Add 1TB of blazing-fast SSD storage to your new Xbox
Fast load times via solid-stare drives (SSDs) is one of the new console generation’s biggest benefits. An internal SSD’s speed is hard to emulate, which means its hard to expand the Xbox Series S/X’s storage and maintain the same performance. That’s where Seagate comes in, with the Storage Expansion Card for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. It’s a 1TB SSD that plugs directly into the expansion card slot on the back of either system, immediately adding storage that’s nearly as fast as the internal SSD. At $219.99 it’s pricey, but not that much more expensive than comparable external SSDs (and even internal SSDs like the WD Black P50 come close to the card’s price). This is particularly important for titles optimized for the new Xbox consoles, as the systems don’t support installing games via USB drives, SSD or HDD, because the transfers speeds are comparatively slower. A Small Wonder The Storage Expansion Card is a remarkably tiny SSD. It’s barely the size of a credit card and not much thicker, measuring just 2.1 by 1.25 by 0.3 inches (HWD). A black plastic cap takes up a third of the rectangular card, holding the Xbox logo, a label noting that it’s 1TB in capacity, and a small plastic tab to make it easier to insert and remove. The rest of the card is a dark gray, metal slip bearing the Seagate logo, with an open end containing the drive’s connection pins. It’s reminiscent of the PCMCIA accessory cards that old laptops accepted. The interface uses the Xbox Velocity Architecture, which according to Microsoft, offers speeds 40 times that of conventional hard drives. To install the card, just insert it into the expansion slot on the back of the Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. Push the card in firmly to make sure it completely connects, and the system will automatically detect the SSD.
