Seagate Storage Expansion Card to broaden the interior storage capability.
This is learn how to do each.
Earlier than we begin, it is value noting that an Xbox One will use an exterior drive in precisely the identical approach as its inside drive, so it is an excellent answer and will tremendously enhance the quantity of video games you may retailer without delay.
The Xbox Sequence X and S can solely play next-gen video games from their inside drives (or Storage Growth Card), however can play Xbox One, Xbox 360 and authentic Xbox video games from a USB various (even with fast resume enabled), so it could possibly be that you just put all of your backward appropriate video games on an exterior drive, reserving your inside SDD for native X/S video games.
Selecting a drive
If in case you have an Xbox Sequence X or Xbox Series S, you may go for a Seagate Storage Growth Card that slots into the rear of both next-gen machine.
It’s accessible in 512GB, 1TB and 2TB sizes however is pretty costly. Nonetheless, it really works precisely the identical as the interior storage and is the one growth that can allow all of the next-gen options and loading instances boasted by each machines.
Seagate Storage Growth Card for Xbox Sequence X
Alternatively, you should use an exterior drive so long as it’s USB 3.0-enabled or above (in actual fact, you should use as much as three of them, one for each USB port on the Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Sequence S, or Xbox Sequence X). Keep in mind although, as we have said above, video games with optimisations for Xbox Sequence X and S is not going to play from a USB drive, so this can be a answer for Xbox One and different backwards-compatible video games solely.
When you’re proud of that, there are many exterior drives to select from. We opted for a 2TB Seagate Game Drive designed especially for Xbox. It’s USB 3.0, does not require an exterior energy supply so does not take up an extra socket underneath our AV cupboard, and its Xbox-adorned facia makes it a superb match.
Alternatively, it’s also possible to get an Xbox version or customary model of the WD_Black P10 Game Drive. It’s specifically designed for gaming, with a sturdy construct and storage of as much as 5TB for simply over $149 / £140, so is considerably a cut price for that quantity of capability.
You possibly can even pay a bit extra and go for a 7200 RPM drive as an alternative (the Seagate Recreation Drive is 5400 RPM) and even an exterior USB-driven SSD, however we have gone for comfort, no noise and worth.
Be aware although, an exterior third-party SSD would possibly supply quicker loading instances, however will not behave in the identical approach because the official Storage Growth Card.
The set-up
We’ve got included photos of learn how to arrange an exterior drive with the Xbox One, however it’s equivalent on Xbox Sequence X/S.
Upon getting your drive handy, set-up is straightforward. Plug it into one of many three USB ports when your Xbox is on. A message will pop up onscreen to indicate it recognises that the drive has been related.
You possibly can both go to the settings by way of interplay with the pop-up or head there manually and enter the “System” settings.
In there, you will notice the “Storage gadgets” icon. Choose it and the subsequent web page will present your current exterior arduous drive alongside the brand new one.
In all chance, the drive will must be formatted earlier than it may be used for something apart from storing video, image and music information, particularly if it is come straight out of the packaging. The Xbox wants to do this itself. So select the brand new drive and scroll right down to the choice “Format”. Choose “Format storage machine” and a brand new display will pop up with a keyboard to pick the drive’s title.
We stored the default title “Exterior” and selected to put in new video games and apps to the brand new drive when requested.
Formatting the drive takes not more than 5 – 6 seconds and also you’re good to go.
In your My Video games & Apps display, you’ll now see that your entire storage accessible, each internally and externally, is gathered into one statistic.
We additionally suggest you fully shut down your Xbox One/Sequence X/S and reboot. We did and the drive labored very nicely straight after.
Transferring video games and efficiency
Naturally, the efficiency distinction between an exterior drive and the SSD contained in the Xbox Sequence X/S is important.
Nonetheless, on the subject of Xbox One fashions, our exams discovered no discernible distinction in loading speeds usually.
Transferring video games between drives on the consoles relies on the totally different applied sciences – it is clearly a lot faster on next-gen. However, shifting round 60GB on Xbox One X to an exterior drive took simply over 40 minutes in whole.
One good thing about shifting video games from the interior to the exterior drive is that it is possible for you to to play your downloaded titles on a pal’s Xbox One or Sequence X/S by simply connecting the arduous drive to his or her console and signing into your profile. You do not then have to redownload any video games you want to play.
The identical is true if you wish to transfer your personal video games from Xbox One to Sequence X/S.
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