Inside Gaming With Seagate

External HDD vs SSD for Xbox

There’s two external drives you can use to add capacity to your Xbox: the HDD (hard disk drive) and the SSD (solid state drive). Let’s break down the differences.

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Images of Seagate Game Drives for Xbox Images of Seagate Game Drives for Xbox Images of Seagate Game Drives for Xbox

Maximum Capacity

Currently the most cost effective drive, HDDs are a very common and reliable technology where data is stored on spinning disks. Rarely do they come smaller than two-and-a-half inches, but they can pack a lot of capacity into that space—and often a comparatively low cost.

Seagate’s 4TB Game Drive for Xbox Systems is a great option for an external HDD, offering about a 100 game storage boost to your overall capacity.

Faster with Flash

A much newer technology, SSDs don't have any moving parts inside. Using flash cells, data can be written, read, and rewritten directly to and from the cells. This allows for smaller drives and faster read times than you would get with a HDD. The trade off is that SSDs are more expensive to produce, though the price gap has been shrinking over time.

If you are looking for a great external SSD, not only does the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD plug in and give you extra storage capacity, it also gives you faster installs, boot ups, loading times, and auto saving.

Which is the Right One for Me?

Ultimately, choosing between an HDD and SSD comes down to your priorities.

If you want faster load times and great portability, go with a Seagate SSD. HDD speeds tend to run up to around 140 MB/s, whereas SSD speeds can hit up to 540 MB/s. And these are peak speeds, with actual load times varying for all games and systems.

If you want maximum capacity at a lower price point, then go with a Seagate HDD. You’ll experience the same load times as you’re used to with the internal Xbox hard drive. Best of all, you’ll be able to accumulate games until your heart is full (but hopefully not your hard drive).

And that’s our breakdown of HDDs and SSDs. Once you pick the drive you want, let us help you set it up, Maka can walk you through the process here.

For more tips and tricks on how to optimize all your gaming needs, check out more videos at Inside Gaming with Seagate.

Thanks for reading and happy gaming ✌

  1. ⁺ For a limited time of March 25, 2024, 10:00AM Pacific Time ("PT") to April 1, 2024 9:59AM PT, all orders placed at the Seagate store at Seagate.com will receive free ground shipping to addresses located within the United States.