95 95 people found this article helpful Updated on August 26, 2022 This article explains how to add an external drive to an Xbox Series X|S, and outlines compatibility requirements. How to Add an External Drive to an Xbox Series X or SIf you have a drive you use with your Xbox One, you can just plug it in and use it. If you have a new drive, or a drive that has been used for other things in the past, you'll need to format it first so that it can work with your Xbox. Here's how to add an external drive to an Xbox Series X or S:
How to Move Games to an External Drive on Xbox Series X or SWhen you connected and set up your drive, you probably chose to keep your current install location, because Series X or S games won’t play when installed on a USB drive. If that’s the case, you’ll need to move games to the drive from time to time to free up space for new games. Here’s how to accomplish that.
What Drives Work With Xbox Series X or S?The Xbox Series X and S both come with lightning-fast NVME SSDs that reduce load times dramatically, but neither one has all that much storage. The Series X ships with a 1TB drive, and the Series S with a 512GB drive, and a decent amount of that space is taken up or reserved by the operating system. You can only play Xbox Series X or S games if they are installed on the internal NVME SSD drive, or installed on the optional expansion drive. The expansion drive fits into a slot on the back of the Xbox Series X and S, and it provides transfer speed just as fast as the internal drive. We tried a super fast USB 3.1 NAND drive with transfer speeds of 520 MB/s and write speeds of 420 MB/s, and that wasn’t even fast enough. The Series X or S will only play games from the internal SSD or expansion card SSD that provide 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput. Xbox One External Drive CompatibilityIf you own an Xbox One and currently have an external drive with Xbox One games on it, you can plug it directly into your Xbox Series X or S and it will work. As long as it’s a USB 3.1 drive that worked with your Xbox One, you’ll be able to play your old Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games directly from the drive. You can also move Xbox Series X or S games to a drive like this to free up space, but you won't be able to play them from that drive until you move them back. Drive Comparison ChartHere’s a rundown of what you can do with what type of drive:
While only the Seagate expansion drive can play Series X or S games at launch, Microsoft may offer alternatives at a later date. FAQ
Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Will an external hard drive work on Xbox Series S?Both the Xbox Series X and S support external USB drives. However, unlike previous Xbox consoles that allowed you to play those games from the external USB drive, you will not be able to play games optimized for Series X|S consoles from the USB drives. External Storage Requirements: Capacity must be 128 GB or larger.
Is 1TB enough storage for Xbox Series S?Seagate stands alone in offering official expandable storage for the Xbox Series X and S, not just external storage. That means that you can plug it into the devices' expansion slots and actually play games from it directly. This 1TB drive is therefore perfect for most people's needs.
What is the max size of external hard drive for Xbox Series S?Xbox consoles support external storage up to 16TB, although this 8TB solution from Seagate likely fits the bill, with ample space at a relatively reasonable price point.
Can you use an external SSD on Xbox Series S?Xbox Series X and Series S raise the bar for console performance, with its new custom NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) storage a crucial component in those gains. You can also expand either console's storage capacity with external hard drives, or an SSD delivering the pinnacle in speed.
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