Wreckfest loading times from external SSD USB drive
How to speed up Wreckfest and Forza Horizon 4 loading times on XBOX One S.
It is common knowledge that an SSD can improve loading times for games on Xbox and PS4. So how long does it take to load Wreckfest from an external USB 3 Solid State Drive drive (SSD)?
In my non-scientific test it took about 60 seconds to load Wreckfest to the main menu on an Xbox One S with an external USB 3 SSD. This compared with 1 minute 20 seconds from the internal 1TB HDD.
Wreckfest HDD vs SSD Load Times
| Internal HDD | External SSD | |
|---|---|---|
| Load to main menu | 01:20 | 01:00 |
| Load Motor City Circuit** | 01:15 | 00:48 |
| Return to main menu | 00:17 | 00:11 |
** Loading Motor City Circuit for a custom event with the opponent vehicle set to class C. When loading a custom event where all the opponent vehicles are the same, e.g. lawnmowers to rack up credits, is much quicker. I expect this is because it doesn’t have to load as much car data.
My other favourite racing game is the incredible Forza Horizon 4 so I also wanted to know how long does it take to load Forza Horizon on an external USB SSD?
Forza Horizon 4 HDD vs SSD Load Times
| Internal HDD | External SSD | |
|---|---|---|
| Load to ‘Press A’ | 00:49 | 00:37 |
| Load ready to play menu | 02:10 | 01:08 |
Forza Horizon 4 load times with an external SSD are improved more than in Wreckfest on an Xbox One S.
Doing it on a budget
- Unbranded (cheap) USB 3 to SATA adapter (affiliate link*) approx. £6 from Amazon*
- Leven JS600 256GB SSD approx. £27 from Amazon* (affiliate link*)
I didn’t want to break the bank so I chose the cheapest USB 3 to SATA adapter I could find that stated full USB 3 5Gb/s speeds, SATA III, and UASP support. I don’t know if all that is important but based on some basic research those were things that popped up. As I don’t play many games around 250GB would be more than enough capacity. The Crucial MX500 250GB (affiliate link*) seems to be on of the best performing SSDs in this size but it costs over £40 (at time of writing). I only wanted to pay around £25 so I chose a brand I’d never heard of figuring that if it was terrible I could always return it! I am pleased with the results.
*Affiliate links
Leven JS600 SDD Benchmarks
Before attaching the Leven SSD to my Xbox I ran some speed tests using Crystal Disk Mark. The drive was connected to my laptop using the same USB 3 to SATA adapter cable.
Leven JS600 256GB SSD benchmark
