External USB HDD Performance Boost...

Hi All,

I plumped for a Probox 3.5" USB 3.0 enclosure for my Xbox One. I did a lot of research about the different options as regards external drives... fast regular HDD's, SSD's, SSHD's, RAID's, etc.

From a lot of the research I found, there were quite a few options that actually increase performance when it comes to games loading, streaming, etc.

I also found that there is not much benefit using a pure SSD.

So, I finally plumped for the enclosure above (£35 from Maplin UK), and installed a 1Tb Seagate SSHD drive.

Performance is amazing. Watch_Dogs loading after a 'death' is far quicker. Probably due to the 8Gb of SSD RAM within this hybrid disk. Navigating around Forza and the loading of tracks is much quicker and snappier.

Wolfenstein's streaming of textures is far less evident... occasionally with this game - you can some times catch the textures streaming with the regular internal HDD. I must admit, it is very occasional... but sometimes evident.

Now, I can hardly see any texture streaming issues with this game (Id's Rage graphics engine) if at all. It might be that I'm looking to see if I can find any streaming issues... I certainly could not see anything that stood out as a definite problem. Probably
also a bonus of the 8Gb SSD RAM within this SSHD.

Anyway, very happy with the result. Incidentally, all my games are now on the external drive... all the apps I have left on the internal drive.

I just thought I would post this here for anyone else still considering an external drive solution. From what I have seen, Forza seemed to load quicker on my enclosure + SSHD drive than someone else's video of a pure SSD drive plugged in. Not saying that
better performance cannot be had... just that in that particular scenario... the SSHD combo seems quicker.

It's possible that some pure SSD setups are quicker still... but from what I've seen online... it's only a case of a second or two quicker over an SSHD.

The SSHD gives great performance... and good capacity at an 'easier on the pocket' price.

:)

 

Xbox one memory full with 5 games

What is the best external HDD USB-3 drive for performance? I am looking into getting one for my XboxOne.

 

using external storage devices for storage

You can use up to Two external storage devices with a max 16GB per device at a time. You can use Flash Drives, however higher performance drives are required (If you have a USB 3.0 stick, chances are it runs max
USB 2.0 speeds when plugged into a USB 2.0 port, you should try that). As for using an external HDD, you will have to format it to the FAT file system unfortunately (Windows XP/Vista/7 use the NTFS system, you can still use the HDD with your computers, it's
just that the NTFS system is better). When it comes to HDD performance, I don't understand the requirements. The Xbox 360 HDD is 5400rpm, I used an external 5400rpm drive and it told me the device may have performance issues, it might be the bottlenecking
of the USB 2.0 connection.

 

I can understand the "loading after death" being quicker, but not sure about textures during play....surely that's GPU and CPU based rather than HD?

To be honest I don't know - but I would be interested to know if others have found the same results or whether Geo is experiencing a placebo effect

 

I actually did a performance test...the results were decent I purchased an external docking station for a desktop drive and a 2TB SSHD which spins at 7200 RPM. This is the results:

Xbox One Sata II 5400RPM stock HDD:

Game: Metal Gear Solid 5 (disc 4GB) -

Install Time: 5:51

Load: 43 secs.

Saved Game Load Time: 24 secs.



Game: Battlefield 4 (digital 40+gig-didnt test install speed, just load)

Load: 33 Secs.



Game: COD Ghosts (digital 40+gig-didnt test install speed, just load)

Load: 29 secs.



After External Attached:



Xbox One External Sata III USB 3.0 2 Terabyte SSHD 3.5inch Sata III 7200RPM Seagate on Docking Station

Game: Metal Gear Solid 5 (disc 4GB) -

Install Time: 5:43

Load: 36 Secs.

Saved Game Load Time: 23 Secs.



Game: Battlefield 4 (digital 40+gig-didnt test install speed, just load)

Load: 19 Secs.



Game: COD Ghosts (digital 40+gig-didnt test install speed, just load)

Load: 19 Secs.



In conclusion I would say the load times of games are impressive but the write times didnt change much. I have a 2TB sata III 5400rpm 2.5" external seagate hdd coming in the mail to test that next because I didnt like the fact the docking station
for the 3.5" drives have to be manually powered on or off, or just leave it on non-stop and ruin the drive faster.

 

@Satsumo.

It could well be a placebo effect - lol. As far as I understand it, Id's Rage engine streams textures from the HDD as you move around the world, therefore anything quicker is bound to make a difference. From my perspective - I didn't see any streaming
evident, or at least it was so fast, I can't tell if I saw some streaming or not. All, I know, is that with the internal HDD, sometimes you could catch the game out and witness some streaming for a split second. I should try this with 'Thief' as this game
occasionally has terrible texture streaming issues.

@U go...

My SSHD is the same as yours... A Seagate... only the 1Tb version. Agreed, write speeds are not likely to be any faster. Due to other limitations. But yes, people will think that a 10 or 15 second difference in load times is not much... but when you are
actually sitting there waiting for it... it seems to take forever. Anything that can improve getting back into the game quickly is a bonus. For me, there is a very noticeable difference in performance (as you've also witnessed). I've seen tests with RAID
configurations - and they are really not that much quicker (if at all) over an SSHD solution. I really think the SSHD solution is the best all round performance improvement. Excellent capacity, fast (due to the 8Gb SSD RAM) and the 7,200rpm spindle speed...
and reasonable cost. Can't beat it.