Seagate Storage Expansion Card Xbox Series X/S Review

November 25, 2020 at 7:16pm
By Jason Stettner

This is the option for next generation storage on either Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S consoles. It’s a 1 terabyte storage expansion card that in actuality provides 920GB of usable space (which is a really good ratio).

This works with either of the next gen consoles from Microsoft, and will likely be supported on future family models within the “Series” line-up. What’s really quite helpful about this option, aside from the extra space is that it can run the special “Optimized” games that typically require an internal storage solution.

While your existing hard drives may function for storage, a number of games currently available and releasing in the future require this specific technology to run them. That being the custom PCIe Gen4x2 NVMe architecture. Alongside that note, this also supports the special Xbox Velocity Architecture and quick resume which allows you to swiftly hop back into games that support the feature.

It really is specifically designed for this hardware and it takes full advantage of that option. There’s also the wonderful functionality of plug and play. You can easily swap in multiple cards if you have them or use them on other consoles too in order to access your games. It takes a second or two to show up and you’re good to go.

It also contains the typical options for storage management such as choosing it to be the default install location or giving it a special name. Mine is called the Baby Shark drive, following my odd naming setup for hard drives that I use. Just a fun thing to note I suppose, basically going over the fact that it has the same setup you might be used to for external drives that you’ve used over the years on the console platform of Xbox.

It is worth stating that this card does have its own slot on the back of the console, very hard to miss it. It slides in easily, with just a slight bit of pressure to make sure it’s firmly in there. It’s a rather insanely tiny storage option, with small dimensions. That includes a length of 7.8mm (0.307in), width of 31.6mm (1.244in) and depth of 52.95mm (2.085in). That goes further with the weight being essentially nothing at 0.066lbs (0.03kg).

It’s sleek looking, small and comes with a clear little cap if you’re travelling with it. It’s really just so miniscule, even leaving it plugged into the console during travel isn’t that big of a deal. It’s sturdy, seems to keep relatively cool and doesn’t make any sort of noise if that’s something you were expecting for whatever reason.

When it comes to usage I was able to clock in moving Borderlands 3 (60gb roughly) at under twenty minutes of movement time. It’s nothing to move large games like I’ve done with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It runs those Optimized games perfectly, and just gives me a little bit of comfort space.

You’re going to be able to get a good amount on there, and this will be particularly helpful to those on the Xbox Series S since that one has a tiny internal storage option. I was generally quite pleased with what this had to offer. It’s amazing that we’ve gotten such small drive options these days, and that we’re back to basically memory cards in gaming.

I do feel that the sizes will grow over time, but at the current point this is definitely a top of the line competitive option with similar models for PC systems. It’s honestly impressive in terms of the form factor and value present here. It plays the game perfectly, and delivers that with a tiny size. Perfect for travelling with your games, or just having that extra space if you need it. If you’re worried about any sort of issues, it does have an impressive three year warranty attached to it as well.

The Conclusion

The Seagate Storage Expansion Card Xbox Series X/S is a perfect option for the next generation consoles, providing a good amount of space and the performance you would expect. It’s delivered in an impressive form factor that also brings a little bit of a memory card nostalgia alongside it.

It ran very efficiently, transferred my games swiftly and was able to handle any of the features that I tested it with. It took seconds to setup and it was just ready to go right out of the box essentially. I was very impressed by what this had to offer, and the value that it provides.

It was easy to use, simple for storage and I specifically highly suggest this if you’re running with the Xbox Series S console as you will need the space. For the time, this is very impressive and I look forward to seeing how the technology develops over the generation. To see how big the sizing eventually gets and if there are any fun brand tie ins that happen with it.

Read our Xbox Series X Review
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Seagate Storage Expansion Card Xbox Series X/S Review product provided by Seagate tested with Xbox Series X

Rating Overall: 9.0