How to Save (and Play) Xbox Series X/S Games on an External Hard Drive
The new Xbox console comes with 1TB ( Xbox Series X ) or 512GB (Xbox Series S) of built-in storage to play with. Unlike the Sony PlayStation 5, there’s no internal expansion slot, so if you want to expand that storage, you’ll have to connect an external hard drive.
While 1TB or 512GB may seem generous, they don’t require much effort to use. If you have a constantly changing set of games that you download regularly, you will have to go through the same process of deleting and re-downloading the ones you want to play, especially if they are large games.
Adding external storage costs extra, but it saves boot time. Depending on the type you choose, you can run games directly from your secondary drive, or use the console’s file management features to switch games between internal and external storage.
Selecting an external drive on Xbox Series X/S
The best option for adding storage to the Xbox Series X/S is to use the dedicated storage expansion card slot on the back of the console (it looks like a larger USB port and is labeled Storage Expansion). Games can be run directly from an expansion card connected here, so it’s as good as internal memory, but it’s a more expensive option.
Only two drive manufacturers make official Xbox expansion cards—Seagate and Western Digital—so you’re somewhat limited in your drive choices if you go this route. You have internal storage options of 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB, and installing it is as simple as plugging it into the expansion card port.
When it comes to using the USB-A ports on the Xbox Series X/S, you can choose just about any external SSD or hard drive you like, as long as the capacity is 128GB and the drive supports USB 3.0 or higher. You can use external drives with a separate power supply or ones that are powered by the Xbox USB port.
The difference with external drives that aren’t official expansion cards (from Seagate or Western Digital) is that you can’t run Xbox X/S games directly from them—you’ll need to switch games to internal storage to play. them, which is still faster than downloading them every time. However, games made for older Xbox consoles will run directly from your external storage if you still play some of them.
Using an external drive on Xbox Series X/S
Whatever expansion card or external drive you use with your Xbox X/S should be detected by the console as soon as you plug it in. A pop-up message should also appear on the screen asking if you want to use the drive. for storing media files (such as screenshots) or games and applications – in most cases it is the latter. If the drive is not properly formatted for Xbox, you will be prompted to format it as well.
You can find all the relevant options for your external storage device by opening Settings (using the gear icon on the Home screen) and then selecting System & storage devices . Both internal storage and any external storage devices will be listed along with free space: Select any drive to rename it, reformat it, or view what’s actually on the drive.
Select Internal or External Storage and then Move or Copy to start moving games (to free up space on internal storage, for example). Once you select a game or app, you will see that the Copy Selected and Move Selected options become active on the right and can be used to transfer the files you need.
Returning to the previous Storage Devices screen, select Change Installation Locations to choose the default installation location for games and apps: either internal storage or an external drive or expansion card that you connected. This setting can be configured in three categories for Xbox Series X/S games, legacy Xbox games (which can be played from any drive), and apps.