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Best ssd drive for xbox one
If you’re looking for a way to expand your console storage space, then you need to get your hands on one of the best Xbox One external hard drives. As some of the biggest and best titles take up hundreds of gigs of data its worth investing in one of these storage systems sooner rather than later. In 2022, we’re seeing some of the fastest and most efficient models meaning there are tones of options. The best SSD drive for xbox one can be found on Amazon, Newegg and other retail markets
When picking up a new external hard drive you can either pick up a traditional hard drive or the new solid-state drive. Both are great options, with the former being a more budget friendly choice and the latter coming in much faster than the alternative.
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How to choose the best external hard drive for your Xbox One
What are the most important things to look for?
Interface type: The Xbox One series of consoles supports up to two external hard drives, connected via a USB 3 cable. This is important: the Xbox One doesn’t support newer USB 3.1 gen 2, or indeed USB-C or other miniaturized versions of the USB connector (miniUSB or microUSB). Fortunately, most modern external hard drives have a USB 3 cable, so you won’t need to worry too much about this.
Portable or desktop? We will always recommend buying a portable external hard drive for your Xbox One. These drives don’t require a dedicated mains power supply, which just means you have one less cable to worry about. The downside is that they tend to max out at 4TB; if you need more space, you’ll need a desktop external hard drive, and therefore a spare wall socket to plug it in.
Optional extras: Some of these drives will double as a USB 3.0 hub. While they will take up one USB port on the back of your Xbox One, you’ll gain two ports that are easier to reach.
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How much storage space do I need?
Let’s assume you want to keep your entire game library installed. It depends a little bit on how many games you own, although if you’re in the market for an external hard drive you’re clearly looking to install more than just Fortnite, Apex Legends and the latest FIFA. Surprising, these drives are also good storage of OS.
Game sizes are getting bigger all the time. Here’s a list of some of Amazon’s best-selling Xbox One games, and roughly how much space they will take up on your Xbox One (we’ve included low-storage titles like Fortnite for reference):
Game storage requirements – Xbox One S/Xbox One X
Fortnite 20GB/40GB
Apex Legends 30GB
FIFA 20 40GB
Doom Eternal 40GB
Borderlands 3 40GB
Gears 5 58GB/64GB
Forza Horizon 4 63GB
Grand Theft Auto V 73GB
Halo: The Master Chief Collection 73GB
Red Dead Redemption II 107GB
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2020) 185GB
As you can see, it’s very easy to fill an Xbox One hard drive with games – especially if you’re stuck with the 500GB model. We recommend buying an external hard drive with at least 2TB of storage; if you buy and download a lot of games – or you’re a heavy user of Microsoft’s excellent Xbox Games Pass service – then 4TB is a pretty sensible investment. Read more on Best PCI E Gen3 M.2 SSDs to Buy in 2023
Should I buy an external SSD?
You might think you need an ultra-fast hard disk for gaming, but the drive in the Xbox One X itself is actually an average 5,400RPM hard disk, and most USB 3.0 hard drives will give you equivalent or better performance. This makes it tempting to plump for an external SSD, which has significantly faster read and write performance. However, it’s going to cost you a whole lot more, with prices starting at around £120 to £150 for a 1TB external USB 3.0 SSD.
You won’t actually notice much difference in terms of general gameplay, so the main advantage of an SSD is the significant reductions in your loading times. Here, much depends on the individual game. Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t really load any faster with an SSD than it does with an external HDD, but when loading saved games it’s a different story. While you could be looking at a nearly two minute (133 second) wait on Xbox One X with an external HDD, that drops to just 71 seconds with an SSD.
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best ssd drive for xbox one
Here are 11 best SSD drive for xbox one you can find in Amazon
Toshiba Canvio Advance
SPECIFICATIONS
Capacity: 1TBStorage Type: HDD
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Check Amazon
REASONS TO BUY
+Great price
+Small and slick
+Different colors available
REASONS TO AVOID
-Standard HDD speed
We have a new budget pick for the best Xbox One external hard drive. The Toshiba Canvio Advance is a lovely piece of kit: it comes with a glossy shell, a simple design, and a neat, blue power-light on the top. It doesn’t require an additional power source, and simply plugs into the USB port on your Xbox One console and… just works. It has read and write speeds to match all other drives on this list, and comes with a two year warranty as standard. If you want to use it for PC too, it has password protection and automatic file back-up, which are both useful features that elevate this model above our previous budget pick, the Canvio Basics.
The only real drawback of the Advance is that it doesn’t come in a green color, which means it won’t complement your console. However, you can get white which does look slick next to most Xbox consoles. You should be able to grab the 1TB version for around $50 / £50, which makes it a genuine bargain too.
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WD Black P10 external hard drives xbox
A bit pricey, but reliable and built to last
SPECIFICATIONS
Capacity: 1-5TBStorage type: : HDD
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
View at Amazon
Buy at Adorama WW
View at Conrad Electronic
REASONS TO BUY
+Super portable size
+Runs cool and quietly at all times
+3-year warranty
REASONS TO AVOID
-Quite expensive compared to other HDDs
-Standard speeds
The WD Black P10 hard drive is a superb portable option for expandable storage. And while not listed as an armored or ‘rugged’ hard drive, we found it to have a really sturdy build-quality with the metal topside giving it a bit of a shipping container aesthetic. We also noticed the hard drive runs cool (and quietly too), even with back to back-to-back 16-hour days for a couple of weeks.
Why would you have it running that long? Well, we decided to test the 5TB version and download every single Xbox Game Pass(opens in new tab) game (took a while with our home connection speed). And we managed it too, that’s over 280 games, with a bit of space leftover.
The write speed is nothing special at ‘up to 130 MB/s’ but we found it matched that of the Xbox One console itself, so we were perfectly happy running our entire game collection from this external hard drive rather than the console’s storage system.
An Xbox branded version has a white trim instead of the cheaper all-black model, but that’s the only real difference and we found the plain one to be cheaper. Although some of the branded ones come with a code for two months of Game Pass, so worth checking the product description for confirmation there. Read more on Best SSD for sample libraries
Seagate 2TB/4TB Xbox One Game Drive
The official Xbox One external hard drive (and it’s a good one too!)
SPECIFICATIONS
Capacity: 2TB/4TBStorage Type: HDD
REASONS TO BUY
+All the space you’ll ever need
+Looks great
REASONS TO AVOID
-More expensive than some of the HDD competition
This officially branded external hard drive on Xbox One comes in 2 or 4GB options giving you a choice depending on if you want to go for media storage, or games. It’s basically a regular Seagate drive in a flashier case, and you’re paying about $15-20 extra for having the (admittedly quite nice) embossed Xbox logo and official green case colour. If your budget allows, and aesthetics are important to you, it’s functionally still a great choice, and you can often find it on sale. The Seagate 2TB Game Drive in official Xbox green often drops in price around big retail events, so while now is a great time to buy, we’ll surely see reductions in the new year sales.
If you’re not worried about official branding, this Seagate 4TB drive at Walmart(opens in new tab) is currently $40 off at $89.
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Final thoughts on best ssd drive for xbox one
The security features of SSDs that you can choose from for your Xbox Series X or S are another variable that can make a big difference – some have passwords, whereas others can use fingerprint readers.
In addition, other drives boast weatherproofing and drop-resistance in order to assure you that your data won’t be affected by moisture. However, a game collection that won’t move around too much might not find either of these to be too important depending on your personal preferences.