Checking the hard drive storage space on your Xbox One S is easy and can be done in just a few steps. Knowing how much storage space you have available is important to manage your games, apps, and other content. Here’s a guide on how to check your hard drive on Xbox One S.
Why Check the Hard Drive?
There are a few key reasons you may want to check your hard drive storage space on your Xbox One S:
- See how much space you have available for new games, apps, DLC, and other downloads.
- Identify if you’re running out of space and need to uninstall games or content.
- Monitor your storage usage over time.
- Troubleshoot performance issues which could be related to a full hard drive.
Having enough free space on your Xbox One S hard drive is important for optimal performance. Checking it regularly can help identify any potential issues before they become a problem.
How to Check Storage on Xbox One S
Checking your storage on an Xbox One S only takes a few steps:
- From the Xbox Home screen, scroll left to open the Guide tab.
- Select “Settings”.
- Choose “System” from the Settings menu.
- Select “Storage”.
This will open up your storage management screen. Here you will see a visual graph of your total hard drive capacity along with how much space is currently used and free.
Reading the Storage Screen
The storage screen shows a few key pieces of information:
- Total capacity – The total size of your Xbox One S hard drive. This is typically 500GB or 1TB.
- Used space – How much storage is currently being used for games, apps, saved data and other files.
- Available space – The free space remaining on your hard drive for new downloads.
The screen will also break down storage by content type – Games & Apps, System Software, Saved Data, etc. Reviewing each category can help identify what type of content is taking up space.
Other Hard Drive Details
In addition to the visual storage overview, you can also find more technical details on the hard drive by scrolling down. This includes:
- Total number of games/apps installed.
- Number of games ready to install.
- Games/apps ready to update.
Reviewing this additional information can help identify any pending installs or updates that will consume space soon.
What to Do if Your Hard Drive is Full
If you notice your Xbox One S hard drive is nearly full or completely full, there are a few options to free up space:
- Uninstall games or apps – Deleting games, apps or other content you no longer use is an easy way to free up a lot of space quickly.
- Clear local saved games – If you have saved game data stored locally and use cloud saves, you may be able to delete local files.
- Remove capture gallery items – Deleting old screenshots and game clips can potentially free up GBs of space.
- Delete or move media content – If you store a lot of music, videos or other media files on your Xbox, remove any you no longer need.
You can also manage your storage by using external USB drives. More details on that next.
Using External Drives for Extra Storage
If your internal drive is consistently full, adding external storage is a great option. The Xbox One S supports USB 3.0 compatible hard drives up to 16TB in size. Here are some tips for using external drives:
- Drives must be USB 3.0 compatible and 256GB or larger in capacity.
- The drive will be formatted and locked to your Xbox One S. It can’t be used for other devices without reformatting.
- Set the external drive as your default installation location for new games and content.
- You can transfer existing games between internal and external drives.
Using an external drive allows you to significantly expand your overall storage space. Just connect it, format it, and you’re ready for tons of extra capacity.
Tips for Managing Xbox One S Storage
Here are some useful tips to better manage storage on your Xbox One S:
- Check your storage regularly to stay on top of capacity.
- Uninstall games you no longer play regularly.
- Store less-played games on an external drive.
- Use cloud saves and delete local saved games you don’t need.
- Delete old screenshots and recordings from your capture gallery.
- Set your external drive as the default install location.
- Use storage sense to find recommended content to delete.
Conclusion
Keeping an eye on your Xbox One S hard drive storage is easy – just follow the steps to view capacity details. If you are getting full, you can free up space by removing unused games and content. Adding an external USB 3.0 hard drive is also a great way to expand your overall storage. With a few proactive steps, you can effectively manage your Xbox One S hard drive space.
