The Xbox One Storage hub from Fantom Drives, is a sleek way to upgrade a launch Xbox One without breaking the bank.
Xbox One Storage Hub
Fantom Drives/MicroNet
Price: $110-$250
MonsterVine was provided with a unit for review.
As games are becoming larger and larger, keeping everything installed without buying more storage is nearly impossible. The Storage Hub solution from Fantom Drives is the best option I have found, and it has me craving a similar solution for other consoles.
Remember how the Xbox 360 had an easy to remove hard drive that attached directly into the console? Well the Xbox One Storage Hub is an evolution of that. Installation takes less than a minute, by simply removing the vent cover, attaching it to the hub and then snapping the unit into the Xbox One’s side USB 3.0 port.
The SKU that Fantom Drives sent is the 2TB SSHD (solid state hybrid drive) model but they have drives all the way up to 5TB. I opened up the hub, by simply popping open the tab, to discover Fantom Drives use the FireCuda drive from Seagate which can greatly outperform the internal 5400rpm HDD which comes stock in the Xbox One. In preliminary tests, I noticed 5-15s faster load times depending on the title. It looks like an upgrade accessory that could have been released by Microsoft themselves. The one fault in it’s visual design is the front facing drive access light. It isn’t a very bright light (not as bright as the Xbox logo on the front of the console) but it is eye catching, especially as it blinks when data is being accessed. While isn’t a huge distraction for me, I know that some people are very averse to having any kind of light shining in their rooms.
The biggest limitation to the Xbox One Storage Hub is that it is designed exclusively for the original model Xbox One. The hub looks perfectly natural attached to the console, and the front facing ports are a huge improvement over the side and back ports. But the Xbox One is four years old and approaching the late years of its lifespan. There are two, faster better performing revisions out on the market. While this solution from Fantom Drives will improve the performance for those which have the oldest version of the console, it does become a choice on whether to spend the money to upgrade on just storage, or to spend more and get the latest revision of the system.
I hope that Fantom Drives can craft something that is just as elegant for both the Xbox One S and the Xbox One X, because I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much storage when it comes to hard drives. Fantom Drives also offer a couple of upgrade options (a PS4 internal hard drive upgrade kit, and a detached storage hub) but none of them are as elegant as the model that snaps directly to the Xbox One.
THE GOOD
Faster load times are noticable Significantly expands storage Designed to look just like Xbox One Reasonably priced (as cheap as $20-30 more than just buying the bare drive) Easy to install Adds 3 Front facing USB ports
THE BAD
Only works with launch Xbox One Access light can be a little distracting
THE FINAL WORD
If you already have an Xbox One and are looking to enhance it a bit, I can’t think of a better accessory to purchase. The benefits make themselves know rather quickly, and do so without having extra wires and blocks sitting in your entertainment center. Unfortunately the Xbox One Storage Hub won’t do you much good if you have an Xbox One S, or X and If buying into the Xbox One ecosystem for the first time it doesn’t make for a strong enough reason to go with over purchasing one of the more powerful S or X.
