Seagate has unveiled the FireCuda X Vault, a huge external hard drive with up to 20TB of storage

Even the best external hard drives are starting to appear at highly escalated prices or are out of stock entirely, thanks to AI data centre demand. It's one of the reasons why I cling to any new storage releases in hopes a new drive will be available at its original MSRP for at least a moment, which is why I was pleased to hear about the Seagate FireCuda X Vault.

The FireCuda X Vault is a massive external drive that's available today starting from $279.99 (Seagate). It's available in both 8TB and 20TB capacities, and is designed to complement internal drives by providing extra storage for your ever-growing game library and other content. The best part? This chonky hard drive doesn't require wall power to keep it running.

The FireCuda X Vault relies on a simple plug-and-play system. You don't need to set aside a power socket to get it powered up, as it utilizes a bus-powered USB-C design, complete with some RGB lighting with Windows Dynamic Lighting support. You will have to keep a USB-C port free at least, and ensure that it supplies >15w to operate properly, but that should be fine if you have a modern PC gaming rig.

Talking of which, this 3.5-inich high gaming hard drive is designed exclusively for PC. While it has Xbox branding on the box and even comes packaged with one month of Game Pass Ultimate, it's not compatible with the Xbox Series X/S. That being said, you can use it as a destination to store your PC Game Pass titles, or use it as the storage location for your ever-growing Steam game library.

Unlike the best SSDs for gaming, you won't be able to run the games directly from the FireCudaX Vault. As an HD, it remains a high-capacity alternative to storing games, not playing them. I get that's disappointing, but at its starting $279.99 cost, it's a cheaper alternative to picking up an 8TB equivalent portable SSD. Especially when the likes of the Crucial X10 as as high at $800 and over at US retailers right now.

I'm currently testing the Seagate FireX Vault X external hard drive. While I'm not quite ready to write up my full-blown review, there's one thing I need to let you know before you go out and grab your own - the USB-C cable is on the smaller side.

This is a bit of an annoyance for me as my awkwardly large gaming PC sits under my desk, so I don't have many options when it comes to storing it. For now, I have to place it gently on top of my PC tower, which I don't recommend. If you're going to make the starting $279.99 investment, just make sure you have a setup that can accommodate the FireCuda X first.

• View all Seagate storage at Amazon

If it's extra storage you're after, check out our guides to the best Xbox Series X hard drives, the best SSDs for PS5, and the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express cards.