If you’re a console gamer with an Xbox One, you’ve probably fallen in love with the updated processing power: high-resolution textures and graphics, HD sound effects, bigger worlds, and better framerates. But all of those advances come with a heavy cost, as your onboard hard drive, no matter the capacity, fills up quite quickly with saved games, downloaded files, your RockBand music library, and everything else. Especially when you’re downloading complete games via Xbox Live rather than using disks. So what is a gamer to do?
The answer: grab a Western Digital WD My Passport X, available in two or three terabyte models, and custom built for use with your video gaming console. With room for up to 50 Xbox One games (they average out at about 36 GB each) or five times that many Xbox 360 games, you’ll be able to grab a ton of indie and arcade favorites or download every expansion pack and DLC for your RPGs, MMOs, and FPS titles. As you might expect, you can also use this portable drive with your Xbox 360, or your PC computer, laptop or desktop, though only one system as a time as they all use slightly different formatting.
It’s a USB 3.0 5400RPM drive, so can transfer data fairly quickly- faster, in some cases, than even the internal disk in our tests. A fair question: what sets this one apart from similar models from WD or other companies? For starters, it’s missing the backup software that is often pre-installed on portable drives, but you probably won’t even notice. They also claim that it’s been “performance-tweaked to meet the desires of serious gamers”. You don’t need to worry about a separate power cable as the My Passport X is USB bus-powered for simplicity. Installation and setup are easy too- just plug and play and follow the quick instructions (or go Settings and your Manage Storage options then select the drive and”Format for Games and Apps”).
The color scheme and body match your console (at least, they match the basic Xbox One model). It’s quiet enough that you won’t notice, and although there is a fairly bright light, it’s easily blocked if LEDs aren’t your thing. Available now online and in stores, expect to spend around $100 for the Western Digital My Passport X 2TB, and a bit more for the larger version. It’s the perfect companion for any gamer who relies on their Xbox One.