Quick Guide: Upgrading Xbox One Internal Storage Want to upgrade the internal hard drive for your Xbox One console? Check out our guide for instructions to do exactly that.
To make your drive work, you'll need a dump of your Xbox's EEPROM (for HD key), the contents of the original C: drive (dashboard), and some program that can initialize the drive for Xbox use. I used to initialize a new drive I've bought recently. There are instructions at the (the site's down; you may need to use Google's cache to view the page). Basically with xboxhdm just download the package, unzip it, place your EEPROM and C: drive contents as indicated, then launch the build script to make an ISO image. After that burn the image, then turn your computer off, unplug your existing hard drives from your computer, connect the drive you want to use in your Xbox, and boot from CD. Type 1 at the boot menu, then type xboxhdm when the distro is done booting.
Follow the instructions, then reboot. At the boot menu, type 3 and use lockhd -a to lock the drive. Then transfer the hard drive to your Xbox, and if all goes well, the console will boot to the dashboard. Note: The above instruction is for the original Xbox. If you're looking for instructions on the Xbox 360, you will need different software and also a hard drive security sector in the same capacity as the hard drive you want to install.
A key feature of the current - / PS4 - generation of game systems is that you can install every game into the hard drive. Unfortunately, since the games all come on Blu Ray discs, plus have massive updates and DLC's, a single game can take up 40-60+ GB of the tiny 500GB internal HDD (of which less than 400GB is actually useful to you). This means you run out of space really quickly. Luckily for us, we have options. It means spending a little more money, but you'll be thankful for it in the long run. While there are definite benefits to using an external HDD with your Xbox One, don't misunderstand and think it is a necessity or requirement or anything. Consider what games you're going to be playing, and how many, and decide from there if you need an external drive. We never would have made it through the first two years of the Xbox One's life without an external drive, but most people aren't going to be playing dozens of games in just a few months. Still, you'll fill up the internal HDD just with Games with Gold titles after a while, so looking into an external HDD isn't a bad idea.