Enough space?
Space: the final frontier…of consoles? It seems more and more that space is becoming the biggest issue when it comes to gaming this day and age. Games are getting bigger, and console manufacturers are not keeping the pace we need. 1TB is becoming standard, but with some games clocking in at over 100GB (and they are only going to get larger with 4K textures) that is simply not enough. Seagate has been on top of this with a wide array of hard drives for both machines that up the storage space. Today we are taking a look at their latest and largest external drive for the Xbox One.
The Xbox One Game Drive Hub is a beast of a device. Unlike their previous efforts, this drive uses the larger 3.5” model and requires its own power supply to function. Yes, that means one more outlet slot required. If convenience is your thing, this drive might not be for you, however if space is what you desire, then you have come to the right place.
The Game Drive Hub boasts a whopping 8TB of storage. That is a lot of games. I was able to cram 100 titles onto the device and still had more than half of it left to play with. I installed tons of DLC and transferred items from my Seagate 4TB over with amazing speed.
Speaking of speed, the Game Drive Hub definitely improved the transfer and loading times of some of my titles. I noticed a significant increase from the stock internal drive, and a slight increase (on some titles) from the older Game Drive. Granted it is not as fast as the available SSD, but the improvement was noticeable. Games with massive DLC packs like Rock Band 4 and Dead or Alive 5 saw the most improvements, as their loading of all the extra items used to take forever.
The design of the unit leaves a rather large footprint, which is understandable for what it delivers. Outside of the external power supply, the device is also heavy, weighing in at just over 2lbs. It has a cool design that allows it to be placed horizontally or vertically with solid ventilation. I had heard reports about noise, but so far mine has been whisper quiet. There are also two USB 3.0 ports on the front, making up for the one it takes on the system, as well as adding one. These are great for charging just about anything, including my PS4 headset.
So far Seagate has been on top of the game when it comes to expanding the storage space of these new consoles. The Game Drive Hub is definitely aimed at the power user like myself, and while the footprint is larger than I would like, I cannot deny the convenience of having that much space to play with. This is definitely recommended for those with larger game libraries.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
