Seagate Updates Game Drive SSD for Xbox with New Look and Internals
by Ganesh T S on October 7, 2021 9:00 AM EST
Seagate has been maintaining a line of Xbox-certified external SSDs since late 2016. The current Game Drive for Xbox SSD is based on the Seagate Fast SSD's internals and industrial design. With the USB 3.2 Gen 1 (BarraCuda) Fast SSD reaching EOL (that market segment has since moved on to USB 3.2 Gen 2), the time has now come for Seagate to revamp the internals of the Game Drive for Xbox SSD and give it a new look.
The company is introducing a new Game Drive for Xbox SSD that takes inspiration from the currently available HDD equivalent - sporting a sleek all-black look with a green LED bar. The 96mm x 50mm x 11mm bus-powered portable SSD weighs just 51g, and sports a USB 3.2 Gen 1 micro-Binterface. It is compatible with Xbox Series X, Series S, and all generations of Xbox One. The package includes a 46cm USB 3.0 cable (micro-B to Type-A).
Seagate is planning to launch only a single SKU of the new product - a 1TB version (STLD1000400) for $170. Interestingly, the 3-year warranty is also accompanied by data-loss protection using Seagate's Rescue Data Recovery Services. Availability is slated for later this month, well in time for the holiday season.
The article will be updated with additional information once we hear back from Seagate regarding details of the SSD's internals.
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Teckk - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
This is less expensive than the existing plug-in expandable 1 tb dongle. Is this only to store the hand or can you also play from it?jordanclock - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
The only expandable storage you can play from is using the storage expansion card. USB drives are only usable for storage.Teckk - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
Thanks.Any reason to prefer it over any USB 3.1+ external SSDs? They're less expensive than this.
MooseMuffin - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
Feels like aggressively misleading marketing to sell a "Game Drive for Xbox" that can't be used to play new xbox games.amnesia0287 - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
You can play games off the external drives, they just don’t get all the fast loading and stuff, but at least on my Xbox, I have a ton of games that are not updated for series x and those play just like normal off a usb ssd.It’s the fast start and quick swap and alll that that don’t work on a usb drive.
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
Again, that's only xbox one games. Series X games cannot be loaded off of a HDD or anything but the interal storage or memory card.StevoLincolnite - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
Correct.Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X Enhanced titles will run on this just fine.
Some series X games will run fine off external storage, depending on the developer and game. I.E Sea of Thieves runs fine off my external HDD despite being "Series X Enhanced".
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, October 21, 2021 - link
That's a xbox one game with enhancements, not a series X game.No series X game will run on external drives, per microsoft themselves.
SirDragonClaw - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
This is completely false. You can play games via it, even newer series x titles run fine. Eventually a game will come out that requires use of the fast internal ssd, but currently none exist.Alexvrb - Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - link
Can you give an example of a game that is ground-up for the Series X? I know you can play "Series X Enhanced" versions of Xbox One X titles. But from what I've heard if it's a true Series X title, it won't install and run off a USB drive.