Xbox Series X/S: Expand memory - how it works!

New games are released every week for Microsoft's Xbox Series X or its budget variant Xbox Series S. While the console has more than enough power, sooner or later storage space will run out. Increasing the digital storage space can help – there are several ways to do this. This is how you can expand the memory of the Xbox Series X/S.

The Xbox Series X has a terabyte of storage space ex works - that sounds like a lot, given the size of modern video games, the console is quickly "fully installed" especially if you diligently download new titles via Game Pass. It will be even more difficult for owners of the Xbox Series S, because it only has around half the storage capacity of the luxury version. After all, players can expand the storage space.

Xbox Series X: Full speed only with "Velocity"

Expanding Xbox Series X/S storage is a tricky business. Due to the Velocity architecture, you can only use the full performance of the console with special memory. That means: In order to be able to play titles optimized for Xbox Series X/s, the storage media must support the "Xbox Velocity Architecture". In any case, this is possible with the internal memory of the consoles, as well as with the expansion cards specially developed for the Xbox Series models. Seagate's "Expansion Cards" are inserted into a slot on the back of the console - it's clearly labeled "Storage Expansion".

The reason: The memory card then connects to the Xbox via PCI Express 4.0 and can thus max out the speed. Only then do the external memory cards reach the performance speed of the internal memory. But it's not particularly cheap: the tickets cost at least around 150 euros. The luxury model currently costs just under 450 euros - but there is fresh storage space between 512 gigabytes and 2 terabytes. For 450 euros you can double the storage space of the Xbox Series X/S without having to accept any losses.

The advantage is the unified system behind the idea of ​​external memory cards. And they don't take up space either - instead of having to place the external storage next to, on or behind the console like a hard drive, the Seagate card finds its place directly in the Xbox Series X/S. The expansion card then sticks out a little, but you can't see it. If you want to expand the memory of the Xbox Series X/S, you will find an expensive, but at the same time the most practical and powerful variant in the memory cards.

Alternative: Expand Xbox storage via SSD

An alternative is significantly cheaper if you want to expand the memory of the Xbox Series X/S. The Xbox architects have given players the option of connecting a standard USB hard drive or even an SSD. However, this is tricky, at least in parts: the hard drive must first meet the USB 3.X standard, such as USB 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2 - there are then no restrictions in terms of size. A memory monster can also be coupled to the console, but the full memory capacity will not be able to be used due to the Velocity architecture described above. Players who mainly play games optimized for Xbox Series X/S then look down the drain. This is only possible via internal memory or memory card.

Nevertheless, everything else can be easily outsourced to the external hard drive. This refers to backward compatible games for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and the Xbox Original console.

However, you can save all games and scores externally - this also applies to titles that have been optimized for Xbox Series X/S. At least there is no need to download the power titles, which can have advantages – for example when the Internet goes on strike.

Before expanding the memory of the Xbox Series X/S, it is therefore important to consider what type of games you play most often. If the games are primarily downward compatible, it can be worthwhile to use an external hard drive that is usually cheaper. Or you only use the external storage drive as storage anyway, to have optimized games ready to move them. Even then you can save money. If you want to act without detours to play high-performance games, you have to use the memory cards.

Last updated on 26.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX / Affiliate Links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA API