If you plan on filling up the Xbox One’s 500 GB hard drive at launch, well I might have some bad news for you. It turns out one of the Xbox One’s features, the ability to use an external hard drive for downloads and installations, won’t be available for use at launch. Microsoft’s “Major Nelson” explained why during a podcast conducted at PAX.
“My understanding is that feature will not be there at launch because the team is working on some other things, but it definitely is on the list. I don’t know when it will come in though.”
Having external storage at launch shouldn’t be a big deal, in all honesty. Now, if it takes 6-12 months or more to get the feature out, then it might be a problem as the Xbox One doesn’t have a way of letting you switch out hard drives unlike the PS4. We’ll just have to see how long it takes Microsoft to support that functionality.