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WD, Seagate and SanDisk storage solutions rescue gamers

New fast storage devices can help gamers store their increasingly massive files.

Western Digital’s Black D30 solid state drive offers a terabyte of storage for games played on PCs and consoles.
Western Digital’s Black D30 solid state drive offers a terabyte of storage for games played on PCs and consoles.

Computer and console games take up a fair bit of storage space and the trend is only for storage to keep getting larger.

The current generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles both come with 1TB solid state drives (SSDs), which only a couple of years ago would have been more than adequate for storing a large number of games.

As the average size of major games increases – Forza Horizon 5, which has just released, is more than 100GB – many gamers and computer users are finding they need additional, external storage. Here are a few of the solutions currently on the market.

WD BLACK D30 SSD 1TB

WD BLACK D30 SSD 1TB
WD BLACK D30 SSD 1TB

The WD Black is intended as a storage device for PC and consoles, and features a 1TB solid state drive to facilitate that.

The unit keeps the WD Black military cargo container aesthetic in a small size and comes with a small plastic stand that lets the unit stand vertically if the user prefers.

It offers very respectable performance, with a measured read speed of 933MB/s and a write speed of 835MB/s via a USB-C connection.

For those running the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, the D30 will store and play their games, which makes it particularly attractive. On the Xbox Series X/S or PlayStation 5, however, the device offers storage only. That’s somewhat less appealing, unfortunately.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile purchase. It would be an useful addition to a regular laptop working space or a previous-generation console, especially due to its relatively compact size.

Price: $239

SEAGATE FIRECUDA GAMING HUB 16TB

SEAGATE FIRECUDA GAMING HUB 16TB
SEAGATE FIRECUDA GAMING HUB 16TB

With a 16TB hard disk drive (HDD), this is one of the largest storage units on the consumer market and will hold a truly mind-boggling number of games.

How mind-boggling, you ask? Well, assuming an average size of 65GB per game, you’re looking at 246 games. It could go higher depending what games you’re installing, because indie games tend to be a lot smaller than AAA games.

It is an HDD rather than an SSD, which may not appeal to hardcore competitive multiplayer gamers who need top speed at all times. For most gamers or those with a lot of files to store, it’s probably the largest consumer-available storage device on the market and will guarantee you aren’t short of space for games.

The read and write speeds were tested at 277MB/s and 255MB/s, so games absolutely are playable from the Firecuda Gaming Hub. That’s provided you understand that high-end AAA games won’t necessarily play as effectively at maximum settings due to their complexity and need for rapid reading of the hard drive. Less graphically intense games should pose no issues, and gamers will appreciate the customisable RGB lighting effects on the Gaming Hub.

While the storage space available is truly massive, the drawback is the unit requires an available power point for an AC Adaptor connection, and it can only connect one device at a time. You cannot plug multiple laptops into it and have them all access the storage space at the same time.

While the actual unit performance was solid, I was disappointed by the lack of connection ports. Given the high price tag some more USB-C, Thunderbolt and USB-A ports would have been appreciated and increased the appeal considerably.

Price: $699

SANDISK iXPAND LUXE

SANDISK iXPAND LUXE
SANDISK iXPAND LUXE

Not all gaming takes place on a PC or console – mobile games make up an enormous sector of the market, both on the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms.

Phones have become essential parts of our daily lives and are used for recording photos and video, which many users then want to transfer to another device for editing or sharing.

Actually getting those photos and videos off your phone and onto your desktop computer or other device has often been a more complicated process than it needs to be, usually involving physical connections via USB cables, Bluetooth connections, uploading the photos to the cloud and retrieving them from the PC, or simply emailing the pictures to yourself.

The SanDisk iXpand Luxe is an ingenious USB stick that has both Android/PC and iOS connectors on it – USB-C at one end, Lightning at the other. This means it can be used to transfer photographs and video and files between phones and computers without the need for special cables; Android and PC devices don’t even need extra software, while the data transfer from iPhones is handled via a straightforward App.

It’s an incredibly useful device and I’m surprised there aren’t more USB drives like it around. Regardless of what phone or computer platform you use, the SanDisk iXpand Luxe is highly recommended, and is available in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB sizes.

Price: $39 (64GB)

SEAGATE STORAGE EXPANSION CARD FOR XBOX SERIES X/S

SEAGATE STORAGE EXPANSION CARD FOR XBOX SERIES X/S
SEAGATE STORAGE EXPANSION CARD FOR XBOX SERIES X/S

Seagate’s expansion card is officially endorsed for the Xbox Series X/S. It plugs into the back of the console and integrates with the unit’s internal storage and velocity architecture. It works really well and offers the same performance regardless of whether the game is installed on the Xbox’s internal storage or the Seagate device. It is indistinguishable from a performance perspective from the internal SSD the consoles ship with.

Because the device is functionally similar to a large thumb drive, it can be taken out of one Xbox Series X/S and plugged into another, providing access to the installed games on a different device – provided it is logged into your account, of course.

This is particularly useful for when you might have access to more than one of the latest-generation Xbox consoles, and don’t want to have to install the latest AAA game on both of them.

Cards are currently available in 1TB size, with 500GB and 2TB sizes confirmed. They’re well worth the money if you are a serious Xbox gamer, and especially so if you’ve got a Game Pass subscription and an ever-increasing backlog of games you really must get around to as a result.

Price: $349 (1TB)

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/wd-seagate-and-sandisk-storage-solutions-rescue-gamers/news-story/538012f281940905d4dbecc4d18ae460