A Complete Guide to Expanding Storage on an Xbox Series S or X

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Upgrade your Xbox console with a storage card or external drive

Co-authored by Glenn Carreau

Last Updated: October 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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Getting More Storage

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Using a Storage Expansion Card

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Using a USB Drive

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How much can you add?

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Managing Storage Space

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If your Xbox Series S is your main gaming console, odds are you’ll run low on storage space sooner or later—but we’ll show you how to get more! Adding storage to an Xbox Series S (or X) is pretty straightforward, since connecting a storage expansion card to your console is the only official way to do it! In this article, we’ll show you how to set up a new storage expansion card, plus how to use a USB external hard drive as an alternative or manage your console’s storage to make a little extra room.

Upgrading Storage on Your Xbox Series S/X

The only official way to add storage to an Xbox Series S (or X) is to get a storage expansion card sold by Seagate and Western Digital. Plug the card into your Xbox’s storage expansion port for up to 2TB of extra storage space. You can also use a USB 3.0 external drive, but only for backward-compatible games.

Section 1 of 5:

How to Get More Storage on Xbox Series S/X

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A storage expansion card is the only reliable way to get more storage. If you’re running out of storage on your Xbox Series S/X and want to add more, you’ll need a storage expansion card: an external solid-state drive made especially for the Series X/S consoles. Storage expansion cards are licensed by Microsoft and, currently, only sold by Seagate and Western Digital.^{[1]
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- You can purchase a storage expansion card that adds 2TB, 1TB, or 512GB of storage.
- Games stored on expansion cards will run at the same speeds as those on the console’s internal storage!
- While you can technically use a USB hard drive as well, those won’t work with X/S optimized games. Thus, your best bet for more storage is always a storage expansion card.
- If you get a storage expansion card, make sure it’s from one of those two companies and made specifically for the Xbox Series S/X (since both companies make external hard drives for other devices, too).

Section 2 of 5:

Setting Up a Storage Expansion Card on Xbox Series S/X

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Update your Xbox to the latest software version. First, ensure your Xbox’s software is totally up-to-date. You should be automatically prompted about updates when turning on your Xbox, but if you aren’t sure that you’re running the latest software, press the Xbox button and navigate to Settings → System → Updates → Update console. This will install any available updates.^{[2]
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- Make sure you do this even if your Xbox is brand new! Always update your console’s software before setting up a storage expansion card.
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Plug the expansion card into the storage expansion port. You’ll find this port on the back of your Xbox Series S (or X) console. Simply slide the storage expansion card into the port until it clicks into place. The Xbox should automatically recognize the new card and prompt you to customize its settings onscreen!^{[3]
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- If you plug in the new expansion card while your Xbox is turned off, it should detect the card once you power the console up again.
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Manage your storage expansion card’s settings when prompted. The console will ask you whether you plan to use the storage expansion card with multiple consoles. If you select This drive will stay attached to this console, the card will be able to check for game updates automatically. On the other hand, you’ll have to manually update games if you choose This drive will be used on multiple consoles.^{[4]
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- You can manually update games via My games & apps from the main Xbox menu.
- If you want to change your answer later, navigate to My games & apps → Manage → Storage devices and select the expansion card, then choose the new setup you want to use.
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Verify your newly increased Xbox storage. If you want to make sure the added storage has been recognized, press the Xbox button on your controller and navigate to My games & app → See all. On the bottom left corner of the screen, you’ll see a meter measuring the total amount of storage available on your console—and, with the expansion card plugged in, you’ll see a greater amount of storage displayed there.
- Troubleshooting: If your Xbox Series S (or X) doesn’t recognize your storage card at first, try removing it, waiting 30 seconds, then reinserting it. If that doesn’t work, remove the card, restart the console, and try again.

Section 3 of 5:

Using an External USB Drive on Xbox Series S/X

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Connect a compatible USB 3.0 drive to your Xbox Series S (or X). A USB hard drive can be a cheaper solution if you have previous-generation games you want to play—but for your Series X/S console, you need to use an external USB hard drive that supports USB 3.0 or later and has at least 256 GB of storage. If you have such a device, connect it to your Xbox console through one of its USB ports.^{[5]
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- Important: Before using this method for Xbox storage, note that you’ll only be able to play Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games with a USB 3.0 device.
- Games optimized for Series X/S won’t work here; you need to use internal storage or an expansion card for those.
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Format the USB drive and its settings when prompted. This should be a simple process, as you’ll automatically be prompted to format the drive on-screen once you plug it in. Just follow the instructions given to finish setting up your USB 3.0 external hard drive; when you’re done, you can start storing backward-compatible games on it.^{[6]
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Move games between the console and the external drive via Settings. If you need to move some existing games to your USB 3.0 drive, press the Xbox button on your controller and navigate to My games & apps. There, you can select the View button for any game, then choose Move or copy and opt to transfer the game onto your external storage device.
- You can also head to Settings → System → Storage Devices to change the installation location for all backward-compatible games.

Section 4 of 5:

How much storage can you add to an Xbox Series S?

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You can add up to 2TB (terabytes) of storage to your Xbox console. Currently, Seagate and Western Digital offer storage expansion cards with capacities of up to 2 TB. You can actually get even more storage from external USB drives—but again, you can’t play Series S/X games with those, just backward-compatible ones.^{[7]
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- A storage expansion card will maintain the same performance level as games on your internal SSD, giving you very fast loading times for games (and, of course, more space for them).
- On the other hand, games played via a USB hard drive may not have the same speeds.

Section 5 of 5:

Managing Storage Space on an Xbox Series S/X

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Uninstall games you aren’t using. If you aren’t ready to add space to your Xbox with a storage expansion card yet, you can always make room on the console by uninstalling a few games you’ve finished playing. Press the Xbox button on your controller, then navigate to My Games & Apps → See All → Games and choose which games you want to uninstall.^{[8]
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- When you find a game to uninstall, select it with the Menu button, then scroll down and select Uninstall from the drop-down list.
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Check your Xbox’s “Free up space” function. Your Xbox can actually check and see if there are any leftover addons to uninstall—or games that could be “shrinkable.” Press the Xbox button on your controller and navigate to My games & apps → Manage → Free up space and check under both Leftover add-ons and Shrinkable games to see if you can quickly save any space on the console.^{[9]
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Remove local saved games that are already backed up. Your Xbox should be automatically backing up save game files to the cloud as long as you’re signed into Xbox Live and connected to the internet. So, to save some room on your console’s internal storage, press the Xbox button and navigate to Profile & system → Settings → System → Storage Devices and select Clear Local Saved Games.^{[10]
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- This will delete all save files stored in the console, but not the copies that are backed up to the cloud.
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Delete screenshots and clips that are taking up space. Gameplay clips and screenshots taken while gaming can also use up your console’s storage. Press the Xbox button on your controller and navigate to Capture & Share → Recent Captures → Show All on your Xbox to review the captures you’ve taken. When the My captures screen opens, choose to view the captures saved On this Xbox console.
- When you’re ready to delete captures, select Manage, then select any captures you want to remove. Once they’re all selected, choose Delete from the right-hand menu.