Summary :
What to do if your Xbox One hard drive becomes full? Deleting games or game files may not help much. Instead, replacing the internal hard drive or adding an external hard drive is helpful. In this post, MiniTool details Xbox One hard drive upgrade.
Description Game Drive for Xbox SSD is Seagate's premium external solid state drive, designed with peak gaming performance in mind. This game drive uses external flash SSD storage to accelerate installation and load times for your Xbox games. Createxboxdrivegui.bat - which includes a graphical interface and is the new primary Xbox One hard drive partitioning script using PowerShell 5.1 for Windows 10 and above createxboxdrive.bat - which includes a command line interface similar to the original script using PowerShell 5.1 for Windows 10 and above. Game Drive for Xbox SSD Get SSD speed and perfromance in a sleek, lightweight, shock resistant, and portable design. Works with Xbox Series X S Designed to work in harmony with both the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One—the Seagate Game Drive has no problems bringing all your favorite games to the next generation. Sep 07, 2020 Performing Xbox one internal hard drive upgrade is a good way to deal with low hard drive space. As the SSD price has sharply dropped recently, replacing the internal hard drive with SSD is the best choice if you want to improve the running speed of your Xbox. By the way, AOMEI Partition Assistant can do lots of help for your Xbox.
Quick Navigation :
Xbox One is the 8th generation home video game console developed by Microsoft. Released in 2013, the console has gained global popularity — global sales of Xbox One consoles reached over 48.22 million units in August 2020.
However, the game console comes with a small hard drive and lots of users want to upgrade Xbox One hard drive. Scroll down to learn more.
Limited Xbox One Internal Hard Drive Size
How large the Xbox One hard drive is? You can check your Xbox One hard drive space by following the guide below:
- Press the Xbox button on the controller.
- Select the options in order: Profile & systemàSettingsàSystemàStorage.
- Look at the graphic on the Xbox One screen that displays the percentage of space used, the available free space, etc.
Like PS4 (PS4 hard drive size), Xbox One also comes with a 500GB as standard. However, games now become larger and larger — a game can reach up to 110GB even without 4K enhancements. Therefore, a 500GB HDD is simply not enough and will soon fill up.
What to do when your Xbox One hard drive becomes full? In this case, it might be not helpful to remove the game files, while the more helpful solution is to expand the storage of Xbox One. Scroll down to see how to expand the storage.
Two Ways to Increase Xbox One Hard Drive Size
Microsoft allows you to add an external hard drive to store more games and the whole process is far easier — get an external hard drive for Xbox One and plug it into the console over USB. However, the following facts about adding an external hard drive may disappoint you:
- USB always carries some kind of processing overhead that consumes the CPU compared to a native SATA drive.
- The external hard drive is more vulnerable to damage due to the sudden shock or fall.
How about replacing the internal hard drive with a larger one? Microsoft has declared that upgrading the internal hard drive on your Xbox One will ultimately void your warranty. However, upgrading the internal hard drive brings not only more space but also improved gameplay experience, accelerated browsing speed, low possibility of damage to the hard drive, etc.
Which one do you prefer?
Xbox One Hard Drive Upgrade
If you want to add an external hard drive to your Xbox One, follow the tutorial below.
Step 1: Pick an external hard drive (it should be at least 256GB and support USB 3.0 on the console).
Step 2: Connect the external hard drive to an Xbox One USB port.
Step 3: When the external hard drive gets recognized, select the Next option.
Step 4: Name the external hard drive using the on-screen keyboard.
Step 5: Select the Install new things here option.
Step 6: Select the Format storage device button. A few seconds later, you will see a prompt saying external storage ready.
You can save games on the external hard drive.
If you prefer upgrading the internal hard drive, please keep reading.
Upgrading to a larger internal hard drive is difficult and time-consuming and the whole process can be divided into about three stages.
Stage 1: Pick an Internal Hard Drive
What kind of internal hard drive is idealfor Xbox One?SSD is the top choice! In terms of speed, SSD is far better than HDD (SSD vs HDD), which means that the game will start and load faster between levels and maps if you pay for an SSD for your Xbox One.
One user shared his experience of upgrading to an SSD in reddit.com:
I was successful in installing a 1 TB WD Blue SSD. After installing I immediately noticed that the console only took about 10 seconds to boot up. So far, so good! So, I moved on to gaming: With BO4, I immediately noticed how the first start up menu wasn't a completely black screen (texture loading of characters in background). It loaded the 3D character models _immediately_..
Stage 2: Remove the Original Internal Hard Drive from Xbox One
Note: Upgrading the internal hard drive on your Xbox One will ultimately void your warranty.
There are many tutorials on how to remove the original hard drive from Xbox One. The tutorial offered by iFixit is quite detailed and you can refer to it to complete the task.
Stage 3: Upgrade the Internal Hard Drive
How to upgrade the internal hard drive to a large and powerful one? There are two ways.
Way 1: Use MiniTool Partition Wizard
In this case, it is highly recommended that you try MiniTool Partition Wizard. This software can copy all the partitions on the original internal hard drive to the new internal hard drive without data loss.
But, before showing how to use it, let's spend little time learning about the layout of the original internal hard drive.
The original internal hard drive of Xbox One adopts GPT partible table and contains 5 partitions and an unallocated space:
#1 Temp Content | B3727DA5-A3AC-4B3D-9FD6-2EA54441011B | 85983232 | 41GB
#2 User Content | 869BB5E0-3356-4BE6-85F7-29323A675CC7 | depending on the hard drive capacity
#3 System Support |C90D7A47-CCB9-4CBA-8C66-0459F6B85724 | 83886080 | 40GB
#4 System Update | 9A056AD7-32ED-4141-AEB1-AFB9BD5565DC | 25165824 | 12GB
#5 System Update 2 | 24B2197C-9D01-45F9-A8E1-DBBCFA161EB2 | 14680064 | 7GB
If the new internal hard drive you want to upgrade to is no more than 2TB, you can partition the hard drive as the above order. If the new internal hard drive is larger than 2TB, the second partition User Content must be placed at the end (like the order below), otherwise, the system will fail to boot.
#1 Temp Content | B3727DA5-A3AC-4B3D-9FD6-2EA54441011B | 85983232 | 41.000
#2 System Support | C90D7A47-CCB9-4CBA-8C66-0459F6B85724 | 83886080 | 40.000
#3 System Update | 9A056AD7-32ED-4141-AEB1-AFB9BD5565DC | 25165824 | 12.000
#4 System Update 2 | 24B2197C-9D01-45F9-A8E1-DBBCFA161EB2 | 14680064 | 7.000
#5 User Content | 869BB5E0-3356-4BE6-85F7-29323A675CC7 | depending on the hard drive capacity
The new internal hard drive is no more than 2TB:
Here is the step-by-step tutorial.
Step 1: Connect the original internal hard drive and the new internal hard drive to a Windows computer.
Step 2: Get MiniTool Partition Wizard. Note that a paid version of the software is required when cloning a system disk.
Step 3: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to access its main interface and you should see the connected internal hard drives listed in the disk map.
Step 4: Click the Copy Disk Wizard feature from the left panel. Then, click the Next button on the new page.
Step 5:Select the original internal hard drive and then click the Next button.
Step 6: Select the new internal hard drive and then click the Next button.
Step 7: Choose the Copy partition without resizing copying method and then click the Next button.
Step 8: Click the Apply button on the main interface and the software will execute the cloning task.
The new internal hard drive is large than 2TB:
In this case, MiniTool Partition Wizard is still helpful:
Step 1: On the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard, right-click the Temp Content partition and then choose the Copy feature.
Step 2: Select the unallocated space on the new internal hard drive and then click the Next button.
Step 3: The software will display the partition size and location on the new internal hard drive. Click the Finish button.
Step 4: Repeat the above steps to copy the three partitions System Support, System Update, and System Update 2 to the new internal hard drive.
Step 5: Copy the User Content partition to the new internal hard drive.
- Repeat Step 1 – Step 2.
- On the Edit Partition page, drag the bar to the right space to occupy all the unallocated space.
- Click the Finish
Step 6: Click the Apply button on the main interface to execute all pending changes.
After upgrading, perform a test to check if the upgrade is successful.
Step 1: Just put the new internal hard drove into your Xbox One.
Step 2: Start your Xbox One.
If you see an interface like the following image, it means the upgrade is successful.
Then, you can assemble your Xbox One and you can enjoy your video games on the console.
Way 2: Perform an offline system update (focusing on all Xbox One consoles except original Xbox One)
After removing the original internal hard drive, place the new internal hard drive in your Xbox One and then put removed parts back one by one.
Step 1: Its always sunny season 10. Click the link to download the offline system update files.
Step 2:Prepare a blank USB flash drive with a minimum 6GB of space and then format it to NTFS.
Step 3: Find the downloaded files on your PC and extract the files on the archive.
Step 4: Open the osu1 folder and then copy the system update folder to the root directory of the USB flash drive.
Step 5: Safely remove the USB flash drive from your computer.
Step 6: Turn on your Xbox One and then use your controller to choose Troubleshoot.
Step 7: Plug the USB flash drive into the B port on the console.
Step 8: Once the Offline system update becomes active, select it.
Step 9: Wait for about ten minutes when the on-screen process comes to end.
Step 10: Follow the on-screen instructions to complete setting up the console.
If there is something unclear in the above tutorial, you can watch the video where a YouTuber details the way.
What to do with the original hard drive? You can format it to exFAT or FAT32 to use it as an external hard drive for your Xbox One. Apart from the way, you can read What to Do with Old Hard Drives? Reuse, Sell, or Destroy Them to learn about other disposal ways.
Bottom Line
What to do to get rid of the limited Xbox One hard drive space? the post has introduced two ways. One is adding an external hard drive. This way is easy but there is no remarkable gameplay performance improved. The other way is replacing the internal hard drive. It overcomes the shortcoming brought by the first way but it is hard and will destroy the warranty.
Which way you have picked? You can share your answer in the following comment zone.
If you have tried the second way and ran into some issues when using MiniTool Partition Wizard, please send an email to [email protected], we will contact you as soon as possible.
Xbox One Hard Drive Upgrade FAQ
Summary :
This introduces 2 Xbox 360 internal hard drives and 4 Xbox 360 external hard drives for you. In addition, this post also gives you guides on how to format and upgrade these drives. With MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can clone disk and create a 2TB partition or Xbox 360.
Quick Navigation :
An Introduction to Xbox 360 Console
The Xbox 360 is Microsoft's second-generation home console. On April 21, 2016, nearly 10 years after its launch, the Microsoft Xbox 360 game console was discontinued. But Microsoft asserted that it will continue to provide hardware and software support for the existing Xbox 360.
The Xbox Live server will continue to be used by the Xbox 360, and users can still play online through the host. Microsoft will also continue to sell the existing Xbox 360. The latest Xbox 360 operating system update is released on Aug 21, 2019. This update fixes some minor bugs and improves some items.
Today, some people still like to use Xbox 360 because some games may be compatible only with Xbox 360. Although Xbox One has introduced the downward compatibility plan and you can plan some Xbox 360 and Xbox classic games on Xbox One, there still may be some games not participating in this plan.
Xbox 360 console has several series, including Xbox 360 E, Xbox 360 S (namely Xbox 360 Slim), Xbox Premium, Xbox Elite, etc. These Xbox 360 consoles are all equipped with a hard drive not exceeding 250 GB, which obviously can't meet the demands of gamers. In addition, to use some series like Xbox 360 4G E and Xbox 360 4G S, you need to purchase a separate hard drive.
Therefore, in this post, I recommend you 6 Xbox 360 hard drives. You can upgrade your old and small drive to the Xbox 360 internal hard drive or just add an Xbox 360 external hard drive.
What are the best Xbox One external hard drives in 2019? List of 2019 best 10 external hard drives (1TB, 2TB, 4TB) for Xbox One from Seagate, WD, Samsung, etc.
Recommended Xbox 360 Hard Drives
1. Internal Hard Drives for Xbox 360 E and Xbox 360 S
Xbox 360 S hard drive and Xbox 360 E hard drive can be removed and replaced. Hence, you can upgrade the Xbox 360 internal hard drive directly. In general, the Xbox 360 Slim hard drive and the Xbox 360 E hard drive have the same shape. It looks like the following picture:
So far, 500 GB is the biggest capacity for Xbox 360 E and Xbox 360 S internal hard drive. You can install game discs directly to the hard drive to enjoy faster game loading.
This drive is an official product from Microsoft, so you should not have any problems. You can buy this 500GB internal hard drive for Xbox 360 E and Xbox 360 S in Amazon.
2. Internal Hard Drives for Xbox 360 Fat Consoles
Xbox 360 Fat console, also called the original Xbox 360 console, was released in 2005. Xbox 360 Slim and Xbox 360 E were released later. The original Xbox 360 console is fatter than Xbox 360 S and E. The shape of the internal hard drive is also different from that of the latter two consoles. The shape is like the following one:
This drive is only compatible with the Fat console, not the Slim console. If you search in Amazon, you can find this drive with a capacity up to 320GB. Please check whether it is an official product before you pay for it.
3. Seagate Xbox External Hard Drives for Xbox 360 Consoles
After learning about the Xbox 360 internal hard drives, you may be eager to know the recommended Xbox 360 external hard drives. For that, I recommend Seagate Xbox 360 hard drives, including Game Drive for Xbox SSD, Xbox Game Pass Special Edition, Gears 5 Special Edition, and Standard Edition - the green one.
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Standard Edition
It offers a capacity up to 4TB, which allows you to store more than 100 Xbox games. It supports USB 3.0 connectivity and plug and play function so that you can start the game in seconds. The warranty period is three years.
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD
With 2TB of space on this external solid state drive, you can store more than 50 games and downloadable content. With the full-throttle speeds of a portable external SSD built exclusively for Xbox, it reduces startup and load time. This external solid state drive also features a lightweight, shock-resistant design.
In addition, with over 2 months of Xbox Game Pass trial membership, you can access to more than 100 games. It also supports USB 3.0 connectivity and 3-year warranty.
This post shows you how to check your SSD's lifespan and gives you advice on increasing SSD life and dealing with SSD failure.
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Gears 5 Special Edition
Gears presents a bigger, bolder universe, so you may need a bigger, bolder hard drive to hold it. The Game Drive for Xbox Gears 5 Special Edition with 2TB capacity that can store more than 50 games can meet your needs.
This drive features the frozen Crimson OMEN emblem and includes Ice Block Lancer weapon skin and additional Supply Drops rewards. In addition, it offers 1-month free Xbox Game Pass membership which allows you to access to Gears 5.
It also supports USB 3.0 and 3-year warranty.
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Game Pass Special Edition
This drive has capacity specifications including 2TB and 4TB. The 2TB Game Drive comes with 1-month Xbox Game Pass Trial Membership, while the 4TB drive comes with 2-month Xbox Game Pass Trial Membership.
In other aspects, the Game Pass Special Edition drive is same as the above mentioned drives, for example, USB 3.0 connectivity and 3-year warranty.
Can't see files on Seagate external hard drive? Don't worry. This post will show you 4 quick fixes to files and folders not showing in Seagate external hard drive.
Further Reading:
Unlike Xbox One, not all hard drives are compatible with Xbox 360 console. The Xbox 360 console of official edition must use dedicated internal hard disk (namely official hard disks of Microsoft). Therefore, some people may like to use the cracked version, which can be compatible with almost all hard drives.
Although the cracked version has many virtues, it has a fatal flaw. The cracked version may get banned once Microsoft detects it online. Once your Xbox 360 console gets banned unfortunately, you can't log in Live to play networking games and this Xbox 360 console cannot read the hard disk, even though you replace the new hard disk.
So, if you are using the cracked version, you'd better not connect the network.
Attention:
Sometimes, you may receive a message like 'This game requires an Xbox hard drive' or 'You need an Xbox 360 Hard drive to play (a game name)'. If you still want to download this game without buying an official Xbox 360 hard drive, you can use a thumb drive or USB drive to download it.
How to Format Xbox 360 Hard Drive
Sometimes, you may encounter a situation where you have to format your Xbox 360 hard drive, for example, the hard drive can't be recognized by the console; you want to use a USB flash drive as an Xbox 360 storage device and store up to 2 terabytes (TB) of content, etc. In a situation like these, you should format the Xbox 360 hard drive. Here are two ways you can refer to.
Format Drive in Xbox 360 Console
If you want to format an internal hard drive, please follow the steps below:
- Press the Guidebutton on your controller.
- Go to Settings and select System Settings.
- Select Storageor Memory.
- Select the storage device that you want to format and then press Y on your controller.
- Select Format. You will get the following notice: This will delete all content on this device. Do you wish to continue?
- Select Yes to format the storage device.
If you want to format a USB drive, please follow the steps below:
- Plug a USB flash drive into a USB port on the front of your console.
- Navigate to Storageor Memory.
- Select USB Storage Device.
- Select either Configure Nowor Customize to format the USB flash drive for Xbox content.
Format Drive in a Computer (take Windows 10 as an example)
- Connect the drive to a computer through a cable.
- Open Disk Management by pressing 'Win + R' keys and entering 'msc'.
- Right-click the partition and choose Format.
Want to break FAT32 partition size limit? This post shows you two useful ways to break FAT32 limitations by using Command Prompt and free MiniTool Partition Wizard.
How to Upgrade Xbox 360 Hard Drive
If you want to upgrade your Xbox 360 to a larger internal hard drive, you can refer to the following steps.
Step 1: Connect the new drive to your Xbox 360 console through an Xbox 360 hard drive transfer cable.
Step 2: Use the Transfer Content option to move multiple items between storage devices.
- From Xbox Home, go to Settings and then select System.
- Select Storage.
- Highlight the source storage device and then press Yfor Device Options.
- Select Transfer Content.
- Select the destination storage device.
- Select the type of content that you want to transfer and then select Start to begin the transfer.
If the above method fails, you can try cloning disk in computer with MiniTool Partition Wizard. To do that, please refer to the following steps.
Step 1: Connect the two drives to a computer through a cable.
Step 2: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it to go to its main interface.
Step 3: Right-click the source disk and choose Copy. Then follow the wizard to copy the content to the target disk. At last, please remember to click Apply button to execute the pending operations.
How to clone a hard drive to SSD free in Windows 10/8/7? MiniTool software offers the best way to clone a hard drive from HDD to SSD or a new one.
After that, you can replace the old disk with the new Xbox 360 hard drive.
Bottom Line
Do you have any other problems with selecting Xbox 360 hard drive? Do you have any other recommendations on the Xbox 360 hard drive? Please leave a comment below. Of course, if you have any problems with disk formatting or disk cloning, please email at [email protected]. Windows 10 make screenshot. We will reply to you as soon as possible.
Xbox 360 Hard Drive FAQ
Unlike Xbox One, not all hard drives are compatible with Xbox 360 console. The Xbox 360 console of official edition must use dedicated internal hard disk (namely official hard disks of Microsoft).
The official Xbox 360 hard drive will allow backwards compatibility, which allows you to play the original Xbox games. However, other hard drives just add extra space.
External Ssd Drive For Xbox
Seagate Xbox 360 hard drives may be your best choice. They include:
Xbox One X Ssd Drive
- Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Standard Edition
- Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD
- Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Gears 5 Special Edition
- Seagate Game Drive for Xbox Game Pass Special Edition