Cheapest Xbox storage ranked by price per terabyte

Xbox storage: expansion cards versus plain USB drives

Xbox storage is simpler than the PS5's but has one hard rule. The table above ranks every drive we track that lists Xbox compatibility by real cost per terabyte — here is which of them actually does what you want.

• Series X|S games: must run from the internal SSD or from an official Storage Expansion Card, which slots into the back of the console. There is no third-party alternative and no internal upgrade path, so the card's price per terabyte is what it is — the ranking above at least shows you when it moves.
• Xbox One and backwards-compatible titles: run perfectly well from an ordinary USB 3.0 external drive. This is where a cheap external hard drive earns its place, and it covers a large part of most people's libraries.
• Archiving: even Series X|S games can be stored on a USB drive and copied back when you want to play them. Far faster than re-downloading, and it means a large, cheap USB hard drive complements the expansion card rather than competing with it.
• What to watch for: over USB you are limited by the port, so an external SSD buys you much less here than its price suggests. A mains-powered desktop drive gives the best £/TB; a bus-powered one is neater next to the console.

A practical setup is the expansion card for the handful of current games you are actually playing, plus a 4–8TB USB hard drive for everything else. Compare 4TB and 8TB external drives on £/TB for that second drive, see our gaming storage guide for the full picture, and external vs internal for how much the USB enclosure really costs you. Also worth a look: all external drives and PS5 storage.