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Xbox Series X|S storage expansion cards can be used on PC with an inexpensive CFexpress adapter — Speeds top out at 1,560 MB/s in Redditor's testing

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Why This Matters

This discovery allows PC users to repurpose Xbox Series X|S Storage Expansion Cards as high-speed local storage, leveraging affordable CFexpress adapters. It bridges the gap between console-specific hardware and PC storage solutions, offering a cost-effective way to boost PC storage performance. This development highlights the potential for increased hardware interoperability and value for consumers in the gaming and tech industry.

Key Takeaways

It turns out that you can use a PCIe to CFexpress adapter that plugs into a PCIe slot on your motherboard to use Xbox Series X|S Storage Expansion Cards as local storage in your PC.

Despite largely identical specs under the hood, Microsoft and Sony took different approaches to external storage for their current-gen consoles. While the PS5 has a dedicated M.2 slot, the Xbox Series X|S is stuck with proprietary Storage Expansion Cards made by Seagate and Western Digital. Turns out, they're actually not completely inflexible after all, as u/Dramatic-Shape5574 on Reddit showed you can use cheap CFexpress adapters to make these cards work on a PC.

This is not exactly groundbreaking news; it's been known for a while that these expansion cards use the CFexpress Type-B connector. The standard itself uses the NVMe protocol, but it's limited to a PCIe 3.0 x2 connection. Microsoft's custom version of it, however, supports PCIe 4.0 x2. Previously, someone even made an M.2 to CFexpress adapter that took a rare PCIe 4.0 x2 M.2 SSD and converted it into an expansion card for Xbox.

We're looking at the opposite situation here, turning an Xbox Expansion Card into regular storage for a PC. The OP used a PCIe to CFexpress adapter that plugs into a PCIe slot on your motherboard, giving you a female CFexpress slot in return. There are also M.2 to CFexpress adapters that connect to the M.2 slot instead of a PCIe slot, if that's more convenient for you. Just make sure to choose one that says "Type-B."

500 GB Xbox Expansion Card for $99 (Western Digital only)

1 TB Xbox Expansion Card for $189.99 (Seagate)

1 TB Xbox Expansion Card for $149.99 (Western Digital)

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2 TB Xbox Expansion Card for $275.88 (Seagate)

2 TB Xbox Expansion Card for $249.99 (Western Digital)

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