The Xbox Series X|S Storage Expansion Card is on sale

While there’s always been plenty of excitement surrounding the Xbox Series X|S, there has always been some concerns angled toward the capacity of the internal SSDs. Thankfully, the Seagate Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S has been readily available since launch, which can double the native storage and provides the speeds necessary for next-gen gaming.

The only downside is that it’s always been an expensive item, retailing at a slightly eyewatering £220. Thankfully, as of right now, the 1TB Seagate Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is currently available at a 17% discount on Amazon UK.

Why do Xbox Series X|S owners need the Seagate Expansion Card?

The Seagate Expansion Card is an official peripheral developed to support Xbox Velocity Architecture. This support allows the Expansion Card to operate at the high speeds necessary for seamless next-gen gameplay.

The Xbox Series X carries a 1TB NVMe SSD, capable of delivering excellent load times. A few hundred GB sit in reserve for system information, meaning that players have around 800GB of storage. Many games, particularly open-world titles, can sit anywhere between 50-130GB. This file size means that gamers with more than eight or nine games might find themselves struggling.

This issue is more acute for the Xbox Series S, a diskless system reliant on digital downloads. The Series S’s NVMe SSD only carries 512GB of storage, reduced to around 300GB once you consider the system reserve. Seen by many as an Xbox Game Pass machine, the Storage Expansion Card opens up tonnes more space for downloading games classic and next-gen titles.

While other external SSD options are compatible with the Series X|S, such as the WD Black D30, these devices don’t have the speed necessary to handle next-gen titles. They can only store and play legacy Xbox titles from the original Xbox to the One. Series X|S titles can be archived to these devices but will need to be moved to the console’s internal storage to be launched and played.

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William Lobley is a Senior Content Writer and reviewer for WhatsTheBest, specialising in technology and outdoors. He also writes for Empire Online.

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