What’s the Best Xbox One External Hard Drive?
The world is now becoming more digital every single minute that even gaming consoles are now relying more on digital copies of games than on physical copies. In the case of the Xbox One, plenty of people are now purchasing more digital copies instead of purchasing actual copies of the game. But while digital copies do indeed save up physical space, they take up more storage space to the point that the regular storage of the Xbox One won’t be enough to handle all your gaming needs. That is why we are here to see what is the best Xbox One external hard drive.
When it comes to overall performance, the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox is the best Xbox One external hard drive. It has a large storage capacity that will allow you to store plenty of different games. This external hard drive also comes with good speeds that are more than enough for your gaming needs.
While there are plenty of great Xbox One external hard drives out there, the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox stands out as our pick for the best when it comes to its overall capabilities. But there is more to this external hard drive than just storage capacity and speeds. So, if you are interested in the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox, check out what we think about this external hard drive.
Xbox One external hard drive requirements
One of the reasons why you need an external hard drive for your Xbox One is that you should install the games on the console’s hard drive first before you can play them. This applies to both digital games and games with physical copies. However, games purchased and downloaded digitally will naturally require more hard drive space given the fact that they don’t have a disc where their data is being stored.
Luckily for you and for all of us, the Xbox One console supports the use of external hard drives so that you can expand the internal storage that comes with your Xbox One. But when you are looking for an Xbox One external hard drive, you cannot just go for any external hard drive on the market because there are requirements that they have to meet before they can be used for your Xbox One.
The first requirement that has to be met is that your external hard drive must be at least 256GB in terms of its storage capacity. That’s because anything lower than that might not be able to handle the larger games that you can download into your external hard drive. There is also a 16TB limit but that seems to be overkill even for the most seasoned gamers.
Most gamers would most likely stick somewhere between 2TB and 4TB in terms of the storage capacities of their Xbox One external hard drives. A 1TB hard drive is a good boost to your Xbox One’s internal storage but you may want to go for something bigger than that if you are an avid gamer. Your first consideration should always be storage space, and that is why you should go for a 2TB or a 4TB external hard drive especially when a lot of the digital games nowadays come with large file sizes. But it still doesn’t hurt if you go for the entry-level 1TB if you aren’t the biggest gamer around.
The next requirement that your external hard drive is supposed to meet for it to be compatible with an Xbox One is for it to support USB 3.0. Your Xbox One console will not support USB 2.0 because of how slow the file transfer will be from the console to the external hard drive. On the other hand, an external hard drive with USB 3.0 capabilities will ensure that files will be transferred as quickly as possible from the console to the external hard drive.
When it comes to the basic requirements, the Xbox One only requires at least 256GB of storage space and USB 3.0 support. However, you may also want to consider hard drive speed so that you will be able to see faster loading times on your Xbox One. The Xbox One might have an internal drive with speeds of up to 5,400 RPM, you can improve that by going for external hard drives that are faster. For those who demand speed, going for a solid-state drive (SSD) that is considerably faster than any other hard drive will give you the type of speed that is unrivaled when it comes to loading times but comes with a price that may be too high for most gamers.
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Review – Why is it the best for the Xbox One?
When it comes to the best Xbox One external hard drive, there is nothing better than the one that was made to be the officially branded external hard drive to be used for this console. The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox hits all the bases well and not only leads the pack in terms of its overall performance but is also one of the highest-selling and most-reviewed Xbox One external hard drives on the market today. Let’s check it out so that we’ll get to understand more about why it stands as the best for the Xbox One.
Aesthetics
Not a lot of gamers are consciously aware of this but aesthetics play a huge role when it comes to gaming. After all, your gaming console will be a huge part of your living room or gaming room setup and should be one of the more aesthetically-pleasing parts of the room. That’s why console manufacturers make it a point to design consoles that actually look great such as the Xbox One.
So, if you want to match your Xbox One’s aesthetic appeal with an external hard drive that looks just as appealing, the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox should look great enough for your gaming setup. The hard drive comes with rounded edges instead of the square-ish look that most hard drives come with recently. And, of course, the cream of the crop are its colors.
The standard 512GB version of the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox comes with the black design with classic Xbox green color surrounding the sides of the external hard drive. However, if you choose to go with the 2GB and the 4GB options, you’re going to get the GamePass Edition, which is a clean all-white external hard drive that goes perfectly well with the all-white Xbox One S. You’re simply going to love looking at this external hard drive as it has the design that truly makes it go well with all of your other Xbox One peripherals.
Performance
When it comes to the performance of the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox, it actually is just a regular Seagate External Hard Drive. It has a write speed of about 120 MB/s, which is just about similar to the writing speed that the Xbox One’s internal hard drive has. So, in that sense, you are going to be able to quickly move files in and out of your Seagate Game Drive without much trouble.
But what really makes the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox stand out in terms of its performance is that it is a simple plug-and-play external hard drive considering that it is the official Xbox external hard drive. That means that it was already formatted to be compatible with your Xbox One while reducing the effort and hassle on your part.
Storage
The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox comes in different varieties depending on their storage capacities. The standard version is 512GB, which features a black and green design. However, you can go for the faster and smaller SSD versions that come in 500GB and 1TB varieties. Expect to pay more if you want to go with the SSD varieties but you will enjoy writing speeds that are a lot faster than the usual external hard drives.
For avid gamers who prefer to get the white version of the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox, we recommend that you go for the Xbox One GamePass Editions that comes in 2GB and 4GB varieties. Choosing those will ensure that you will never run out of storage capacity even when you have a ton of different games at your disposal. The GamePass Editions come with a one-month subscription to Game Pass.
Overall
From an overall perspective, the reason why we love the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox is that it perfectly fits the ethos of the Xbox One. There might be standard 2/4GB external hard drives that may be slightly faster and less bulky than the Seagate Game Drive but the difference tends to be quite negligible if you think about how visually appealing and easy to use this external hard drive is. It doesn’t only look great but it performs up to par with other hard drives of the same specs and price.
But, if you really want to stand out in terms of speeds, you can go for the SSD versions if you have the money. Still, with the SSD versions, you are going to be sacrificing capacity for reading and writing speeds because only the 1TB version is available. However, that may be more than enough for gamers who aren’t really too keen on collecting dozens of different games.
How to use an external hard drive on Xbox One?
Now that you have your external hard drive in hand, you should now connect it with your Xbox One. Use a vacant USB port on your console to connect it to the external hard drive via the attachment cable it comes with. After you have connected it, you will be prompted to format it. By doing so, all prior files on the hard drive will be erased.
However, if you are using the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox, you no longer have to go through the formatting process because it was already formatted to be compatible with your console. It might not be a lot but it does reduce the hassle and effort on your part.
