Xbox One's 500 GB HD Only Holds 362 GB Of Games

[Steven Bogos]

Xbox One's 500 GB HD Only Holds 362 GB Of Games

The Xbox One's hard drive can only hold about 20 games.

A couple of reporters over at IGN [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaz1tA1K_gw&feature=youtu.be] set out to see just how many games they can fit onto the Xbox One's 500 GB hard drive. Surprisingly, they found themselves running out of disk space after installing just 20 games, and what's more, those 20 games comprised of just 362 GB of data. So what gives, what the heck is using up that extra 138 GB of data?

First, we have to understand that a 500 GB hard drive is not exactly 500 GB. Because the way bytes are calculated, 500 GB is actually closer to 465 GB. So that's 35 GB down, 103 to go. Microsoft claims that "official apps and programs" are what fill the rest of the space, but the IGN reporters comment that most Xbox One apps are only around 50 MB and they can't imagine internet explorer being that much bigger.

Fortunately, some partition any hard drive for use in the Xbox One [http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1shto3/ign_xbox_one_hard_drive_full_at_362gb_roughly_20/cdy0st4], and in doing so have revealed that an Xbox One hard drive requires:


a 41 GB "Temp" partition
a 40 GB "System" partition
12 GB for "Update 1"
7 GB for "Update 2"

Would you look at that? That works out to 101 GB, and when you consider that the final game the IGN boys were trying to install - Zoo Tycoon - is 3 GB, every gigabyte is accounted for.

Still, is 362 GB enough for your games? Furthermore, if future updates are as big as Updates 1 & 2, I would imagine you'd start running out of room quite quickly. Microsoft boasts that it's not a big deal because the "cloud" has "infinite storage." For the record, external hard drives are currently not supported with the Xbox One, although it is a feature planned for the future.

Source: IGN [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaz1tA1K_gw&feature=youtu.be]

Permalink

 

[Teoes]

Something like this and the reasons behind it should be completely expected and not surprising, but you can still see how a lot of people would find it misleading when they expect to get 500GB of storage out of their 500GB drive.

Further in its defence, it's not like you're going to be actively playing 20 games at one time so you can simply uninstall stuff to make up space.

Having said all that, it's not exactly cutting edge capacity, it can all too easily get used up too quickly and it's nice not to have to uninstall games when you're building up a bit of a library (I like being able to just flash up an old game every now and then on a whim - having to install it first means I might not bother). The 1TB drive in my PC at home is itself starting to feel quaint.

Inb4 Xbone haters, or something something.

 

[Tanis]

Doesn't surprise me.

Whenever I get a PS4 I'm hoping I can install a 1TB HDD in it.

People mocked me when I installed a 500GB HDD into my PS3, until they had to re download something.

When your net sucks it's nice not having to download a 5-25GB file.

 

[Smooth Operator]

That is usually what happens when you give devs more space and power then they know what to do with, most of it will go to waste.

 

[Kyogissun]

...Who the fuck needs to have 20+ games around installed to their HDD like that? Delete games you aren't playing for fucks sake!

And for the love of fuck, do NOT drag the whole 'WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SERVERS GO OFFLINE AND YOU CAN'T DOWNLOAD THE GAMES ANYMORE?!' issue because that's NOT what this is about.

I see this becoming a problem in the future should updates not overwrite old versions so yes, in due time this CAN be a problem. Rotate your downloaded games to ones you and your friends are actively playing. I don't have Battlefield 3 installed on my PC anymore or any other MP game we've moved on from playing...

There's support for external HDD's coming in the future so while I get that this is kinda lame, it REALLY seems like 'First World Problem' than an ACTUAL 'problem'.

EDIT (12/10/12): I will apologize for forgetting about the insanely large install sizes of titles like Ghosts and whatnot going into the range of 30+ gigs, so I do surrender to that. I will also apologize concerning my ignorance about bandwidth allowances, I'm aware that this is a huge problem as well and including god awful download speeds for Xbox Live.

But I am still in the minority of the belief that if you can't be bothered to at the LEAST delete games off your HDD that you're not playing anymore OR you are buying a digital copy of the game from XBL, you should be prepared to deal with HDD space being consumed by the game, the amount of time that will be taken downloading the game and then installing it, then you have no right to complain. I mean, complain about XBL's god awful download speeds for sure, but as someone who realizes that only having to deal with space management on consoles is the one little inconvenience of having a console compared to the plethora of other problems that can plague PC gaming, I really don't see the problem.

And again, with a title like CoD Ghosts taking what, 40/50GB of an install? If you don't like that then why did you buy the game? Don't complain about something you failed to research, granted it's not like all the major gaming websites made a big deal about Ghosts' install si- OH WAIT, THEY DID!

I made that First World Problems statement because I reserve that 'exclusively' for shit concerning the issue of 'first world people' seeming to be incapable of doing research. Even as someone part of that culture, that 'instant gratification' crowd, I'm willing to put up with SOME inconveniences and honestly, having to mitigate HDD space like that is one of them.

tl;dr While I understand some of the more legitimate complaints, the ones brought up by the article and MOST other gamers are really kind of odd to me. And when you know your issue is going to be resolved in the near future, why ya gotta continue whining about it so much?

I don't care what hate I get from this post at this point, I've made my bed and I will gladly lie in it, because I will sympathize with the legitimate complaints but continue to stare in confusion at the illegitimate ones...

 

[Floppertje]

Considering the pile of games I had on the 360, 20 seems like a very small amount. Aren't the new consoles supposed to be the 'do everything' box? How is it going to do everything with only 360 gigs? my pc has three times the storage space and already I'm close to running out.

 

[SecondPrize]

So not only did this console generation do away with the plug and play benefit of being a console, they actually fucked up the transition and now you have people advocating deleting something so you can go through the download process another time if you want to play it again? This is beyond stupid. You don't give up a benefit you enjoyed versus your competitors and replace it with a fucking liability compared to them.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Don't forget the average user who may use their XB1 for DVR as well, so there's also that space being taken up. That the average user won't consider because they know fuckall on how their shit works. If I remember correctly though, you can use a USB drive to extend your space, but then I haven't heard much on that either.
Realize too the game sizes will only increase now that XB1 is using Blu-Ray discs. Give dev's more space and they'll find a way to use it, especially now that PS4 and XB1 are on the same standard disc.
Now smart developers would halve their asset usage, splitting the install size between the HDD and ROM, but I've no clue if the systems will go for that. See GTA5 and Watch Dogs are expected to top out the 50gb Blu-Ray limit, and holy hell what Square Enix will give you on multiple Blu-Rays this go-round.
BTW, they're developing 1TB Blu-Ray discs too so... Yeah, welcome to the future.
Now its good that you can swap drives on the XB1 and apparently they aren't backing away from that or explicitly forbidding it by way of the banhammer (shouldn't we call it a brickhammer now?)
I also had a thought that maybe consoles should have a separate mini SSD that contains the O/S and apps, and leave the other drive for storage and installation, cutting back on the storage management. However this isn't cheap as SSD's are still hefty priced.
Meh, anyway average users are the ones getting "boned" but only because their uneducated about their console. Above-average users knew what they were getting into when they bought it. So, heres to hoping MS doesn't reverse themselves and disallow hard drive swapping or USB drive storage...
Now I also admit that the USB usage isn't necessarily confirmed for me because I can't find recent data on that with my handy dandy google device (aka Chrome).
Anyway, MS will have a solution in the form of a bigger drive at some point.

 

[josemlopes]

...Who the fuck needs to have 20+ games around installed to their HDD like that? Delete games you aren't playing for fucks sake!

And for the love of fuck, do NOT drag the whole 'WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SERVERS GO OFFLINE AND YOU CAN'T DOWNLOAD THE GAMES ANYMORE?!' issue because that's NOT what this is about.

I see this becoming a problem in the future should updates not overwrite old versions so yes, in due time this CAN be a problem. Rotate your downloaded games to ones you and your friends are actively playing. I don't have Battlefield 3 installed on my PC anymore or any other MP game we've moved on from playing...

There's support for external HDD's coming in the future so while I get that this is kinda lame, it REALLY seems like 'First World Problem' than an ACTUAL 'problem'.

4 hours to download 6 gigs on Xbox Live, 25 minutes to download Max Payne 3 on Steam (30GB), I can live with deleting the games I am not currently playing on PC if at most I'll only have to wait half an hour but to wait that long it really does become a problem.

"I want to play that game, guess I'll play it next week"

 

[james.sponge]

This doesn't really concern me, but yeah it sucks to be an xbone owner

 

[shirkbot]

...Who the fuck needs to have 20+ games around installed to their HDD like that? Delete games you aren't playing for fucks sake!

And for the love of fuck, do NOT drag the whole 'WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SERVERS GO OFFLINE AND YOU CAN'T DOWNLOAD THE GAMES ANYMORE?!' issue because that's NOT what this is about.

I see this becoming a problem in the future should updates not overwrite old versions so yes, in due time this CAN be a problem. Rotate your downloaded games to ones you and your friends are actively playing. I don't have Battlefield 3 installed on my PC anymore or any other MP game we've moved on from playing...

There's support for external HDD's coming in the future so while I get that this is kinda lame, it REALLY seems like 'First World Problem' than an ACTUAL 'problem'.

Personally, I have about double that on my laptop because I like to have access to my games without having to wait. What you're suggesting is that I should just re-download about 15+ GB of data any time I want to play something older. Not everyone has super internet, and as a result they keep games on storage to save time, and while this isn't about the servers going down in the future that is a valid concern. More to the point though, external storage costs money in addition to the money spent on an expensive console. 500GB was a really poor choice considering the size of games and the way it's partitioned.

To your credit, anything involving the XBone, or the PS4, is a "First World Problem."

 

[RA92]

And with shitty next gen corridor shooters like CoD: Ghosts now taking up to 40GB+, you run out of your sweet space twice as fast. And forget DVR.

Remember when the 64GB Surface Pro came with a 41GB OS installation, leaving only 23GB for users? [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01/30/microsoft-surface-pro-storage/] Ah, Microsoft...

 

[The_Echo]

And you can't even swap the hard drive out for a bigger one.

GG Microsoft. Way to... way to be you.

 

[Pebkio]

That... is a massively big system partition. Especially with the 19 gb updates. That would mean the system, as it is, is taking up nearly 79 gb. That's over 4x the size of my current setup. And I'm actually running some spiffy things just to keep my six-year-old rig running like it's only two years old. On Windows 7, no less. I can't imagine... well. Hmm...

Let's assume 20 gb for the base operating system and then the other 40 gb is reserved for applications that run movies... the internet... games... yeah, I stil can't see where a good 15gb of that system file is coming from. And wasn't Update 1 the update where they turned off the online requirements? That took 12 gb?

I guess it's alright if they're going to be relying on cloud data storage but I just can't imagine what is taking up so much space.

Edit: Oh wait, I don't know anything about the Kinect interface... maybe that takes a massive program just to operate.

 

[suitepee7]

well it's not surprising that it isn't the full space as advertised, although the amount taken away from you is a tad concerning. they really should crack on with allowing ext. hard drives though, seems to be more important than ever

...Who the fuck needs to have 20+ games around installed to their HDD like that? Delete games you aren't playing for fucks sake!

And for the love of fuck, do NOT drag the whole 'WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SERVERS GO OFFLINE AND YOU CAN'T DOWNLOAD THE GAMES ANYMORE?!' issue because that's NOT what this is about.

I see this becoming a problem in the future should updates not overwrite old versions so yes, in due time this CAN be a problem. Rotate your downloaded games to ones you and your friends are actively playing. I don't have Battlefield 3 installed on my PC anymore or any other MP game we've moved on from playing...

There's support for external HDD's coming in the future so while I get that this is kinda lame, it REALLY seems like 'First World Problem' than an ACTUAL 'problem'.

so if your internet monthly usage is capped at a certain amount, you should just have to 'deal with it'? i'm sorry but no, that's just an example of "i don't have a problem, so nobody else should complain". Also if you don't have a great connection in the first place it fucks you over because of a slow download speed.

in principle i do exactly the same as you, i think i have maybe 15 titles installed on my main pc, with at least 5 being smaller indie titles, but just because i don't mind redownloading stuff with good internet speed doesn't mean everybody else is as fortunate as me.

also, any issues relating to a new gaming console is a 'first world problem' as far as i'm concerned

 

[Pebkio]

well it's not surprising that it isn't the full space as advertised, although the amount taken away from you is a tad concerning. they really should crack on with allowing ext. hard drives though, seems to be more important than ever

I can see why they aren't willing to, though. A few years back I was visiting a friend in Washington and they used an external harddrive to pirate games. Not sure how it was done but her boyfriend was acting like he could just pick up new games on the spot.

 

[Arawn]

I know for sure I brought this up long ago; 500GB HD is not 500GB. Be it internal or external my drives you're not getting 100%. Sucks to be sure. But space is allocated for work. The same will hold true for the PS4 as well. People did bring up another valid point; No one keeps all their games on their HD. Even with Steam I have barely 6-9 games on my PC's HD. I play a game to completion then delete before installing the new game. Of course I keep the save files should I ever reinstall later.

 

[Jeroenr]

Altough it is true that hdd's and OS's need overhead space, 1/4th of disk space seems alot.
Also 500 GB seems a bit small to me.

having uninstall games has some drawbacks as well.

for example, a friend comes over and want to play that older game he enjoyd back then.
You say "sure i'll pop it in and we are good to go in 5 to 15 minutes (not sure about the install time)

On that same note, i don't think people will even bother to install older games, once they are off the disk they are off for good.

 

[josemlopes]

The same will hold true for the PS4 as well.

It does, the OS (or whatever it is) takes a 1/5 of the 500Gb on the PS4 but no one really likes to bring that up since it isnt Microsoft.