Xbox Can Now Support External USB Drives Larger Than 16TB

Microsoft has announced that Xbox consoles will soon support external USB drives larger than 16TB. This new feature is currently being rolled out to Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring as part of a system software update.

The update can give users more storage options for their games and apps. According to Microsoft,

“Newly formatted drives that are larger than 16TB will be formatted with multiple partitions to utilize all available space for games and apps. These will appear as multiple devices in the storage devices list”.

Here are some system update details:

• OS Version: XB_FLT_2502GE\26100.3336.250120-2200

• Available: 6:00 p.m. PT – January 21, 2025

• Mandatory: 3:00 a.m. PT – January 22, 2025

Drives larger than 16TB will not be automatically changed by this update. You will need to reformat your drives first.

The company has not yet specified an upper limit for storage devices, which could mean that the new partition method may allow for significantly larger storage capacities.

The feature is expected to be gradually released to wider testing groups before becoming available to all Xbox users, probably over the next couple of weeks.

Users will likely welcome this update as game sizes continue to grow. It has become very difficult to maintain large game libraries.