The Xbox Series X and Series S launched this week, marking a new generation and a significant upgrade from the previous gen. But this brave new era also marks a fuzzier line than console generations past, thanks to plentiful next-gen upgrades and backwards compatibility. You’ll want to carry your game progress forward, which means transferring your saves. And to do this, you have a few options.
Importing Cloud Saves
The easiest by far is to use Microsoft’s cloud saves. This is all taken care of automatically, and the save data is associated with your Xbox Live profile. An Xbox Live Gold subscription isn’t required for the cloud save functionality, so as long as you have any Xbox Live profile, your saves are uploading to the cloud automatically. That means that once you sign in to your Xbox Series X or Series S with your existing profile, the cloud saves will download and let you pick up right from where you left off.
If you’re having trouble signing in but can’t wait to start playing, you can still transfer your saves manually.
Alternative 1: Wi-Fi Transfer
As long as you have a reliable wifi connection, you can transfer data directly on your own network. This applies not just to your saved games, but also to entire installed games, so you don’t have to redownload them from the Xbox store. To transfer your save data and everything else, just follow these steps.
- Make sure your Xbox One and Xbox Series X are both turned on and connected to the same wifi network
- On Xbox One: Settings > System > Backup & Transfer > Allow Network Transfer.
- On Xbox Series X/S: Settings > System > Backup & Transfer.
- On Xbox Series X/S: Select your Xbox One from “Local Consoles”
- On Xbox Series X/S: Select installed games and save data to transfer and select Copy.
Alternative 2: Using An External Drive
If you have an external hard drive, you can use it to transfer your installed and saved game data instead. With this method, you don’t need to have both consoles on at once, and they don’t necessarily need to be connected to the same wifi network.
- Plug your external storage into your Xbox One.
- On Xbox One: Go to Settings > System > Storage.
- Select your games and save data, and press Copy.
- Once completed, disconnect the external drive and plug it into the Xbox Series X/S.
- Xbox Series X/S auto-detects the drive. Select the data to transfer and select Copy.
(You can also manually find the drive through the same Settings > System > Storage path as the Xbox One.)
For an even more in-depth checklist related to your new console, check out our guide on what to do before getting an Xbox Series X/S. Once you’re down preparing your transition to the Series X/S, head over to our Xbox Series X/S setup guide for more on optimizing settings to your liking, accessibility options you should know about, and other hidden features.