Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card Review

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• Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card Review

One minute review

Video games are getting bigger, not just because of the size of their in-game worlds, but also because of the size of the files they fit into. It's not uncommon for games to weigh in at over 100GB these days, and the latest Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles only have 1TB and 512GB of built-in storage, respectively. Seagate's storage expansion card seeks to ease the pressure on this overburdened onboard storage. A simple plug-and-play memory card, it fits into the back of new Xbox consoles, and… that's it: Instant extra storage is seamlessly added to your console—no setup required. With the new Xbox Velocity Architecture storage system, the card can achieve blazing fast upload and transfer speeds. It's not as fast in terms of built-in storage, but up to XNUMX times faster than a conventional drive, according to Microsoft's calculations. Also note that a Velocity Architecture storage system is required to play Xbox Series X/S Enhanced games.

(Image credit: Avenir) The big downside? The cost is prohibitive, almost the price of an Xbox Series S console itself. And Seagate has us in something of a barrel right now: there's no alternative to its card if you want some extra space for your console, except for the painstaking process of moving them between a conventional hard drive and internal storage. But the simplicity of the system cannot be surprised. It's expensive, but not much more than equivalent PC SSDs, and it seems a lot easier to install than Sony apparently intended for the PS5. The Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card is highly recommended.

Prices and availability

Available now, the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card retails for $219.99 / €219.99. So far, it seems like a pretty firm prize, and discounts are still pretty rare. It's expensive, no question about it, but so is the advanced SSD technology found in PCs, and somewhat outdated here. Compte tenu de la facilité d'installation et des performances de la carte, cela justifie à peu près le prize – même s'il ya un sentiment à contrecœur que la Xbox Series X et la Series S auraient dû avoir plus de stockage intégré pour empezar . Seagate's best storage expansion card for Xbox Series X deals right now

Design and performance

The Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card is a bit of a gimmick: smaller than a credit card, but slightly thicker at 2.1" x 1.25" x 0.3" inches. Proprietary connection on the back of Xbox Series X consoles and S, can only be used with Microsoft machines.Two-thirds of the card is a metal alloy that fits snugly into the console's port, while the rest is encased in a black plastic casing with the Xbox logo and a small grip notch attached.There is also a clear plastic cap included to put on the card, if you want to store it or travel with it.

(Image credit: Avenir) Installation couldn't be easier: take it out of the box, remove the cover and insert it into the corresponding port on the back of the console. That's it: your card is automatically formatted and ready to run as additional Velocity Architecture SSD storage right out of the box. I may need to push it a little deeper than I expected - first I got a warning that the card was recognized, but the connection to it from the Xbox was weak. Inserting it more firmly worked and everything from there worked as expected. However, what is worth noting is that, like almost all hard drives, the usable space on the expansion card is less than the advertised 1TB. Between the onboard drivers and the gap in the way the console reads available space on the card, you're actually left with 920GB to play. Still, that's more than the 802GB provided by the Xbox Series X's "1TB" hard drive, and it's huge compared to the 512GB the Xbox Series S ships with. So, how many more games? can they allow you to install those 920 GB? Of course, this will vary depending on the type of game you are playing. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War weighs in at a mammoth 190 GB, for example, so you could barely install it four times on the map. But if we say the average game download size hovers around the 30GB mark, you'll get 30 more games safely stored on the card. If you like small indie titles, expect this number to be much higher, while fans of AAA open-world games can expect it to be lower.

(Image credit: Avenir) When it comes to speed, the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card is blazing fast, supporting the same fast resume features and fast load times that your console's internal drive supports. It's not quite as fast (booting a Yakuza: Like a Dragon backup from the map from the home screen took 45 seconds from the map and about 37 seconds from internal storage), but it's still much faster than the solutions from the previous generation of consoles offered. And, when it comes to once-in-game load times, the gap is drastically reduced so that it's almost unnoticeable to anyone except those using a timer. Transfer speeds are solid, too: it's slightly faster to send files to internal storage from the card than the other way around, but only by a fraction. But that's a day and night difference between the Seagate card and an external hard drive: the 9GB WRC 24,6 driving simulation, for example, took 3 minutes and 50 seconds to go from internal storage to a drive. USB 3 hard drive, compared to just 1 minute 6 seconds for the Seagate card.

(Image credit: Avenir) The Xbox Series X/S interface itself is very clear and easy to use when it comes to managing storage devices. The settings section makes it clear where each game is stored and offers a simple view of the transfer queue to allow you to easily manage installation locations. It's also worth noting that if you're headed over to a friend's house, you can simply plug your card into the back of your Xbox Series X/S console and access all the games stored there in no time. You will need to sign in to your account on your console to play, or your friend will need to have a license for them as well. But it's a quick and easy way to take a good chunk of your game library with you, without waiting for a download from a friend.

Should I buy the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card?

You're impatient
This is a fast disk that requires almost no effort to set up. You'll get the most out of new Xbox games, without having to juggle them to and from a standard hard drive. You play a lot of Xbox Series X / S games
Games optimized for the latest Xbox consoles require Xbox Velocity Architecture players to run them. While you can move them from a standard drive to internal storage if you run out of space, the Seagate alternative eliminates all of those hassles. You like to get in and out of various Game Pass titles
The joy of an Xbox Game Pass membership is its all-you-can-eat nature. The Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card lets you load dozens of games and quickly switch between them, taking advantage of the extra space and speed of the external card.

Don't buy it if...

You are patient
You can store Xbox Series X / S save games on a conventional hard drive, but you will need to be ready to play the game by waiting to copy them to the console's internal thin drive before you can play them. You mainly play old games
If you play games that are not optimized for the Xbox Series X or Series S consoles, you can still play them from an external hard drive or SSD. But even they will benefit from being stored in this quick accessory.