Skip to main content

Microsoft adding support for up to 4TB storage to Xbox 360

XBox 4 Terabyte Upgrade
Image used with permission by copyright holder
While the spotlight is on its newer console, Microsoft is making sure that those hanging on to their (maybe not so) trusty Xbox 360s aren’t left in the cold. An update to be released later this year will increase the allowed size of external hard drives by a significant margin.

In March, Microsoft announced that the Preview Program that Xbox One owners were already well familiar with was also coming to the Xbox 360. As with the Xbox One, 360 owners would sign up directly from the console for the chance to test new system updates before everyone else.

Support for larger external storage was one of the most frequently requested features, writes Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb, a.k.a. Major Nelson. Currently the maximum size for an external hard drive supported by the Xbox 360 is 32GB, though users can use two drives for a total of 64GB.

Microsoft is preparing an update that will massively increase the available storage, supporting two hard drives up to 2TB in size each for a total of 4TB. Additionally, while users are currently required to reserve space on hard drives for Xbox 360 games, that requirement is being removed. “If you are using 16GB of hard drive space for games – we will only take 16GB of space. And just like today – you will be able to use two external drives at a time,” Hryb writes.

Considering how late we are in the Xbox 360’s life-cycle, it’s easy to wonder why Microsoft would continue adding new features to the aging console. Older games that haven’t been remastered for the Xbox One are one obvious reason, but the Xbox 360 also works well as a media center, and this new update makes the console even better-suited to that purpose.

The update is available to members of the Preview Program right now, though there are some things to be aware of, such as that certain hard drives may not be supported.

The update will arrive for everyone sometime later this year.

Editors' Recommendations

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Age of Mythology: Retold will launch on PC and Xbox at the same time
Key art for Age of Mythology: Retold.

Microsoft and World's Edge gave us our first glimpse of its upcoming remaster of real-time strategy game Age of Mythology: Retold during Friday's New Year, New Age livestream. They also confirmed that it will launch on PC and Xbox later this year.

Age of Mythology: Retold's segment of the livestream began with Art Director Melinda Rose introducing the gameand  teasing that it will contain all-new 3D character models, animation, textures, and UI. Rose also highlighted the details of the character models for units like Medusa, Pegasus, and Cerberus. Each time players upgrade a unit, their design will change slightly. We then got a look at its key art, as well as confirmation that Age of Mythology: Retold will be released later this year. It will launch on both PC and Xbox at the same time and is the first World's Edge game to do so.

Read more
Xbox and Embracer’s mass layoff explanations aren’t good enough
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer during Updates on the Xbox Business | Official Xbox Podcast.

The wave of layoffs that has happened over the past year in the video game industry is well-documented. Some of the biggest culprits are Embracer Group, which has laid off nearly 1,400 workers across several of its studios since the start of a restructuring program last July, and Microsoft, which laid off 1,900 developers across Xbox, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard in January. After relative silence around these layoffs, leadership at both companies finally tried to offer more transparently into what happened.

Neither of their statements are good enough.

Read more
Starfield isn’t going multiplatform, but 4 Xbox games are
Key art for Starfield

 

Microsoft finally gave its fans an update on the future of its gaming business during the Official Xbox Podcast today. It clarified some of the speculation around its first-party games going multiplatform, explaining that this move only applies to four titles.

Read more