Xbox One performance tested with hybrid drive and solid state drive

[Shawn Knight]

Unlike the storage drive in Sony’s PlayStation 4, the 500GB hard drive that ships with the Xbox One isn’t meant to be user-replaceable. That doesn’t mean a drive swap isn’t possible, however, just that it’s a bit more difficult and could potentially void your warranty and get you banned from Xbox Live.

One individual decided to risk it all and swap out the stock Samsung hard drive for a hybrid solid state drive and an all-flash SSD. Fortunately for us, Brian Williams also documented the entire process in the video embedded below for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

Specifically, Williams used a 500GB Samsung EVO SSD and a 1TB Seagate hybrid SSHD. A cold boot test reveals the solid state drive was able to boot to the dashboard roughly 4.4 seconds faster than the stock drive while the SSHD clocked in 2.1 seconds faster than the factory drive.

Another test with Call of Duty: Ghosts uncovered similar results with the stock drive loading the first level in 33.5 seconds. The SSHD did so in just 27.7 seconds while the pure solid state drive finished in 27 seconds flat. Unfortunately, Williams didn’t perform any other game loading tests so we can’t give it a complete comparison to the performance gains from an SSD swap in the PlayStation 4.

Aside from performance, one obvious reason to replace the stock drive is to add more storage capacity. But since Microsoft has already revealed support for external drives is in the pipeline, it might be best to just wait it out if that is your ultimately goal.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/54861-xbox-one-performance-tested-with-hybrid-drive-and-solid-state-drive.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

If you want a machine that you can optimize or upgrade, you should not be looking at a console.

 

[BMfan]

Well done to the guy that's willing to try something even though he has probably killed the warranty.

 

[Railman]

If you want a machine that you can optimize or upgrade, you should not be looking at a console.

Whilst I am not a fan of consoles I fully understand why someone would wish to pimp their console. He is only following a long line of others who done similar things in the past.

 

[Railman]

Well done to the guy that's willing to try something even though he has probably killed the warranty.

I don't suppose if he can afford a SSD I doubt he is worried about the warranty.

 

[9Nails]

Xbox One! You're a console! Why do you need 46 seconds to figure that out when you're turned on?!

 

[Jad Chaar]

Well done to the guy that's willing to try something even though he has probably killed the warranty.

Yeah. It stinks that you can get banned or void the warranty for just replacing a HDD with an SSD.

I think overall, the best upgrade for both the PS4 and Xbox One is the SSHD. You get 1TB for the price of a 250GB SSD and the speed upgrade is basically the same.

 

[Chuck Cortes]

Are a few seconds really worth swapping out the 500 GB drive for a hybrid or SSD at their prices? I would be OK with changing a 500 for 1 TB, 7200 RPM but for the price of a hybrid or SSD it doesn't seem worth it. I mean if the difference was from 30 seconds to 10 then yes but from 33.5 to 27.7 with Ghost on an SSD or 4.4 seconds difference at boot up, just doesn't seem like a big deal. A quick distraction would not make it that noticeable.

The same with the PS4, just seems pointless to focus on the speed more than the space.

 

[Blue Falcon]

I agree with Chuck. The difference in loading times is just not worth it. The main reason for upgrading will be the requirement for larger space since game installs are mandatory on both consoles I believe. I am personally waiting until there are must have exclusives on PS4/XB1 before I consider buying either console. I can't see many of such titles for another 2-3 years (I won't buy a $400-500 console just to play 2-3 exclusives). In that time, PS4/XB1 will move to 20nm or even 14nm node and with manufacturing price drop I expect Sony/MS to increase the storage space to 1TB.