Seagate announces 512GB external solid state drive for Xbox One

[Shawn Knight]

Seagate has taken the wraps off a new Xbox accessory that aims to improve load times while simultaneously delivering additional storage capacity.

The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD is essentially just that – an external solid state drive designed specifically for Microsoft’s Xbox console. Tucked inside the brushed aluminum enclosure with familiar Xbox green accents is 512GB of flash storage which Seagate says should hold around 15 games and associated downloadable content (with the average game taking up 35-50GB of space).

The drive utilizes a single USB cable for both connectivity and power.

Seagate says the drive helps gamers get into the action quicker by reducing wait times at welcome screens and enabling quicker transitions between levels. The company didn’t provide any hard numbers to back up the claims but I don’t doubt for a minute that it’s faster than what comes stock in Microsoft’s console.

People have been putting solid state drives in next-gen consoles ever since their debut in late 2013 and the results are indeed tangible.

As you’ve no doubt surmised by this point, there’s nothing really “special” about this drive short of its enclosure. If you’ve got a spare solid state drive lying around, you could just as easily throw it in an external enclosure and use it to boost console storage.

The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD will be available later this month from Amazon, GameStop and other consumer electronics retailers priced at $199 which isn't a bad price for a 512GB external solid state drive.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/66874-seagate-announces-512gb-external-solid-state-drive-xbox.html

 

[ZackL04]

Great idea but while yes it is an ssd it will be limited to the speed of the usb connection.

HardwareCanuks made a video of playing games saved on a large usb stick (maybe 64gb). There was noticeable stutters due to data transfer speeds. I assume the same issue would pop up.

 

[MoeJoe]

Great idea but while yes it is an ssd it will be limited to the speed of the usb connection.

HardwareCanuks made a video of playing games saved on a large usb stick (maybe 64gb). There was noticeable stutters due to data transfer speeds. I assume the same issue would pop up.

Stutter issues because of what? : : transfer speeds being too slow, too fast or conflicting between the USB port's bottle-necking vs. the nominal speed of the connected device?

 

[ZackL04]

Stutter issues because of what? : : transfer speeds being too slow, too fast or conflicting between the USB port's bottle-necking vs. the nominal speed of the connected device?

The USB ports speed is less than that of the device

 

[MoeJoe]

The USB ports speed is less than that of the device

That's normal.
There has to be more to it than that.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Already did this for two friends, got them both 480gb drives and a $20 USB 3.0 enclosure and Walla, massive improvements to fallout 4 load times, went from a 72 second average to 33 seconds.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Great idea but while yes it is an ssd it will be limited to the speed of the usb connection.

HardwareCanuks made a video of playing games saved on a large usb stick (maybe 64gb). There was noticeable stutters due to data transfer speeds. I assume the same issue would pop up.

And yet games play fine on a external HDD on the same system.

Large USB drive/=/SSD. The two are not remotely comparable in terms of IOPS and bulk data transfers. You cant judge the performance of the nissan GTR by driving the 4 cylinder versa.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

I don't want externals. I want everything internal.

I would prefer it if Xbox could accept a standard HDD so I could slap in a 4 or 6 TB drive.

PS4 offers it, but PS4 doesn't interest me.

I currently have a 2TB Western Digital Passport plugged to my XBO. It works just fine, but I'm always worried about the possibility it could fail. I will upgrade to a larger drive once prices decline again.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I don't want externals. I want everything internal.

I would prefer it if Xbox could accept a standard HDD so I could slap in a 4 or 6 TB drive.

PS4 offers it, but PS4 doesn't interest me.

I currently have a 2TB Western Digital Passport plugged to my XBO. It works just fine, but I'm always worried about the possibility it could fail. I will upgrade to a larger drive once prices decline again.

but then MS would have to let you fix your xbox, and we cant have that, now can we?

Sealing the HDD in the system and not making it user replaceable was the second dumbest thing MS did this gen, with the first being the DRM kerfuffle.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

but then MS would have to let you fix your xbox, and we cant have that, now can we?

Sealing the HDD in the system and not making it user replaceable was the second dumbest thing MS did this gen, with the first being the DRM kerfuffle.

The "DRM kerfluffle" is an example of manufactured outrage. Outrage manufactured by *****s in the media who desperately needed something to be angry at. No one even remembers it now - because it was a stupid thing to be angry about.

The HDD was the 1st mistake.

Making the system heavily reliant on KINECT was the second.