Are you looking for the best storage device for your Xbox Series console? With so many options available, it can be challenging to determine which one is right for you. In this post, we’ll explore the different storage devices and compare them to help you choose the best one.
Before we dive in, it’s worth noting that the installation process for all of these devices is pretty much the same. You plug in the drive, and your Xbox will offer to format it for media usage or as a storage device for your games. You can also choose the new drive as a default place to download games.
The first option to consider is a hard drive. It’s a good option and the cheapest storage solution, with about $50 getting you one terabyte of usable space. However, games with this batch are optimized for Xbox Series and cannot be played from these drives. It’s not a big problem, though, as you can still store these games on the drive and transfer them to the internal storage when you need to. It can save you a lot of time because transferring games is much faster than downloading a game every time from the Microsoft Store. And of course, you can play any other game right from the hard drive.
Next up are USB flash drives, which require a minimal storage capacity of 128 gigabytes and USB 3.0. However, we don’t recommend using such flash drives with Xbox Series as they can only be used as a media gallery. Playing games from them is just unplayable, and they can get very hot, making them unsuitable for use with your Xbox.
External SSD drives are better than hard drives as they have faster copying speeds and load times. If you have enough money, why not invest in one? This option may save you some time, and it’s also completely silent compared to hard drives. However, the downside is that you still cannot play optimized games from an SSD. For this problem, there is an official expansion card made specifically for Xbox Series. It’s pricey, but it has no downsides and functions exactly like internal storage. You can’t play games optimized for Xbox Series from it, but there’s almost no low time difference compared to internal storage.
So, how do these drives compare in terms of copy speed and load time? Using Forza Horizon 5, which is about 100 gigabytes, as a reference, we found that hard drives are much slower, taking around 18 minutes to transfer it. An SSD brings the time down to 6 minutes, and the expansion card is super fast, taking only 3 minutes to transfer a 100-gigabyte game to it.
In terms of load times, an Xbox One version of Far Cry 5 showed that an SSD is around 40 seconds faster than a hard drive, with the expansion card showing the best result. However, you still cannot run optimized games from an SSD. When we tested optimized Cyberpunk and Forza Horizon on the internal storage and expansion card, Forza Horizon 5 started identically in 35 seconds, and Cyberpunk in 54 seconds, showing no difference.
After getting the expansion card, Max Denji still uses external drives, not even SSD, just a regular hard drive. He likes that he gets a lot of space for not much money and doesn’t mind moving games when he needs to.
So, which one is the better storage solution? It really depends on your needs and budget. If you want a cheap and reliable option, go for a hard drive. If you have a bigger budget and want faster copying speeds and load times, consider an SSD or the official expansion card.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments which storage solution you prefer and why.