How To Connect A External Hard Drive To Xbox One


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How To Connect A External Hard Drive To Xbox One

Games continue to get bigger with every new release as manufacturers work to improve their graphics and audio. However, the storage capacity of the internal hard drive in your Xbox One is not increasing as the storage capacity continues to range between 500GB to 2 TB.

This means you’ll have to consider getting an external hard drive in the nearest future if you want to increase storage capacity and make your games load faster. 

Everyone knows that all Xbox One games have to be installed on the hard drive of the console before they can be played.

And there is no way you can upgrade or replace the built-in hard drive without voiding your warranty, something I think nobody wants to happen unless you are among the hardware-mod crowd. So this means the storage capacity of your console is limited. 

The good news is that your console allows you to use external hard drives, allowing you to expand storage capacity for games and other content with ease.

Any external drive to be used with your console must have a capacity of at least 256GB and also support USB 3.0 on Xbox One. To ensure fast transfer between console and drive leading to faster loading times and gameplay, USB 2.0 drives are not supported. 

Let’s get straight to the point as we discuss how you can connect an external hard drive to your Xbox One. 

After getting an external hard drive, the next thing to do is to connect it to your Xbox One. How you do that will be discussed below:

  1. Connect your external hard drive to your console

You can connect your external hard drive to your console using any available USB port on your console using the included cable. You may consider using the ports on the back of the console as they help keep the cable out of the way. The console will automatically be detected and a message will appear asking you about the purpose of the drive i.e whether you want to use the drive for games or media. 

  1. Format The Drive

Most people buy external hard drives to increase storage capacity for games although it can also be used for music and videos. So when you see the on-screen prompts giving you the option to format your drive, click on it. You’ll see this option as ‘Format Storage Device’ after connecting your external hard drive to your console. 

  1. Name Your Drive

You’ll need to assign a name for your external hard drive using the on-screen keyboard. Your drive will be recognized as that name going forward and you can also change the name later if you want. 

  1. Select Install New Things Here

After naming your external hard drive, the next step to do is to select the ‘Select Install New Things Here’ option. It’s important to select this option as it ensures that all future games will now be installed on this drive.

  1. Select Format Storage Device

Choose this option and by now, your drive will be configured for Xbox One. 

How to move Xbox One games to an external hard drive

Now that your external hard drive has been properly installed and formatted, you can choose to transfer existing game applications on your internal hard to the external one.

This will allow you to free up space as well as transfer your saves and other relevant data to your external drive. You’ll also be able to able to take advantage of performance benefits like faster loading times. 

Below are steps you can take to move your Xbox One games to an external drive:

– Open the Settings app on Xbox One: Navigate to the Settings app on your Xbox one and click on it. 

– The next step is to navigate to the System tab which will be shown after opening the Settings app. 

– Then select storage and then navigate/scroll over to the right. There you’ll see the internal drive where you’ll be moving content from. 

– Select ‘Transfer’ after which you’ll have to select the content you are moving. If you intend to move all items, you’ll have to choose the ‘Select All’ option. 

– The next step is to choose the ‘Move Selected’ option. 

– Choose the external drive you intend to move the files to. You’ll recognize your hard drive by the name you assigned to it. 

– Then press ‘Move’ to start the transfer. 

– Wait until the process is complete. You can then check the combined free storage and percentage of used storage left on your drive under the ‘My Games & Apps’ menu. 

More on external hard drives for Xbox One

The first thing you should put into consideration when choosing an external hard drive for your Xbox One is the storage space. Your Xbox One comes with a 16GB limit on external storage. And this means most drives are compatible with your Xbox One.

A 1TB external drive is a welcome addition of storage to most people and a 2TB drive means more flexibility. 4TB and 8TB may tend to be overkill for some users. 

Hard drive speed is another factor that should be considered when choosing an external hard drive. The faster your drive, the quicker you’ll be able to install, load, and save games.

A drive’s speed is usually estimated in revolutions per minute (RPM). Solid-state drives (SSDs) are usually the fastest delivering unrivaled speed to your Xbox One. However, they are usually more expensive than HHD drives. 

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