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Neowin: Xbox One lacks proper storage management; Microsoft says it is 'automatic'

MarkusRJR

Member
WTF so you can't see the total storage available on the console? It's shit like this and the ability to see controller battery levels that are expected. It's embarrassing to not have them in a product releasing in 2013.

Hopefully it's one of the first things they patch in, assuming they see it as a problem (which it is).
 
I don't think that's been confirmed yet and would essentially mean always online is necessary.

Albert please elucidate on the save issue please.

Going by the reviews and alberts posts.

- There is no HDD management menu like the PS3/PS4/360/
- System does not automatically delete items off your HDD
- You can only delete apps/games when you run out of space (which you won't know till it happens)
- Game saves/DVR uploads automatically save to cloud
- Can't manage game saves/DVR uploads offline

I think that seems to be the jist of it.
 

Orca

Member
Not being able to access your save files offline is god awful. It sounds like some stuff is still locked behind the "always online" functionality and needs to be patched later on.

You can have cloud saves on the 360 that have a local copy that's accessible if you're offline when you start the game. The Xbox One should work the same.

Going by the reviews and alberts posts.

- There is no HDD management menu like the PS3/PS4/360/
- System does not automatically delete items off your HDD
- You can only delete apps/games when you run out of space (which you won't know till it happens)
- Game saves/DVR uploads automatically save to cloud
- Can't manage game saves/DVR uploads offline

I think that seems to be the jist of it.

He was pretty clear that you can uninstall apps/games whenever you want.

I see. If it's still available offline, then I don't see much of a problem in that. Still, I think we should be given more control over what to delete and what not to. Don't know why MS keeps deciding for themselves what we want.

They already said you have complete control over what's deleted.
 

Talax

Member
This is an assumption but, based on the 360's cloud syncing, you should still have access to the save file. It should be copied to the cloud, not only saved on it.

I see. If it's still available offline, then I don't see much of a problem in that. Still, I think we should be given more control over what to delete and what not to. Don't know why MS keeps deciding for themselves what we want.
 

Theeze

Neo Member
The smart way is if you're online, the saves go to the cloud and copy to the HDD. When you're offline the game save goes to the HDD and syncs to the cloud when you go online.

If you can't manage game saves offline, that would be a huge mistake.
 

Zinthar

Member
With the lack of proper management until you've run out of space, disk fragmentation could become a bug issue for power users over time, unless the system reserves a decent chunk of HDD space to allow stuff to be moved around and perform a defrag while asleep. If they came up with a system that sophisticated though they'd have probably been touting it.
 

Zyae

Member
They implemented it this way so you do not see all the personal data they collect and send back to MS HQ when you connect online.

tinfoil_hat.jpg
 
I confirmed again. I'm correct. Its possible that Jeff misunderstood the question.

additionally, since people asked, a copy of your saves is stored locally for access offline.
 

JaggedSac

Member
I confirmed again. I'm correct. Its possible that Jeff misunderstood the question.

additionally, since people asked, a copy of your saves is stored locally for access offline.

When deleted, is the whole game deleted, or does it leave the amount needed to start playing while the rest is downloaded?
 

Tml Matus

Banned
Going by the reviews and alberts posts.

- There is no HDD management menu like the PS3/PS4/360/
- System does not automatically delete items off your HDD
- You can only delete apps/games when you run out of space (which you won't know till it happens)
- Game saves/DVR uploads automatically save to cloud
- Can't manage game saves/DVR uploads offline

I think that seems to be the jist of it.

He said you could delete anything from the system when ever you want.
 

Sinthor

Gold Member
Yeah, this definitely is an interesting choice. Not sure I can grow to be comfortable with it but like the Giantbomb crew said its kinda wait and see at the moment. I also will be curious to see how the external HDD stuff gets handled. Will they build in memory controls at that point or will it still auto manage it all?

MS:<waves hand like a wanna be jedi> You don't NEEEED storage management tools.

User: herp-derp...I don't need storage management tools?

MS: That's right, we'll take care of it for you...we look out for YOU!
 

LAA

Member
Ha ha! So online is required for saves? You need to be online to access your saves in the cloud? Am I understanding it right?
If I am.. no save management, on a gaming console, just shows how much of a game console it is. Annoys me about Vita for this, but a full blown console, theres less of an excuse.
 

skc

Banned
With the lack of proper management until you've run out of space, disk fragmentation could become a bug issue for power users over time, unless the system reserves a decent chunk of HDD space to allow stuff to be moved around and perform a defrag while asleep. If they came up with a system that sophisticated though they'd have probably been touting it.

Disk what?

When's the last time you had to defrag a disk?

No.
 

sangreal

Member
http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/system/manage-storage

How can I check my free space?

Xbox One monitors your available hard drive space. When it starts to fill up, a message appears warning you that you&#8217;re low on space. These messages are stored in Notifications. You can check to see if you have any unread messages by saying &#8220;Xbox, go to notifications&#8221; or by selecting the notifications icon at the top of Home screen.

If you don&#8217;t have any notifications, it means you have plenty of free space. If you are running low on space, try deleting unused or seldom-used content.

What&#8217;s stored on my hard drive, and what&#8217;s stored in the cloud?

Your data is stored to both your hard drive and the cloud simultaneously. Xbox Live keeps your important data in sync so you don&#8217;t lose anything when you use a friend or family member&#8217;s console, or even when you switch to a new console.

Note A regular connection to Xbox Live is required to keep your data in sync. Playing offline may cause your cloud data to become out of date. Your data refreshes each time you connect to Xbox Live.
 

vcc

Member
With the lack of proper management until you've run out of space, disk fragmentation could become a bug issue for power users over time, unless the system reserves a decent chunk of HDD space to allow stuff to be moved around and perform a defrag while asleep. If they came up with a system that sophisticated though they'd have probably been touting it.

Windows 7 and I assume 8 does a better job of avoiding fragmentation. I'm not sure you'd need to explicitly de-fragment these days.
 
I've never suggested that people don't need storage management. I completely understand why people want to see what storage they have left. It's a feature that will be enabled later, once we get external storage supported and people need to move things around.

I do think it's unlikely to be an issue in the short term, as people probably won't have enough games to run out of space. But it's something we know is needed and will be enabled later.

In the meantime, we aren't going to be randomly deleting your files IF you end up running out of space. You can manually delete any file as shown in the screen above. Like 360, that will delete the file but the save game will still be stored.

Save game files (and Upload Clips) are not user manageable. In order to prevent save-game collision across different consoles and different states, we manage the sync between the local save game and the cloud.

A copy of your save game is stored locally and synced to the cloud automatically in the background. If you loose internet connectivity, you can play offline and keep saving no problem. Once you reconnect everything syncs again.

The data that is "automatically" deleted are things like DVR caching and other OS or system level caches.

Hope that clarifies. With the exception of automatic save game syncs, data management features are still there. We need to add HDD capacity views and will have that feature in the future.
 

Eusis

Member
Save game files (and Upload Clips) are not user manageable. In order to prevent save-game collision across different consoles and different states, we manage the sync between the local save game and the cloud.
Can games still have their own built in save management though? This isn't something that'll matter in Halo and maybe not Forza I think (though I can see regretting a purchase there), but in RPGs like Elder Scrolls we can rack up an insane number of saves and will want to prune those out if not for storage purposes then at least to make sifting through them easier.
 

Tml Matus

Banned
I've never suggested that people don't need storage management. I completely understand why people want to see what storage they have left. It's a feature that will be enabled later, once we get external storage supported and people need to move things around.

I do think it's unlikely to be an issue in the short term, as people probably won't have enough games to run out of space. But it's something we know is needed and will be enabled later.

In the meantime, we aren't going to be randomly deleting your files IF you end up running out of space. You can manually delete any file as shown in the screen above. Like 360, that will delete the file but the save game will still be stored.

Save game files (and Upload Clips) are not user manageable. In order to prevent save-game collision across different consoles and different states, we manage the sync between the local save game and the cloud.

A copy of your save game is stored locally and synced to the cloud automatically in the background. If you loose internet connectivity, you can play offline and keep saving no problem. Once you reconnect everything syncs again.

The data that is "automatically" deleted are things like DVR caching and other OS or system level caches.

Hope that clarifies. With the exception of automatic save game syncs, data management features are still there. We need to add HDD capacity views and will have that feature in the future.

Excellent explanation, please add this to the OP so that users don't come in here all confused.
 
This seems to fit the Microsoft Modus Operandi - design something that is really kind of cool and futuristic, but the devil in it's details usually show that they're taking options away from you.
 
Why wouldn't it be? Syncing doesn't usually mean "upload and delete".

ITT: people don't understand the definition of syncing. This was clear even before Penello offered his explanation. The jumping to conclusions, even when that conclusion didn't make any sense, was sad to read.
 
So has anyone actually tried to hit full capacity to see what happens?

Imagine it must be possible with all games installed?

I find albert's take on it to be conflicted with what Jeff and Brad heard when they talked directly to MS engineers

I suppose this sort of thing can always change though
 

monlo

Member
Sooo, I have a thought, and maybe someone could test somehow:

it's kind of /tinfoil, but, what if MS doesn't want you to see the data on the machine because all of the microtransactions that they're trying to sell you are already in the files you've downloaded? Like, Killer Instinct characters, idk.
 

sangreal

Member
Sooo, I have a thought, and maybe someone could test somehow:

it's kind of /tinfoil, but, what if MS doesn't want you to see the data on the machine because all of the microtransactions that they're trying to sell you are already in the files you've downloaded? Like, Killer Instinct characters, idk.

a) why would they bother hiding that? We just had an entire generation of 108kb unlock keys and they didn't care that it bothered some people
b) the downloads for KI characters or Forza cars are like 7-12MB each. And you can see the size of them

You can see the size of everything downloaded/installed for that matter, you just can't see how much space you have left or an aggregate usage total
 

sangreal

Member
Can games still have their own built in save management though? This isn't something that'll matter in Halo and maybe not Forza I think (though I can see regretting a purchase there), but in RPGs like Elder Scrolls we can rack up an insane number of saves and will want to prune those out if not for storage purposes then at least to make sifting through them easier.

Yes

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/games/manage-cloud-saves#76459d85da9e41a18f5a868f8bc87901

How do I delete saves I no longer need?

You can delete and otherwise manage your saved games from within the game itself. Start the game and use its menu system to delete the save. The process and options for managing your data vary from game to game.
 

Mulgrok

Member
Can users turn off cloud saving? People, like me, with bandwidth caps can't afford to waste it on trivial stuff like saved games.
 
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