external hard drive used for xbox and mac

#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC HOW TO#
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC INSTALL#
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC FULL#
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC PLUS#
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC SERIES#

The Seagate Storage Expansion Card, on the other hand, beats everything else we've currently tested when it comes to data transfer speeds.

#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC SERIES#

This doesn’t mean that you could theoretically run native Series S and Series X games from an external USB 3.0 drive – true next-generation titles are built to make the most of Microsoft’s new storage subsystems – but if you’re running backwards-compatible games you won’t be missing out. In fact, sometimes it’s ever-so-slightly faster! It’s also worth noting that running backwards-compatible titles from one of these drives isn’t any slower than running them from the internal SSD. And once you move from the 1050MB/sec drives to the ludicrously speedy SanDisk Extreme Pro, which can reach 2000MB/sec, there’s barely anything in it. Move up to the SSDs and there is a difference between the slowest SSD with an old-school SATA interface and the newer models based on NVMe technology, but we’re talking about just a few seconds at most. Sure, with Read Dead Redemption 2 you’re looking at an extra 18 to 20 seconds while you wait for each saved game to load, but with Fallen Order, it’s more in the range of three to five seconds, which isn’t bad at all.

However, when it comes to loading games and loading saved games, the difference isn’t actually that painful.

#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC PLUS#

A quick note: since the Seagate Expansion Card was tested by a different member of staff, save data load times will differ slightly from the other results.Īs you’ll quickly spot, the Seagate Backup Plus external HDD is significantly slower than any of the SSDs, particularly when it comes to copying games to and from internal storage. Finally, we timed how long it took to copy Fallen Order back from the external drive to the internal SSD. We also ran some tests with Red Dead Redemption 2, to find out what impact different drives had on its notoriously lengthy load times. We timed the process of copying Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to each one, then timed how long the game took to load and how long it took to load a saved game from the main menu. We also tested the expensive Seagate Storage Expansion card on an Xbox Series X. These included an external HDD (the Seagate Backup Plus Slim), a basic SSD using the old SATA-6 interface (the LaCie Mobile SSD), a high-performance 2000MB/sec NVMe SSD (the latest SanDisk Extreme Pro) and three 1050MB/sec NVMe SSDs (see below). We tested a range of HDDs and SSDs with an Xbox Series S to find out. Yes it does, but maybe not as much as you’d think. Does the type and speed of the drive matter? It’s really easy to move them between the two, and a lot faster than deleting a game because you need the space then having to re-download it. Second, you can store Xbox Series S or Series X games on an external drive, then move them to the internal storage when you want to play them. You can keep your favourite backwards-compatible titles on external storage and leave the internal storage for the latest Series S or Series X games.

#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC INSTALL#

First, you can install any existing Xbox One games from your library to an external drive and run them from there – and the same applies to any last-generation games you download using Xbox Games Pass. However, external drives can still be really useful. PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Who makes the best next-gen gaming console in 2021?

Give it time and build up a decent library of games, and you’ll probably need one of these, or face deleting some of your favourites. At the moment, the Seagate Expansion Card is the only storage product that will run games developed for the Xbox Series S and Series X or optimised for the new consoles. Now, external drives have their limitations.

#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC HOW TO#

READ NEXT: We review the new Xbox Series X How to choose the best external hard drive for your Xbox Series S/X What can you do with an external drive? You could just plug in an external SSD or HDD instead. However, as good as it is, you don’t need to spend that much to ease the situation. Microsoft has one easy solution – the £220 Seagate Expansion Card for Series S and Series X – which gives you simple, plug-in storage that runs at the exact same speed as the built-in SSD. Sign up for Xbox Games Pass and start enjoying its extensive library, and the built-in drive will fill up even faster.

#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE USED FOR XBOX AND MAC FULL#

Start installing a few games and you can soon pack it out.Ī full install of Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War can occupy as much as 187GB of space on its own.

And your mood wouldn't be unjustified: The Series S has only 364GB of usable storage, while the Series X has 802GB. If you're after one of the best external hard drives for your Xbox Series X or S, it can only mean one thing: you're not happy with the amount of built-in storage space.

External hard drive used for xbox and mac