if you're looking for instructions on how to set up and use an external hard drive on an xbox
you come to the right place in this video i'll explain how to correctly format the drive and
how to move games back and forth between internal and external storage these days games are taking
up more and more space but the good thing is that you can use any usb 3 drive on the xbox
and the way to tell if the drive is compatible is the blue plastic inside the connectors
it's subtle but a quick and easy way to visually tell which hard drives will work
and with portable drives like this you won't even need an ac power supply i can also assemble my own
external storage by inserting a raw ssd into this two and a half inch enclosure from morico
this method can save money but prices are still high depending on the size of the ssd
especially when you compare that to traditional spinning drives which are much less expensive
you can also buy ssds like this wd black d30 which are plug and play ssd stands for solid state drive
in case you didn't know and you'll definitely get faster transfer speeds with something like this
no matter what you choose here's how you set it up
with the external storage plugged in the xbox will ask me to configure this drive
if i choose use for media the xbox won't have to format the drive that's because it's currently set
up to store only photos videos and other files but it won't work for xbox games however it
will work on a windows computer because it's typically already formatted to work on pcs
but to use it for xbox games i'll select the format storage device button
before i move on here's something you need to know this will erase everything on the external hard
drive and reformat to work only on the xbox it will no longer be recognized on windows computers
so keep that in mind here i can rename the drive for easier identification
giving the drive a unique name really helps when switching between internal and external storage
when done select and click on the arrow at the bottom right
on the next screen i need to tell the xbox whether i want new games
downloaded directly to the external drive or continue saving on the internal storage
choose your preference here but for now i just want to keep downloading to my internal storage
on this screen i can cancel or begin formatting
i definitely want to use my external storage for games so i'll choose format storage device
and pretty quickly the xbox will confirm my new drive is ready to use
at this point managing storage is an important thing to know how to do and since i chose not
to install downloaded games on the new drive i can manually move them to free up space on
the xbox here's how to do it on the home screen navigate to the my games and apps button and hit a
in the games tab i'll select the game to move let's do battle islands when i press the menu
button on the controller a pop-up window will appear here i'll select and click on manage game
if i choose to copy the game the original game file will still remain on the internal drive
or i can select move all using move all will transfer the game files to the external drive
and delete it from the original location i want to move the game so i'll click a on the move
all button on the next screen i'll select move to confirm this is what i want to do
i can now watch the transfer progress and the time it will take depends on the size of the game
when it's done i can see battle islands is now on the external drive
i can also move games from the external drive to internal storage on the xbox so after confirming
i'm actually working on the external drive i'll select move all or copy again i'm just going to
move the game here i'll confirm to start while i'm waiting for this to transfer i want to let
you know that i've listed all the drives seen here in the description so they're easy for you to find
and now the game has moved back to the xbox it's all pretty easy to do and hopefully you're able to
follow along to better manage your xbox storage but here are some final tips the external drive
will work on all xbox one consoles it'll also work on xbox series x and s but not with newer
generation games it requires storage through its dedicated expansion slot
those games need faster data speeds that usb 3 can't handle next if you choose to download games
directly to the external drive keep in mind that your download time will most likely take longer
and remember that a hard drive formatted for xbox gaming will no longer work on a windows computer
to make it compatible on a pc again it will have to be formatted back to the ntfs file structure
and this final tip is a good one an external drive can be moved to a completely different xbox
simply unplug it from the console and connect it to another xbox then after you sign in
on the new console all your games will be available to play from the external drive
this is really great when going to a friend's house or upgrading to a new xbox console
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