back to article Seagate has a flash early Xmas present for Xbox gamers

Seagate has produced an external 512GB flash drive for capacity-strapped Xbox One gamers. This Xbox-branded half TB is said to be enough for 15 titles and hooks up to the console with a USB 3.0 cable, meaning no separate power cord. It's claimed to load games and their contents faster than a similarly connected external disk …

  1. PassiveSmoking

    So basically the story is "Seagate stick branding on mediocre external SSD, hopes to gain traction in the sucker market"

  2. TonyJ

    Can you not...

    ...just drop a 1TB SSD inside the machine?

    I could Google it but feeling lazy right now. I blame the clocks going back ;)

    1. Alex Walsh

      Re: Can you not...

      You can do that with your PS4, and I shoved a 2TB HDD inside mine before I booted it for the first time (not an SSD mind you) but the Xbox One is different, and, no, you can't change the internal drive.

      1. Aladdin Sane

        Re: Can you not...

        IIRC, external drives on the XBOne have exactly the same performance as the internal one.

        1. Roger B

          Re: Can you not...

          The internal drives on the Xbox One and PS4 are SATA II, plugging an external USB 3.0 drive into one of the ports on the Xbox One enables a faster transfer rate, as long as the drive itself spins at 7200rpm, the PS4 does not currently allow external storage. If you have an Xbox One and all your games installed on the external drive, you can plug the drive into any Xbox console and with your login details play the games, as long as a network connection is available to check software keys/certificates.

          The upcoming PS4 Pro supports SATA on the internal drive so you can plug in any drive you like, as long as it physically fits.

          Xbox internal drives have a specific MS format meaning drives cannot be as easily swapped out and you would break the warranty seal getting to the drive anyway.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Can you not...

          That says alot about the fire Xbox one performance, if the internal bus can't run a drive any quicker than the external USB bus.

          I saw how long load and install times are, and compare to PS4, the Xbox one is a total joke.

          http://kotaku.com/installing-xbox-one-games-takes-way-too-long-1471191836

  3. David Austin

    Hmm

    Console Storage is going to become a bigger and bigger issue, as everything's slowly moving to Digital by Default. Credit where's it's due: The 360, PS3 and PS4 have internal and user-upgradable hard drives - Wii U and XBone support plugging external drives in, but that was always a slower, more cumbersome system (Really don't get why MS Removed that feature)

    The big question is what will happen with Nintendo Switch: Anything bigger than a micro USB Drive will be impractical to take on the road with you for your digital content, but how much storage to they dare put in the systems without making the launch price unaffordable?

    best case scenario: it has a MicroSD Storage slot, like the 3DS Line. Bonus points for including a 32GB+ Card with it.

    1. Aladdin Sane

      Re: Hmm

      Just triple the price and slap an Apple sticker on the outside, sheeple will pay.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmm

      "The big question is what will happen with Nintendo Switch:"

      Judging by the mediocre reception to Wii U, probably not much...

    3. Ashley_Pomeroy

      Re: Hmm

      I'm old enough to remember the small window when it was feasible to back up a hard drive to DVD - the small window when optical storage had a useful capacity, before the days when hard drives and latterly USB sticks exploded in capacity. Is it cheaper to press a load of Blu-Ray discs or manufacture tonnes of USB sticks? Have the limits of optical storage been reached, or did the market just give up on researching new optical media?

      I assume in the distant future local storage won't be a problem because everything will be downloaded on-the-fly over the internet, but currently that's not feasible. Having to add an external hard drive to a console feels wrong - one of the reasons people buy consoles instead of PCs is because they're cheaper and simpler. That's two reasons. Two of the reasons etc. The technology has reached an unsatisfying impasse.

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Hmm

        > Is it cheaper to press a load of Blu-Ray discs or manufacture tonnes of USB sticks?

        That depends how long you leave them in stock for.

        USB flash has a nasty tendency to suffer from bitrot so your warranty claims might be an issue.

        stamped BR disks work out at about 50p apiece in 1000-up quantities.

    4. fattybacon

      Re: Hmm

      The word on the street is 32Gb on-board, the games are all cart based, and there will be a micro-SD slot supporting up to 128Gb and NO USB drives allowed.

  4. Nate Amsden

    SSD on PS4

    I bought an Intel 730 SSD on special about a year or so ago, didn't have anything readily available to use it, so I slapped it in my PS4. Thought it would help a bunch, but at least on PS4 load times seemed about the same(I didn't notice any difference). Though the only games I have seriously played on PS4 are GTA5 and more recently Fallout 4.

    I have a few other games too but combined equate to about 6 hours of play time.

  5. adam payne

    I would assume because this is Xbox branded it will cost a small fortune.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    However

    You will still be suffering longer load times and much crappier graphics and framerates than PS4 owners, despite splashing way more cash...

    This sounds like a desperate "lets try and make the Xbox One not suck as much, and perhaps make a few quid from gullible gamers"

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like