Yes, it is possible to use external hard drives with the Xbox Series X and Series S, but there are important limitations to consider.
: To be compatible, external hard drives must be USB 3.0-enabled and have a minimum capacity of 256GB, although 1TB is recommended for practical use13. You can connect up to three external drives at a time using the console's USB-A ports1.
: External drives can store Xbox Series X and S games, but you cannot play these games directly from the external drive. Instead, you must transfer them to the internal storage to play239. However, you can play backward-compatible games from the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One directly from the external drive137.
: The performance of external hard drives is generally slower compared to the proprietary Xbox Expansion Cards. The latter integrate directly with the console's architecture, providing faster load times and better overall performance for games optimized for the Series X/S24. In contrast, using an external hard drive may result in longer loading times for games stored on it5.
: External hard drives are typically more affordable than expansion cards, making them a cost-effective solution for users primarily interested in additional storage rather than performance56.
While you can use external hard drives with the Xbox Series X and S for storage purposes, they cannot be used to play next-gen games directly. For optimal performance with current-generation titles, an Xbox Expansion Card is recommended.