How do I copy / backup PC Game pass game files to an external SSD?

You can't, it is their DRM, each service uses different ways to protect files (DRM) in Microsofts case they lock down the permissions of the folders so you cannot access them and if you do it breaks the DRM, even if you could copy the files you could not put them back and use them.

This is still an issue, but the work around i did was to locate the save file location for the game and copy the files to an external SSD, then plug that in my desktop and copy them over the desktops save files and that worked.

Cloud sync is supposed to prevent me from having to do that though!

the majority of the store and xbox app games don't use cloud saves, you need to backup manually.

i use the following program to backup all saves on pc before doing a refresh. make sure to backup to a folder and copy that folder to an external storage area, then use the same app to restore them.

i take no responsibility for any data loss though.

https://www.gamesave-manager.com/

The copying of captures to an external drive is a disgrace.

I have a 480GB Samsung Evo SSD USB 3.0 formatted to NTSC as required by MS.

Problems:

1) Try to copy all and the process randomly fails BUT there is NO indication at which capture it failed at

2) When you copy individual captures the process often fails if any clip is over 30secs. If you repeat the copying process it can work after 2-3 tries. Often it fails and then when you try to copy again it doesn't download but simply does the copying process which suggests the file downloaded from Xbox but didn't copy to external drive on the first pass.

3) There is no way of checking the external drive for what captures you have copied across. The only solution is to disconnect and connect to a PC which is a pain in the @@@

4) A weird glitch is when on PC you copy the XboxCaptures folder to another drive (so you have a backup) it fails to copy on the first pass, but DOES copy on the 2nd attempt. Feels like there's some weird copy protection/permissions issue going on.....

It's one of the most painful experiences I've ever faced in 40yrs of using computers but I have to persist because from January 2024 my captures are gonna be erased based on a 90day cycle.

Please provide some form of progress bar when downloading and some context so we can compare what we've moved/copied across.

There are more problems but you have to see it to believe it. It's an absolute shambles.....someone at Xbox needs to try this to see how utterly mind numbingly frustrating it is.....

Search your storage device/devices, the game saves can be copied from one to another, I've also noticed when backing a game save from one device to another that there is usually a backup file of each save, so for my commando I have two files, one has the
commando's name, "Fat Bob", the other says "Backup of Fat Bob" or "Fat Bob Backup", something like that. If you have the backup file I would recommend contacting Gearbox Support, they are pretty good and would know how to recover this file I think.

About once a week I copy my game saves from the HDD to USB just in case something zaps a save.