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External HDD for Xbox One improves load times!

Hawk269

Member
I was not sure if this deserved it's own thread, but since it might be missed buried in another thread, I figured I would post some of my results from doing some testing.

I am one of the Beta testers for the June Xbox One update that add's the ability to use up to 2 External Hard Drives. I am using a Seagate 4tb Self Powered Hard Drive. Since I was not 100% sure about using a USB powered drive, I went with a self powered drive just toe ensure no issues.

When I first updated and installed the HDD the system detected it immediately and prompted to format the drive. After doing this, I started to move games over from the internal HDD to the external. When I booted up Forza 5, now running off of my External HDD my Wife said that it seemed to load up faster. I also noticed this, but did not time it. We have 2 Xbox One's in our house and I have the same games loaded on both, so we decided to test it on one of the games that I feel has very long load times, Ryse: Son of Rome.

Our set up is as follows: In our Living room Xbox One, Digital version of Ryse: Son of Rome installed on the internal HDD. In our gaming room we have another Xbox One, Digital version of Ryse: Son of Rome installed on the new external HDD.

For the game, I am using the beginning of Chapter 4 titled "Trial by Fire".

Trial by Fire Load time using Internal HDD : 1.01.55 (one minute, 1.55 seconds)
Trial by Fire Load time using External HDD: 44.49 seconds

So I am seeing about a 15-16 second improvement in load times for this level of this game. Since it is late, we did not test more games, but since we are waiting for the arrival of our other External HDD, we will do some more tests tomorrow and update this thread, But based on our first timed test, definitely an improvement in load times.
 

SFenton

Member
Someone else posted a list with a few more games. Loading times seem to improve by roughly 3 seconds for a bunch of games.
 
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(EDIT: ok so that's impressive)
 

Hawk269

Member
Something's missing

Sorry bish, something happened with my keyboard and I hit accidently submitted the post. I had to use the edit feature to finish the post. Sorry guys. It is loading faster, but not that fast that I could not time it! lol
 

Oublieux

Member
I heard that external drives could potentially be faster than the Xbox One's native hard drive through a friend who works at Microsoft. I don't know the logistics behind of how that's even possible, but yes, apparently this is the case.
 

furious

Banned
Surprised this type of information is taking so long to appear.

None of the big sites seem to have benched external SSD/HDD for the Xbox yet :S

I heard that external drives could potentially be faster than the Xbox One's native hard drive through a friend who works at Microsoft. I don't know the logistics behind of how that's even possible, but yes, apparently this is the case.

You don't need an inside lane to have guessed this. Not all drives/interfaces are created equal. It's not even a surprise, let alone some technical feat to question.
 

Hawk269

Member
I heard that external drives could potentially be faster than the Xbox One's native hard drive through a friend who works at Microsoft. I don't know the logistics behind of how that's even possible, but yes, apparently this is the case.

From what I heard, the internal drive is using SATA connection, not sure which one, but using an external hdd which uses USB 3.0 it is faster than the SATA connection. That was speculation before the beta testers received the update. But based on what I am seeing it is faster. I did not time Forza as of yet, but it was noticeably faster to me than normal, but I will post the "timed results" tomorrow morning.
 
Wasn't planning on buying an external drive right away but if this turns out to be a common and consistent thing with games on Xbox One then I'll probably go out and get one.

Maybe I'm wrong but, wouldn't this lower the amount of time it takes to install games from the disc as well?
 

Oublieux

Member
You don't need an inside lane to have guessed this. Not all drives/interfaces are created equal. It's not even a surprise, let alone some technical feat to question.

Yeah, I'm knowledgeable enough to know that myself since I love technology--the external drives could probably impact loading times simply due to higher RPM and efficiency. But, although it might have been presumptuous of me, when I first heard this line, I thought he was speaking in terms of the drives being equal in specifications but still delivering better performance if connected externally--I could be way off base in that regard since I didn't really give it much thought, and it was really just a passing mention.
 

gruenel

Member
From what I heard, the internal drive is using SATA connection, not sure which one, but using an external hdd which uses USB 3.0 it is faster than the SATA connection. That was speculation before the beta testers received the update. But based on what I am seeing it is faster. I did not time Forza as of yet, but it was noticeably faster to me than normal, but I will post the "timed results" tomorrow morning.

Both SATA2 and USB 3.0 are capable of speeds well above what any 2.5" HDD can achieve. It's the HDD itself that is faster.
 

Rooster

Member
The Seagate External I bought is also 5400RPM. I am pretty sure it is down to it using USB 3.0 versus the internal's sata connection.

Yes but it is a 4TB 3.5inch drive, so even though the rotational speed is the same the data density is much higher resulting in higher transfer rates.
 

furious

Banned
The Seagate External I bought is also 5400RPM. I am pretty sure it is down to it using USB 3.0 versus the internal's sata connection.

You think the spinpoint is fast enough to saturate sata2 and gain benefits from USB3? Come on, son.

Both SATA2 and USB 3.0 are capable of speeds well above what any 2.5" HDD can achieve. It's the HDD itself that is faster.

This.
 

viveks86

Member
A 15 second improvement is pretty significant. Nice! Is that 7200 RPM? Someone should try testing with an SSD in an external enclosure.

EDIT:

The Seagate External I bought is also 5400RPM. I am pretty sure it is down to it using USB 3.0 versus the internal's sata connection.

Ah. So it's just the interface that's giving the boost. 7200 RPM, SSD or SSHD should technically make it even faster right?
 

JaggedSac

Member
The Seagate External I bought is also 5400RPM. I am pretty sure it is down to it using USB 3.0 versus the internal's sata connection.

Wait, so the drive you used for the OP numbers is the same rpm as the internal drive?

Rooster said:
Yes but it is a 4TB 3.5inch drive, so even though the rotational speed is the same the data density is much higher resulting in higher transfer rates.

Damn, this makes sense, ashamed it didn't occur to me, lol.
 
While awesome to hear about I am a little sad that the internal drive will never match those speeds.

I wonder if a 256GB usb stick would work? but they also cost over £100
 

pixlexic

Banned
Like I said in the other thread. Having two hdds is always better than one because you can read and write to both at one time.
 
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