You finally got the new Xbox Series X, but you want to upgrade it? Don’t worry, we got you covered. This guide will take you through how to upgrade your storage on the Xbox Series X.
It’s a new era for gaming with the Xbox Series X. And thanks to Microsoft for making the Series X with the same parts as the Xbox One, they will be compatible with the same accessories. Yes, that’s right — this includes external hard drives to store more games and clips.
Exclusive to Xbox Series X/S, you can use the Official Seagate Storage expansion card to expand the internal storage capacity on your next-gen machine. It is a bit expensive with a price tag of $220. Price aside, it is hands down the best option for expanding your storage with no compromises on performance as ranked #1 on GamesRadar. Now, let’s get on with upgrading your Xbox Series X.
Getting Started
The Xbox Series X/S are only able to run next-gen games from their internal drives (or storage expansion card). However, it can play backward compatible games from the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and even the original Xbox games via a USB alternative. So if you are worried about not being able to play some of your favorite classic games, you can rest easy now. It is recommended that you put all your backward compatible games on an external hard drive while reserving your internal SDD for the native next-gen Series X/S games.
Choosing a drive
Choosing a drive is the first step into expanding your limits (literally). As previously mentioned, if you have the Xbox Series X or Series S, you can get the Seagate expansion card that you slot into the back of the Series X/S.
While the price is indeed high for only 1TB of additional storage, it is currently unmatched when it comes to performance and is the only expansion that will enable all the next-gen features and loading times that separate the Series X/S from the rest.
Another option is that you can use an external drive that is USB 3.0 enabled or above. You can use up to three external drives, one for every USB port on the Xbox One/S, Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S. However, do keep in mind that games with optimization for the Xbox Series X/S will not be able to be played using a USB drive. This solution is mainly for Xbox One and other backward-compatible games only. Here are some great options for external drives that are not as expensive as the Seagate expansion card:
- WD Black P10 1–5TB Game Drive ($129.99)
- WD My Passport 4TB ($94)
- Seagate Halo Game Drive for Xbox ($92)
Note: An external third-party SSD might be able to offer faster loading times, it won’t be performing the same way as the official storage expansion card.
The set-up
Now that we got the hardware stuff out of the way, let’s get right into setting things up properly. For your convenience, a guided video will be provided to you in addition to the instructions provided here.
Once you got the drive, the rest is pretty simple to set up. Follow these steps and you’ll be done in no time:
- You start by plugging the drive into one of the three USB ports when your Xbox Series X/S is on.
- You should then see a message appear on the screen to indicate that it recognizes the drive has been connected.
- Go to the settings through interacting with the message or manually enter the systems settings.
- Navigate over to the “storage” icon and select it. The next page showing your existing external hard drive along with the new one should appear.
Formatting the Drive
- Format the drive (if you haven’t already) so that it can be used for anything other than storing media and music files.
- Choose the new drive and scroll down to the option “Format”. Select “Format storage device”
- A new screen will then pop up with a keyboard to select the driver’s name. Select your drive.
- Make sure to name your drives accordingly to avoid confusion and potential problems later on. Formatting the drive should take no more than a few minutes.
Once it is done formating. Head over to your My Games & Apps screen, you will now see that the entire storage available, both internally and externally, is accumulated into one statistic.
Tip: It is recommended that you reboot your Xbox Series X/S after this procedure to ensure it runs smoothly afterward.
Once you are done with the set-up, you can move onto the good stuff — games.
Transfer your games
Transferring games between consoles heavily depends on the different technologies involved. Moving around 60GB + data from an Xbox One to an external drive can take anywhere between 30 minutes — 1 hour.
However, once you are done with the transfer, you will be able to play your downloaded games on the Xbox One, Xbox One S, or even the Xbox Series X/S by simply connecting the hard drive to the corresponding console and signing in. You will not need to redownload any games that you want to play again.
If you want to optimize your Xbox Series X/S, check out this guide.