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[Craig of War]

Xbox Series X/S can use standard SSDs in the expansion card slot, it’s claimed | VGC

User discovers that other drives can be converted to work in the card’s slot…

www.videogameschronicle.com

"A modder has managed to convert an internal SSD into an external Xbox Series X/S expansion card, and theorises that other non-proprietary SSDs could work too.

At the time of writing, the Xbox Series X/S only has two storage solutions for playing next-gen games: the consoles’ internal SSD, and a proprietary Seagate expansion card that fits into its own port on the back of the console.

A member of Chinese website BiliBili has written a detailed blog on how they managed to buy another external SSD and get it running on the console as if it were the Seagate card.

The user says they discovered while watching a teardown video of the console that it used two PCIe 4.0 x2 slots, one for the internal NVMe SSD storage and another for the Seagate expansion card.



They also noted that the expansion card was a CFExpress card, which also uses the NVMe protocol. They theorised that as long as they could find the right PCIe 4.0 SSD, they could convert it to fit into the expansion card port using an adapter.

The SSD they opted for was a 1TB Western Digital SN530 m.2 2230, because according to the user, this is the same internal SSD that’s actually used in the Xbox Series X hardware (as discovered on other forums in the past).

By connecting this SSD to a CFe to NVMe adapter, the user was able to plug the SSD into an Xbox Series S via the expansion card."

 

[HermitSperg691]

This is way more interesting then whatever the fuck sony fans have been talking about the last month.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I seem to be the only one that bought the expansion card.
Got it at launch. Plug and Play.
Guess it might be fun to hack something to save 20 bucks but geesh.

 

[Sir Vilhelm]

I seem to be the only one that bought the expansion card.
Got it at launch. Plug and Play.
Guess it might be fun to hack something to save 20 bucks but geesh.

I got one and it's been great

 

[Andodalf]

Did they game on it?

 

[THE DUCK]

I just want other companies to get in on xbox expansion in its current form, that will help pricing. I know ms said there would be other companies eventually, I wonder how much/how long the Seagate deal is for.

 

[DigitalScrap]

I seem to be the only one that bought the expansion card.
Got it at launch. Plug and Play.
Guess it might be fun to hack something to save 20 bucks but geesh.

I bought it too at the same time I bought the Series X.

I don't regret it at all, but this is still cool.

 

[Aenima]

Do u need a screwdriver to convert it? I heard is a big deal to use one.

 

[Closer]

Guess it might be fun to hack something (...)

Yes, it is pretty fun actually. I Love it.

 

[M1chl]

I mean, this is still drive which is used inside the console itself, so don't mind me if I might think that it's just a SSD, which has been lifted from another XSX....

I seem to be the only one that bought the expansion card.
Got it at launch. Plug and Play.
Guess it might be fun to hack something to save 20 bucks but geesh.

I am waiting for bigger one, 1TB extra is just meh.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Been waiting for this. Looking forward to getting the adapter from Alibaba soon.

 

[JLB]

This is way more interesting then whatever the fuck sony fans have been talking about the last month.

hahahhaah

 

[HermitSperg691]

I think a proprietary solution is good to sell out of Walmart, BestBuy, GameStop, etc. for the less tech savvy but Xbox users should have more options available to them. I don't know why everything down to the storage is becoming so much more proprietary with these machines. You should be allowed to replace the internal storage and use whatever external storage solution you want and be fully functional(Running the game off it).

 

[Great Hair]

 

[ReBurn]

I seem to be the only one that bought the expansion card.
Got it at launch. Plug and Play.
Guess it might be fun to hack something to save 20 bucks but geesh.

I bought one for $196. No regrets.

 

[MasterCornholio]

It would be nice if they sold you a shell that could house an NVME. I don't think that will happen until the deal with Seagate is over though and who knows how long it is.

 

[bender]

Interesting.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I'll wait for a cheap Seagate card or other storage companies joining in driving the price down. The rumour s Seagate has a 1 year deal with MS. Who knows if that is true.

This adapter thing is interesting, but no way I'd risk it. Who knows which SSDs it works with and I dont want a thing sticking out like a sore thumb exposed.

 

[sendit]

This is way more interesting then whatever the fuck sony fans have been talking about the last month.

 

[MasterCornholio]

I'll wait for a cheap Seagate card or other storage companies joining in driving the price down. The rumour s Seagate has a 1 year deal with MS. Who knows if that is true.

This adapter thing is interesting, but no way I'd risk it. Who knows which SSDs it works with and I dont want a thing sticking out like a sore thumb exposed.

Prices will probably go down due to the competition but I don't believe it will be like the PC NVME market. I don't see a 100$ 1TB drive happening anytime soon for example.

 

[Hendrick's]

So they went to the trouble of trying an off the shelf SSD and they used the same exact one that is on the Xbox? Seems like a wasted opportunity or at best, an unfinished experiment.

 

[IntentionalPun]

The thing has been out of over 9 months and this is the first person to try this?

I have my doubts… especially since conveniently they used the same exact drive…

 

[Trimesh]

I mean, this is still drive which is used inside the console itself, so don't mind me if I might think that it's just a SSD, which has been lifted from another XSX....

I am waiting for bigger one, 1TB extra is just meh.

My Chinese is pretty bad, but I'm pretty sure it is - they specifically mention that the card they are using was removed from a Series X and was not a standard PC drive:

（注意不是PC SN530，PC SN530是PCIe3.0的） Note this is not PC SN530, since that is PCIe3.0

They also say they connected a PCIe 2.0 CFe card and the console recognized it, but rejected it as an incompatible storage device.

IMO, the real news here is that the "custom" storage expansion slot is actually just CF-express

 

[sinnergy]

We knew it was CF-express , anyway great news for Xbox gamers , cheap solutions are on the way !

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Least this will sort your internal cooling out

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

I seem to be the only one that bought the expansion card.
Got it at launch. Plug and Play.
Guess it might be fun to hack something to save 20 bucks but geesh.

Add me to your elite club please *waves*