The best Xbox Series X hard drives and SSDs are sadly few and far between, as there’s not a ton of great options to choose from. In fact, there are only a couple that can natively run newer games designed for the console, whether they be exclusive to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S or upgraded from the previous generation via an enhancement patch. The silver lining here is that it makes for a relatively easy shopping experience as there are quite literally only two options on the market.
The drives that can run the best Xbox Series X games as well as store them are well worth your hard-earned. If only because they greatly expand the console’s approximate 800GB of workable storage. It’s a similar story if you own the base Xbox Series S, too, which only features roughly 364GB of operational storage. While there is now a black 1TB model on the market, plus a white 1TB model on the way, buying a new console is obviously going to be more expensive than picking up an SSD or storage expansion card if you're a current owner.
Besides our two officially licensed expansion card options, you’ll still be able to store your Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S games on all of the external drives that we have featured. It's important to note that you won’t be able to run the games from them directly. That is, except for previous-gen Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles which can be run from these drives with a slight bump in load times.
The quick list
Best overall
With fast speeds and larger storage options, Seagate's card is still king of the hill. It's on the pricier side, but remains one of the most worthwhile investments for your console.
Best budget
If you're budget-conscious, the Toshiba Canvio Basics hard drive provides a big storage upgrade for less.
Best value
The WD Black C50 provides excellent value if you're only after a modest storage boost.
Best external SSD
The WD Black P40 is an impressively fast external drive perfect for storing and running previous-gen titles.
Best value HDD
With up to 5TB of storage and an affordable price tag, Seagate's FireCuda gaming hard drive is among the best you can buy.
The best overall Xbox Series X SSD
✅ You want a hassle-free storage option: This expansion card plugs right into the back of your console and, after a quick formatting, is ready to go in no time at all.
✅ You want it to run recent games: This expansion card is one of the only options that can directly play Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S titles, making it the way to go if that's what you're after.
❌ You’re after something cheaper: There’s no denying that the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card is a pretty huge investment, so a bad match for buyers on a budget.
The Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card is always the first product that comes up in conversations about the best Xbox Series X SSDs. Launching the same year as the console itself, it enjoyed a reputation as the be-all-end-all of storage expansion for Microsoft’s current-gen machine. That may not be as true now as it was before 2024, but it’s still a superb choice for gamers looking to greatly increase storage capacity.
The bad news is that the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card doesn’t come cheap. However, being a few years old now, the card does regularly see discounts at online retailers like Amazon, so it’s always worth keeping an eye out. If you do decide to invest, you will be getting a speedy drive that’s a touch slower than the one installed in the console out of the box.
When testing the drive, we found that it took 45 seconds to boot up a Yakuza: Like a Dragon save from the home screen as opposed to the 37 it usually takes when loading from internal storage. It’s nonetheless still a fantastic option for extra storage, especially for all the Series X and Xbox Series S enhanced titles that regularly land on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
- Read more: Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card review
The best budget Xbox Series X hard drive
✅ You’re on a tight budget: The Toshiba Canvio Basics Hard Drive is incredibly friendly on the wallet.
✅ You want plenty of storage: Boasting a 4TB size, the Toshiba Canvio Basics Hard Drive is a great value option if you're looking for a huge amount of storage.
❌ You want a faster HDD: Budget comes at a price of this hard drive not performing quite as swiftly as its peers.
If you’re after a cheap, no-frills hard drive expansion for your Xbox Series X|S console, it’s hard to go wrong with the Toshiba Canvio Basics hard drive, which punches slightly above its weight thanks to its reliability and affordable price tag.
There’s three sizes of the hard drive available to purchase, and you can expect to spend less than $100 / £100 for all three. It’s not much of a looker, but as a storage device it doesn’t really need to be. Being so aggressively budget-oriented, it also performs a little slower than other models on our list. But it’s hard to find a better value HDD out there that supports Xbox consoles and is so affordably priced.
- Read more: Toshiba Canvio 4TB review
The best value SSD for Xbox Series X
✅ You’re on a budget: The WD Black C50 is much more affordable than its Seagate rival.
✅ You want it to run recent games: Like the Seagate alternative, this is a card that can directly play Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S titles.
❌ You want more space: Capping at a 1TB model, you won’t have drastically more storage space to work with.
While second on our list, there’s still an argument to be made that the WD Black C50 Xbox expansion card is as good – if not better – than Seagate’s excellent offering. The C50 comes with its own advantages and drawbacks when stacked up against the Seagate card, but it’s still a fantastic option worth considering for buyers with smaller budgets.
The WD Black C50 comes in two variants: a 512GB model for $79.99 / £89.99 and a larger 1TB version which’ll run you $149.99 / £149.99. Overall, the 1TB model we found to be better value overall, and we’d recommend purchasing it over the smaller offering if your budget allows for it.
It's worth noting that the WD Black C50 boasts impressive transfer speeds. It took us just 78 seconds to move Fortnite (45GB) from the Xbox Series X's internal storage to the drive. However, running games direct from the C50 will result in longer boot times. In our test of Forza Horizon 5, we found that booting from the C50 adds 10 seconds to the clock compared to using internal console storage, coming to 69 seconds in total.
Unfortunately, there’s as of yet no 2TB model, or larger, for the WD Black C50. If you’re looking for monumental storage, then, you’ll be better served with the Seagate Xbox Expansion Card.
- Read more: WD Black C50 review
The best external SSD for Xbox Series X
✅ You want a drive that’ll go the distance: Thanks to its rugged build quality, the P40 should stand the test of time for years to come.
✅ You want something faster than a HDD: This is a portable SSD that will come in much faster than any HDD alternative, offering much snappier file transfer speeds.
❌ You’re on a budget: You might want to look elsewhere if you were hoping to spend less overall on an external SSD.
Now we’re getting into the best of the rest; namely, the drives that can still store Xbox Series X|S games, but won’t be able to run them from the drive itself. That’s certainly the case with the WD BLack P40, but should still be considered by those who still own previous-gen games, or have them downloaded to Microsoft’s current-gen console.
Price-wise, it’s not the cheapest in our list, but is fairly competitive when it comes to the largest model size. The P40 can be picked up for $119.99 / £109.99 for the 500GB model. Alternatively, it’s $179.99 / £149.99 for 1TB and $329.99 / £232 for the largest 2TB variant. You’re paying less here than for Seagate’s 2TB expansion card model, albeit at the cost of not being able to run Xbox Series X|S games natively.
Overall, it’s one of the more stylish hard drives on our list. We love the rugged, tough design that helps fight long-term wear and tear. Additionally, a line of RGB lighting here is quite pleasant, and glows nicely when placed on the surface of your console.
- Read more: WD Black P40 review
The best value hard drive for Xbox Series X
✅ You want a hard drive that’s both style and substance: This hard drive features RGB lighting and a sleek black design. Its perfect if you're after something stylish and functional.
✅ You want a large capacity: offering capacities up to 5TB, the Seagate FireCuda Gaming Hard Drive is a good option if you're looking for a hefty upgrade.
❌ You want to store and run Xbox Series X|S games natively: The drawback here, and with other HDDs, is their incapability of running current-gen games natively.
The Seagate FireCuda Gaming Drive is utterly fantastic value for money if your aim is to store as many games as possible without needing to delete them. Once again, it’s unable to run Xbox Series X|S games natively, but for last-gen and backwards compatible titles it comes highly recommended by us.
You can pick one up for yourself from Seagate’s official website for just $79.99 / £89.99 for the 1TB model. Upgrading to 2TB will cost you $109.99 / £119.99. However, the star of the show is the huge 5TB variant, which doesn’t cost too much more at just $179.99 / £209.99. This, in our opinion, is the model to go for for sheer bang-for-your-buck value.
It’s a lovely looking drive, too. While a bit on the bulkier side compared to other entries in our list, you’re also getting slick RGB lighting much like the WD Black P40. If you don’t mind its relatively large physical size, you’ll be hard pressed to find a hard drive that’s better value than this for your Xbox games.
The best Xbox Series X hard drives - FAQs
Does it matter what hard drive you buy for Xbox?
In short, if you want a device that can natively run Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S titles, rather than just store them, you’ll want to check out either the Seagate Xbox Storage Expansion Card or the WD Black C50 card. At present, these are the only two cards on the market that have the capability to do so. All other SSDs and external hard drives can store Series X|S games, but can’t run them.
Is an SSD or HDD better for Xbox?
SSDs are typically much faster than HDDs, but that can mean they’ll typically be more expensive. SSDs typically also have smaller storage capacities overall, unless you choose to pay a princely sum for a larger capacity model. HDDs are much more space friendly, with some models offering up to 5TB or 8TB worth of space. They’re often cheaper, too, but perform slower on average than SSDs.
