Trouble With SSD on Xbox Series X

Not really...

Xbox Series X games / upgrades / updates has to be installed onto the Series X internal or expansion card SSD,

You can have Xbox One games on your external hard drive that will get an Series X upgrade but the games will need to be transferred to the Series X and then the Series X upgrade will need to be downloaded onto the Series X SSD,

As an example...

I have Marvel Avengers on my external hard drive that will get the Series X upgrade and I will transfer the game over to the Series X SSD ready to download and update the game to the Series X version when available.

to the point that i can as i plug it in, it says media drive is ready. and i'm not given the option to format its only to view contents and set as default capture location

Hello dear Gamer, first it's a pleasure to be able to help you today.

My name is Vinicius.

I am a gamer and independent advisor on the XBOX community platform.

Hey Cupcakeboy14, how are you today? Hope you're well.

Plug in the drive and select FORMAT STORAGE DEVICE > Name it > arrow icon > KEEP CURRENT LOCATION > FORMAT STORAGE DEVICE.

You can use any USB 3.1 external drive with Xbox Series X|S, but only the Seagate expansion drive lets you play Xbox Series X|S games.

You can play Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games from a regular USB 3.1 drive.

1. Turn your Xbox Series X or S on.

2. Plug the external HDD or SSD into one of the USB ports. If the console recognizes your drive, the message seen in the following step will appear on the screen.

3. Select FORMAT STORAGE DEVICE.

4. Name your drive, and select the arrow icon or press the menu button to continue.

5. Select KEEP CURRENT LOCATION.

6. Select FORMAT STORAGE DEVICE.

7. Your new drive is now available for use.

How to Move Games to an External Drive on Xbox Series X or S:

When you connected and set up your drive, you probably chose to keep your current install location, because Series X or S games won’t play when installed on a USB drive. If that’s the case, you’ll need to move games to the drive from time to time to free up space for new games. Here’s how to accomplish that.

1. Press the Xbox button to open the Guide, then select My games & apps.

2. Highlight the game you want to move, and press the view button (two stacked boxes) on your controller.

3. Highlight the game, select it, and select Move or copy.

4. Select the game you want to move, and verify you are transferring from internal storage to your external drive. You can use the Select all option if there are multiple items on this screen.

5. Select Move selected.

6. Wait for the game to move.

You are most welcome!

If that didn't help, try to use another external drive if you have it to identify the root cause of the problem!

I have the same issue on my T5 SSD 1TB.