Use this tutorial to add a hard drive to Xbox One for more storage. Games are getting bigger and your console will eventually run out of room to store them.
Adding a hard drive to Xbox One is the easiest way to get more storage. You don’t need to add one yet because every Xbox One has a built-in hard drive. Early versions of the console only had 500GB of storage, but the latest models vary in storage size. Your Xbox One S may have 500GB, 1TB, or 2TB of space inside. Xbox One X, Microsoft’s newest and most expensive video game console, only has 1TB of storage. This is despite its games requiring more storage for their upgraded graphics.
By adding a hard drive to Xbox One, you can save yourself a lot of hassle. If you can’t increase your storage, you’ll have to uninstall old games to make room for new ones. This means that whenever you want to revert to the old game, you have to download or install the old game again, which can consume your precious game time.
Here’s how to add a hard drive to Xbox One for more storage.
How to Add a Hard Drive to Xbox One for More Storage: Hard Drive Requirements
Whether you can add a hard drive to an Xbox One you already own or need to buy a new hard drive depends on your drive’s capabilities. Not all drivers will work.
Microsoft allows Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X to see any size storage device. However, your drive needs a total storage capacity of 256GB before you can store games and apps on it.
Xbox One also has speed requirements. The drive you add must be USB 3.0 compatible. USB 2.0 drives can’t transfer your game files to the console fast enough that it shouldn’t affect performance.
Finally, your hard drive doesn’t need to be part of your workflow on your PC or anywhere else. Your console will reformat the disk and erase whatever is there so that it can use all the space it has. Do not add a hard drive to Xbox One that you are currently using to back up your PC or any other work.
How to Add a Hard Drive to Xbox One for More Storage: Hard Drive Recommendations
If your hard drive doesn’t meet these requirements or you already use it to back up your computer or store your files, you should go shopping for a new one.
Seagate has a range of Xbox hard drives that work perfectly with the console and meet all requirements. They even come with a special green case and an Xbox logo.
Western Digital’s Passport series of drives are just as good as Seagate’s drives, but do not come with special branding.
All these drives are small and fit easily in a bag. That said, Xbox One takes more than portable drives. Any desktop hard drive that meets the above requirements should work just fine.
Adding Your Hard Drive to Xbox One for More Storage
Connect your hard drive to your Xbox One console by plugging it into a USB 3.0 port. It doesn’t matter which port you use, but it will be easier to get your games from place to place if you use one of the ports on the front of your console. Within a minute, your console will analyze the drive and determine if you can use it as storage for your games and applications.
You know the console has detected the driver you want to add when you see the following popup. Xbox One will reformat the hard drives used for extra storage and your computer will not be able to interact with it again without deleting all your Xbox games and apps.
To read: How To Repair Your Hard Drive After Using It On Xbox One
Add a name to your drive.
You just have to decide whether you want to install something on the new drive or continue installing games on the internal drive. In general, it’s better to choose this option, which will let you just get that drive and go to a friend with all your games in one place.
use your remote to select
This much. You have successfully added a hard drive to Xbox One for more storage space. Go to the Settings app and look under System for prospective storage management options. This screen gives you a breakdown of how much storage you have used overall. You can come here to change which driver automatically handles your game downloads.
After installing your driver, make sure to start transferring your favorite games. Highlight a game in the area and press the button on your controller.
Select your favorite titles and related content and move them to the new drive.