How to Move Xbox One Games to Xbox Series X or S

Save a download and move your old games

by
Jeremy Laukkonen
Jeremy Laukkonen
Writer
Jeremy Laukkonen is tech writer and the creator of a popular blog and video game startup. He also ghostwrites articles for numerous major trade publications.
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Jeremy Laukkonen
Updated on December 08, 2020

What to Know

  • Your Xbox Series X or S can play your digital Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games without redownloading everything.
  • Use a USB 3.1 drive with at least 128MB of storage to move your games.
  • You can move your Xbox One games to internal Xbox Series X or S storage or play right from the external drive.

The Xbox Series X and S are both backwards compatible with the Xbox One, which means you can play all of your old Xbox One discs on the Xbox Series X. You can also play all of your old digital games by downloading them all over again on your new console, or you can save some bandwidth and move your Xbox One games to your Xbox Series X or S with the help of an external drive.

Already have your Xbox One games on an external hard drive? You’re already halfway there. Just plug your external drive into your Xbox Series S or X. It will recognize the drive, and you can either start playing the games right away or move them to internal storage.

How to Move Xbox One Games to a Hard Drive

If you have a bunch of digital games on your Xbox One you'll need to move them to an external hard drive first. Once the games are on the drive, you can plug it into your Xbox Series X or S and either play the games or move them to internal storage. Any USB 3.1 external hard drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) will work as long as it holds at least 128 GB.

Here’s how to add an external drive to your Xbox One:

  1. Open the Guide, and select My games & apps.

  2. Select a game.

    Select Full Library if you don’t see the games you want to move.

  3. Select Manage games & add ons.

  4. Select Move all.

  5. Select Move.

  6. Repeat this procedure for the rest of the games you want to move.

How to Move Xbox One Games to an Xbox Series X or S

With all of your digital Xbox One games safely stored on an external drive, you’re ready to start playing them on your Xbox Series X or S. If you plan on leaving them on your drive, all you have to do is plug it in, wait for the console to recognize it, and then start playing your games. They’ll show up in your game library alongside anything you’ve already downloaded to your Xbox Series X or S.

If you want to move your Xbox One games to your Xbox Series X or S internal storage, follow these steps:

  1. Connect your external drive into your Xbox Series X or S with a USB cable.

  2. Wait for the console to recognize the drive.

  3. Press the Xbox button on your controller and select My games & apps.

    The Xbox Series X|S Guide.

  4. Select See all.

    My games and apps in the Xbox Guide.

  5. Navigate to Manage > Storage devices.

    Game management options on Xbox Series X|S.

  6. Select your external drive.

    Storage device management on Xbox Series X|S.

  7. Select Move or copy.

    Moving or copying games on an Xbox Series X|S.

  8. Select the games you want to move.

    Selecting games to move on Xbox series X or S.

  9. Select Move selected.

    Moving games on Xbox Series X|S.

  10. Select Move.

    Moving games on Xbox Series X|S.

  11. Wait for your games to finish moving.

While you can’t play Xbox Series X or S games from an external drive other than the official Seagate expansion drive, you can play Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games from any USB 3.1 drive. Load times depend on the speed of your drive, but you can play without moving your games if your Xbox Series X or S is short on internal storage.

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