The 250GB models can be upgraded to 500GB by purchasing one of Microsoft's overpriced replacements. The 4GB models have internal flash memory that can't be removed or replaced. For Xbox 360 S and E: The hard drives used in Xbox 360 S and E consoles are incompatible with the original Xbox 360, and vice versa.Third-party drives can be used but need to be applied with Xbox-compatible firmware, which is far beyond the scope of this article.
To upgrade or replace, you'll need to buy one of Microsoft's overpriced replacements.
I use this for personal storage myself, and I won't be running out of space any time soon!
We really like the Samsung T5 1TB USB 3.1 Portable SSD and have had much success with it.įor external drives mainly used for long-term data storage, get a large HDD like the affordable WD Elements 4TB Elements Desktop Drive.
If you buy an external drive, you can actually take it out of the casing and use it internally! How to Choose an External Hard Driveįor external drives mainly used for transferring files back and forth, get an SSD with USB 3.1 support for speed and performance. Note: Any data drive can be used internally or externally-external drives are essentially internal drives placed in a special protective casing. In all other cases, internal drives are preferable.
It's your responsibility to research this on a per-model basis before making a purchase. Some models are prone to fail within 12 months, while others have average lifespans exceeding six years. Since HDDs have moving parts, wear and tear are expected over time-but not all HDDs wear at the same rate. As long as those speeds are within the SATA connector's max speed, which they most likely will be, you should be fine.įailure rate. Plus, most hard drives perform at similar levels these days, so don't worry too much about this particular detail.įor SSDs, look for sequential read and write speeds (also called sustained read and write speeds). While it's true that two 7200RPM drives could perform differently (e.g., one of them might be slower at re-positioning the disk reader), there's no standard way to compare access times. Traditional HDDs have a couple of other factors that impact performance, such as the time it takes for the reader to position itself to read data from or write data to the drive. Modern HDDs can have cache sizes ranging from 8MB to 256MB.Īccess times. When a hard disk needs to transfer data from one section of the drive to another, it utilizes a special area of embedded memory called the cache (or buffer).Ī larger cache enables the data to transfer faster because more information can be stored at one time. If you're buying the drive mainly for data backups and long-term data storage, go with a traditional HDD.Ĭache space.
If money is a limiting factor and you need as much storage space as you can get, go with a traditional HDD.
While SSDs serve the same general function as traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), they have a few pros and cons.Īn SSD is a type of data drive that uses flash memory instead of the spinning metal disks found in traditional HDDs. The first consideration when deciding to buy a data storage drive is whether you need a solid-state drive (SSD).