Copyright Digital Trends
Running out of storage space on your Xbox Series X is a major nuisance, but fortunately, there’s an easy way to fix the problem. Just pick up more storage in the form of an external hard drive. There are plenty of options, ranging from humongous drives to something for less demanding users, and I’m here to show you them all. Although I haven’t tested all of these drives myself, I’m a gamer and tech journalist with over two decades of experience, so I know my way around HDD specs. Thanks to my robust knowledge of storage devices as well as hours of research, I’ve picked out only the drives I know that you can fully trust. Recommended Videos Whether you’ve got a full library of Xbox titles or a bunch of cross-platform games, we’ve got you covered. Check out some of the best external hard drives for the Xbox Series X. Best SSD FOR XBOX SERIES X Seagate Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S Having just spent hours researching this topic, I can safely recommend the Seagate Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S as the best external drive for the Xbox Series X/S. This is not a hard drive per se, but this is actually good news. Let me explain. This expansion card is built using NVMe SSD technology. It’s a compact, proprietary expansion card that you can plug directly into the rear slot of your Xbox Series X. It supports PCIe (NVMe) throughput, which means that games will run directly from the card, and at fast speeds too. It’s honestly a better pick than a traditional HDD. The card is available in 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and even 4TB, and it’s completely plug-and-play. Users praise it for how seamless and speedy it is. It’s not the cheapest option on this list, but it’s by far the best, so if you want superb gaming performance, this expansion card is your best bet. Best HDD for the XBOX SERIES X Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Want loads and loads of Xbox Series X storage without breaking the bank? Well, I have to give it to Seagate here yet again. The company owns the #1 spot on this ranking not just for an external SSD, but also for an HDD. This is an excellent option if you have a robust library of games and you want to store them, but don’t necessarily intend to run them directly from the drive. This one connects over USB 3.0 and gives you masses of space — up to 5TB — for all your games. That’s enough for hundreds of titles, which is great if you want to have a bunch of games pre-installed and ready to go. The only catch here is that you can’t run the games directly from the drive. You can use them for storage (as is usually the case with HDDs), but you’ll have to transfer them to the internal Xbox storage to play. Transfer speeds will be slower than if you were to use an SSD, too. The good news? Most users praise this HDD for being simple to use and easy for backups. Best budget expansion card for Xbox Series X WD_BLACK C50 Storage Expansion Card for Xbox The WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Card for Xbox is the simplest way to add more room for your games on the Xbox Series X|S. External HDDs will require you to transfer games back and forth, but this expansion card is entirely plug-and-play with full integration into your console for less complications. Optimized for the Xbox and aligned with Microsoft’s quality standards, the WD_BLACK C50 Storage Expansion Card can provide additional space of up to 2TB1 for your favorite titles. Built with a super-speed NVMe SSD core, it uses the Xbox Velocity Architecture for extremely fast, low-latency performance, as if you’re playing games on the console’s internal storage. The WD_BLACK C50 Storage Expansion Card also supports the Xbox’s Quick Resume feature, so you can instantly switch between multiple games. 1 – 1TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment. Sponsored by SanDisk Best HDD FOR BULK STORAGE ON XBOX SERIES X WD_BLACK P10 Game Drive for Xbox If you need bulk storage — and I really do mean bulk — at a reasonable price, an HDD is still your best bet. SSDs are infinitely faster, but cost more per terabyte, especially at large capacities. This WD_BLACK external HDD is my favorite option for Xbox Series X|S gamers. It comes in sizes of up to 6TB, which is (in all honesty) more than you’ll ever need for your Xbox library. I know WD_BLACK to be a super reputable brand, and I myself have used numerous HDDs and SSDs from Western Digital over the years. Therefore, I fully believe the reviews here, which praise the drive for how reliable it is, not to mention the great value. You won’t be able to play games directly off of this drive, but you can easily use it for storage. As an added bonus, it comes with a month of Xbox Game Pass for free. BEST PORTABLE SSD FOR XBOX SERIES X Crucial X10 Pro Portable SSD I love me a good portable SSD. Some of the best SSDs that you can install directly in a PC or laptop are faster, but they’re stuck wherever you put them, and removing them and adding them anew is a real chore … not to mention the fact that they can’t fit inside your Xbox, anyway. Fortunately, a portable SSD is a fantastic solution if you want really fast Xbox storage. This Crucial X10 Pro model offers up to 2,100MB/s read speeds, meaning that you’ll never have to wait long to transfer your games. It’s widely compatible, meaning that outside of using it for your Xbox Series X or S, you can also plug it into your PlayStation 5, laptop, desktop PC, or even your phone. I own an older model of one of Crucial’s portable SSDs and have nothing but great things to say about it, so I feel safe recommending you this one as a new, well-reviewed option. BEST RUGGED SSD FOR XBOX SERIES X Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD We’ve had the chance to review the Samsung T7 Shield, and it earned a full 4 out of 5 stars in our in-depth test. While it wasn’t made specifically for the Xbox, this is an excellent portable SSD, which means it’s worthy of being on this list. The Samsung T7 Shield is super fast, but also ultra durable. This is important if you tend to travel with your games, and makes it easier to store the SSD without worrying that all your installed titles will go bye-bye at the drop of a hat. This SSD offers speeds of up to 1,050MB/s, and it comes with AES 256-bit hardware encryption, too. It’s hardly a necessity for the Xbox, but it’s nice if you ever need secure storage for something else. It’s really expensive, but we found it to be worth the high price tag. Buy it if you want something more than just Xbox storage. The above list of the best SSDs for the Xbox Series X is a comprehensive look at options for gamers. There are a lot of SSDs and HDDs out there, and ultimately, the most important thing to consider is your budget — but these drives are bound to increase your storage in a low-effort, high-value kind of way.
