The DLC bonus is lame, but the drive works
Seagate is at it again with an officially licensed Xbox One hard drive solution, and this time it’s Gears of War themed. As you can see the red drive with the black COG logo goes great with the red Gears Xbox One S model, and it comes with two Gear Packs ($1.99 microtransactions) if you’re into that sort of thing. In other words, it’s a niche within a niche, but since Gears still sells well, it’s a safe bet some of you reading this are down for matching accessories.
As is the case with all of the official drives I’ve tested, it’s a nice plug and play experience. I stuck it in the back of my console, plugged in the USB cable, and it instantly recognized it and added 2TB (read: 1800GB~ actual) to my console. I prefer this method over the PS4’s HDD upgrade requirements for sure, and I used to tinker with PCs for a living.
Note, however, that most HDDs will work, so you don’t need an official option like this. Another thing to take into account is the power situation — this one, along with Seagate’s other official drives, do not have a dedicated power source (something Nintendo also recommends for the Wii U), so it may run slower since it’s just tethered by a single USB cable.
However, I’ve been using an external Seagate on my Xbox One for over a year now and haven’t noticed any performance issues, and it still works perfectly with daily use. The market price for a 2TB external is roughly $80 at MSRP, and this Gears model retails for $100, so you’re partially paying for the look and Microsoft’s seal of approval. The choice is yours, and although Seagate reliability differs from user to user, I’m happy with their Xbox One line so far.
[This assessment is based on a retail build of the unit provided by the publisher.]
