Until now, the only way to expand the internal memory of the new Microsoft consoles is by acquiring its external expansion unit, a small cartridge reminiscent of old memory cards and offering 1 TB of extra storage to the console. The problem is that it is not a particularly inexpensive product, so someone has decided to find the cheapest possible alternative.
How to connect an NVMe SSD disk
The solution proposed by Microsoft is extremely user friendly. Simply plug in a card for extra internal capacity without sacrificing performance, but it’s expensive. For that reason, this Bilibili user has shared the steps required to get an NVMe SSD drive to work in the console with the help of a simple adapter. The process is so simple that anyone could do it, although some aspects must be taken into account.
According to their research, the memory to be used must be a PCIe 4.0 X2 type, since otherwise it will not meet the connection standards (basically due to the speed required by the system). This is basically what happened to us when we tried to plug a CFExpress card into the expansion slot of our Xbox Series S, so it is important to be clear that very fast units are needed, and not just any version.
The solution: a WD drive
One of these compatible drives is the Western Digital SN530 M.2 2230, a disk that is exactly the same as that built into the interior of the console, so the combination would be perfect. The other element that would be needed would be a CFExpress to NVMe adapter, since the console connection is, as we knew, from CFExpress, but the disk that we are going to use is an NVMe. These adapters are not easy to find, but they do exist.
The result is a simple combo between SSD and adapter that will allow you to connect the disk to your console with total ease. According to the creator of this guide, the really interesting thing would be to find versions of disks of length 2280, since this format offers versions of 4 TB disks, something that would be especially attractive on the console.
Worth?
Although there are no performance tests that can guarantee the perfect operation of the invention, the shared screenshots show that the console perfectly recognizes the connected unit. Knowing that, you just have to take a look at the NVMe SSDs on the market, some memories that cost less than half of what the official Microsoft expansion disk costs, so there are enough reasons to think about it.
Bearing in mind that the price of memory should drop over time, this type of adapter could become very popular commercial solutions, so we will see if Microsoft takes action and decides to block the use of external drives “not certified ”. Be that as it may, for now getting a combination of elements like this is not an easy task, so we’ll see what the market surprises us with.
