One of the smartest things Sony did in the last generation was to release a console who’s hard drive can be easily, and legally, upgraded by anyone. And now with the onset of the digital evolution it is obvious that we are going to need more and more disk space in this generation so making your console upgradeable is just plain common sense.
But you know the strangest thing about common sense is that it really isn’t that common and the geniuses over at Microsoft decided to release a console to the market who’s hard drive can’t be upgraded without voiding your warranty.
However as iFixIt found out, that doesn’t actually mean it can’t be upgraded.
In fact the HDD in a Xbox One is a standard Samsung SATA 2 500Gb and if you open up your case it’s pretty easy to swap as you can see in this video. It will however void your warranty so I’d strongly suggest not doing it.
There is a catch though, iFixIt didn’t upgrade the drive so we don’t know if the system will automatically format and prepare the drive like the PlayStation 4 does.
So anyone out there with a brand spanking new Xbox One who feels like voiding their warranty to test this theory out? Anyone?
Last Updated: November 22, 2013
Admiral Chief Duke
November 22, 2013 at 11:01
I’m glad for the guys running the bone, would have been real silly if you were not able to do so
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 22, 2013 at 11:20
Imagine a magical gaming box where you could put up to four HDD’s in.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 22, 2013 at 11:21
It’s not often I compliment another man on his fantasies.
Sageville
November 22, 2013 at 11:22
(Insert Pro-PC comment here)
rikflh827
November 23, 2013 at 23:47
my Aunty Anna got cream Dodge Challenger SRT8 Core only from
working part-time off a pc at home… pop over here http://www.Bay35.co?
Hammersteyn
November 22, 2013 at 11:10
So the one XBOX dude says to the other guy. You wanna Bone tonight?
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 22, 2013 at 11:12
No, too busy Skyping.
Hammersteyn
November 22, 2013 at 11:17
lol
Unavengedavo(aka. MadeYouLook)
November 22, 2013 at 11:30
*Updating… I fixed it for you 😛
Anon A Mouse
November 22, 2013 at 11:15
😉
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 22, 2013 at 11:16
And adds:
PS, we can’t mix.
Hammersteyn
November 22, 2013 at 11:17
nice
Uberutang
November 22, 2013 at 11:15
Sata2? Sigh.
FoxOneZA
November 22, 2013 at 12:22
Was thinking the same thing. And Samsung? They don’t make HDD’s anymore. iFixit should have smelt the HDD’s to check for old stock.
Uberutang
November 22, 2013 at 12:23
Samsung SSD”s are actually great value overseas.
FoxOneZA
November 22, 2013 at 12:25
Yeah they are top-notch. I see they are available on the Orange Store.
Andrew Chandler
November 22, 2013 at 19:43
It’s not a bottleneck unless you plan on tossing a solid state drive in at some point. (And the feature differences in gens. of SATA are kinda irrelevant in a console) Here’s the theoretical max transfer rates:
SATA I = 1.5Gb/s (188 MB/s)
SATA II = 3Gb/s (375 MB/s)
SATA III = 6Gb/s (750 MB/s)
Your typical mechanical hard drive will rarely get even close to the SATA I max bandwidth, as their sustained read/writes are usually in the 80-130 MB/s range. A solid state drive, however, would most definitely be bottlenecked by SATA II, as most modern SSDs will get into the 500+ MB/s range for sustained reads/writes.
The inclusion of SATA II was likely a result of A) costs, and B) timing of development. Given the rest of specs of the XBO/PS4 that keep them struggling with high resolutions and higher framerates, I think the disk bandwidth being limited to 3Gb/s should be the *least* of people’s worries right now.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 22, 2013 at 11:15
But you need to transfer the stuff over from the old hard drive to the new one.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 22, 2013 at 11:20
Voids the warranty heh. So you’ll only be able to upgrade the HDD by taking it to an MS-approved shop. Ka-ching.
This reminds me of when my boss ordered some spares to repair a machine along with their super-special custom toolkit set that was apparently essential & without which we couldn’t do the job. It cost R1k. Turns out it was just a set of standard Allen keys.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 22, 2013 at 11:20
Ouch.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 22, 2013 at 11:36
Those weren’t the words he used.
DrKiller
November 22, 2013 at 11:22
Warranty is only voided if they can prove I did it.. 😉
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 22, 2013 at 11:23
Serial numbers?
DrKiller
November 22, 2013 at 11:36
There is usually a sticker that voids the warranty.. some of us just found ways to “safely remove” it for future use 😛
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 22, 2013 at 11:25
The kinect sees everything!!!
That Tall Twit
November 22, 2013 at 11:30
“Are you sure you want to do that John?”
DrKiller
November 22, 2013 at 11:36
hahahaha shit ja forgot about the kinect 😛
RyseandRepeat
November 22, 2013 at 11:42
‘Don’t touch me there John, I am warning you…”
TiMsTeR1033
November 22, 2013 at 11:47
0_0 where did you touch you….
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 22, 2013 at 12:02
I think we can guess where he touches himself…
ianmin
November 22, 2013 at 12:39
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcexnpmei9E
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 12:04
On his studio?
Unavengedavo(aka. MadeYouLook)
November 22, 2013 at 11:32
Common sense you say?
Kensei Seraph
November 22, 2013 at 11:39
Glad I’m not the only person who thought of this.
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 11:39
Microsoft used a regular SATA drive for the Xbox 360 as well. However, the drives had security on them so you couldn’t just throw in any SATA drive. I would be absolutely astonished if this is not the case with the Xbone as well.
RyseandRepeat
November 22, 2013 at 11:40
“There is a catch though, iFixIt didn’t upgrade the drive so we don’t know if the system will automatically format and prepare the drive like the PlayStation 4 does.” I thought you couldn’t use another HD? Or is that just external?
Gavin Mannion
November 22, 2013 at 11:43
The PS4 one? You can replace it easily
TiMsTeR1033
November 22, 2013 at 11:46
How easily? I mean to make sure it will fit?
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 11:48
There are a couple of videos online on how to replace it. They even provide the dimensions of the replacement drive. It is quite simple to upgrade. Slide away the shiny part, unscrew a couple of screws, remove old drive, repeat process in reverse.
RyseandRepeat
November 22, 2013 at 11:47
With 1st party or 3rd?
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 11:49
ANY fabrication notebook drive that fits within the dimensions.
RyseandRepeat
November 22, 2013 at 11:53
THAT is win.
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 11:55
Indeed! You can even replace it with an SSD or hybrid drive if that is more to your liking.
RyseandRepeat
November 22, 2013 at 11:59
The PS4 or X1? Confused as I read that you cannot use externals for the PS4?
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 12:01
Oh, sorry. Let me clarify. I am referring to the PS4. Currently you cannot use an external drive on the PS4 for anything (as far as I know). However, Sony allows you to upgrade the internal drive of the PS4 without voiding warranty. That you can upgrade using any notebook drive.
RyseandRepeat
November 22, 2013 at 12:11
Ahh, I see. thank! 🙂
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 12:17
No problemo!
Rikus
November 22, 2013 at 11:51
They were referring to external drives on the PS4.
Umar Moe Moe
November 22, 2013 at 11:51
So you can do it…just not a legit why……..yeaaaaah makes sense…actually it doesn’t…..nope it doesn’t….lemme think a lil bit more…..ahhhhhhhhhhh…no.
Captain GUZ
November 22, 2013 at 12:04
Dat header lololol, anyway what I don’t understand is, with the size of the games and the patches ect , that they put in such small ones in the first place WTF weren’t they thinking ahead….wait never mind
AdMortem
November 22, 2013 at 17:57
I hate to be the stickler but it’s whose not who’s.