Xbox Series S/X: Thread 02

[MartyG]

Can someone with the system please let me know if this is correct:

Original Xbox games - I would be best just to run them from an external hard drive

Original Xbox 360 games - I would be best just to run them from an external hard drive

Xbox One games - do they gain anything from being on the internal SSD?

Xbox One games optimised for Series X (Forza 4) - do they gain anything from being on the internal SSD?

Internal storage no, but it can make a difference having a standard SATA external SSD - it's not worth keeping them on the internal storage as BC stuff does not use the velocity acceleration. Digital Foundry tested this.



I picked up one of these on the cheap https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and they are as quick as the well known brands.

[randombs]

Can someone with the system please let me know if this is correct:

Original Xbox games - I would be best just to run them from an external hard drive
Original Xbox 360 games - I would be best just to run them from an external hard drive
Xbox One games - do they gain anything from being on the internal SSD?
Xbox One games optimised for Series X (Forza 4) - do they gain anything from being on the internal SSD?

I have a Series S and Forza Horizon 4(X|S optimised) will only play from the internal SSD.

I played Ace Combat 7(XBO, I believe) from the internal SSD and a USB HDD. It can be played on both but it loads much faster from the internal SSD. I think quick resume data is saved on the internal SSD so resuming from USB was still quick.

Side note:

I'm currently moving all my games to an external HDD for testing. These are the games I've tried so far:

X|S enhanced games:

- Forza Horizon 4
- Tetris Effect
- The Touryst

When I try playing one of these, a message appears telling me the game needs to be transferred to the internal SSD before it'll run.

Interestingly, I can choose whether to copy or move the game to the internal drive. That's great because it means I don't need to move the game back afterwards.

XBO games:

- Ace Combat 7 (loading faster from internal SSD)

X360 games:

- Gears of War (haven't tried playing from internal SSD but USB speed was fine)

I'm planning to replace my PS4's 1TB SSD with a 1TB HDD and then use the SSD with the Xbox over USB. It should provide a good balance of storage and speed.

:edit: MartyG mentioned older games not using the velocity engine which I hadn't considered. Also, I'm comparing an old USB HDD to the internal SSD so I saw a big difference.

[nonny]

Yeah if you check the game icons now they have tags showing you quickly which ones are optimised and need the SSD.

The one anomaly I saw reported was Sea of Thieves which seemed to run fine from external despite running at higher frame rates etc... That was from a preview console though so might have changed for final build.

[nonny]

I picked up one of these on the cheap https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and they are as quick as the well known brands.

I had to double take there as I thought it was Assassin's Creed branded for a second. Decent price for a 1tb SSD but I think if you were buying new you might as well slum it with a mechanical drive and save for the expansion card.

I've got a 2tb drive for the Series S and an 8tb drive for the Series X, both are slow but I don't think I can justify dropping £80 on an SSD I know won't be able to store any newer titles. Hopefully the expansion card drops in price we well... Hopefully!

[nonny]

Also a tip of people have more than one Xbox in the house. You can network copy if you enable it in the settings... Even if the console is off.

I'm planning to keep my Series X downstairs and it's external HDD loaded up with most major titles and then just copy then across the network to my Series S upstairs when I need them.

[hudson]

So you can copy content back and forth between external USB HDD and internal ssd? Sounds handy for juggling content for Series S. How fast does copying between the two take? Some examples of possible. I know we are at the mercy of varying external hhd tech here, but humour me.

[Yakumo]

Yeah, managed to get a series X plus it came with a free gift! Its coming all the way from a Yodabashicamera in Hokaido! That's further than the tip of Scotland to lands end. Hope it arrives tomorrow with free shipping. Looking forward to the free gift too. Whatever it may be.

[CMcK]

The Digital Foundry video had examples of shifting games between internal and external drives. Needless to say but an external HDD is slow. But then again how often are people likely to swap games in and out of external storage? Have patience or buy an external SSD.

[randombs]

So you can copy content back and forth between external USB HDD and internal ssd? Sounds handy for juggling content for Series S. How fast does copying between the two take? Some examples of possible. I know we are at the mercy of varying external hhd tech here, but humour me.

Resident Evil 7 took around 8 minutes to copy 21GB from the internal SSD to my HDD(7200RPM laptop hard drive, manf. 2012, connected via a USB3 enclosure).

I've tried copying large file copies to the same drive in Windows and they averaged at around 40MB/s, which is similar to the 8 minutes the Xbox was estimating. It sounds low, but I think the age of the drive is the issue.

A newer hard drive would be a lot faster than that. The Seagate FireCuda 5400RPM hybrid hard drive in my PC can copy files at around 80-100MB/s in Windows. That might be because it has some SSD cache thingy, though.

A regular 4TB USB HDD I have at work(3.5" desktop, 7200RPM) copies at around 100-120MB/s so it would be able to copy Resi 7 in around 2-3 minutes)

Other than that FireCuda which I bought last year, all my hard drives are many years old!

[Jaz]

Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated.

[nonny]

Yeah obviously write speeds to an external mechanical drive is slow but then just keep them there as space isn't as expensive and use it as a backup location from which to copy local when required.

[randombs]

So you can copy content back and forth between external USB HDD and internal ssd? Sounds handy for juggling content for Series S. How fast does copying between the two take? Some examples of possible. I know we are at the mercy of varying external hhd tech here, but humour me.

More copying tests, starring Gears of War(6.21GB)!

DEVICES

1) Internal SSD
2) 500GB HDD (USB3, 7200rpm, mentioned in my previous post)
3) 128GB SSD (USB3, old, been through a lot so not super fast)

TESTS

Internal SSD -> USB

1) Internal SSD -> USB SSD = 30s (200MB/s)
2) Internal SSD -> USB HDD = 2m30s (40MB/s)

USB-> Internal SSD

1) USB SSD -> Internal SSD = 20s (300MB/s)
2) USB HDD -> Internal SSD = 60s (100MB/s)

Curiosity test

USB HDD -> USB SSD = 60s (100MB/s)

I know it's a bit of fun, but it's really convinced me to get that SSD out of my PS4 and use it with my Series S as soon as possible!

[nonny]

Also a tip of people have more than one Xbox in the house. You can network copy if you enable it in the settings... Even if the console is off.

I'm planning to keep my Series X downstairs and it's external HDD loaded up with most major titles and then just copy then across the network to my Series S upstairs when I need them.

Ok scrub this... They've removed this feature on the new console hardware. Unless I'm blind I cannot find it anywhere right now... Not a big issue but it's not there.

[Neon Ignition]

Reports of smoking Series X's going around but so far the suspicion (and based on the vids) is that they're fake

[Cassius_Smoke]

Yeah I call BS. I saw some guy complaining saying his HDMI plug was mangled too. I guarantee he's tried jamming the cable in wrong.