Gaming consoles have taken the world by storm in recent decades, and the situation will continue likewise despite the sudden rise of mobile gaming. A lot of gamers nowadays prefer to dive into their favorite virtual worlds via Xbox or PlayStation consoles, and for today, Xbox machines are the stars of the show!
While pretty much everyone knows the basics about how an Xbox console looks and behaves, not any gamer out there is well aware of the console’s feature of turning off automatically if the storage is off.
The special feature mentioned above has a significant impact when it comes to both efficiency and energy usage. The feature is actually part of the Instant-On setup menu. By enabling it, you will benefit, as a user, from energy saving, speeding up the booting time, enhanced data security, increased lifespan of the storage devices, and more. In a nutshell, we’re talking about a smart feature that allows the console to put things in order even if it’s shut down.
How can it help the gamers?
Gamers who prefer using the Xbox console have a lot to benefit from the storage turning off when the gaming machines themselves are turned off. Let’s see a few examples:
Energy efficiency
There’s no need to be Einstein to figure out that when a console turns off, the storage will also power down, which will help conserve energy and reduce the carbon footprint. It’s a feature that’s friendly to the environment for those who want to protect nature.
Prolonging the lifespan of storage
You know what they say that nothing lasts forever in life and that simple principle applies even when it comes to the tech world we love so much. All of the electronic components, such as storage drives, have a limited lifespan as well. That lifespan is measured in the number of read and write cycles.
When you power down the storage when the console is off, the lifespan of the storage drive can be prolonged by reducing unnecessary wear and tear.
Data Protection
Did you know that your data can be protected from accidental deletion or even corruption if you turn off the storage when the Xbox console is off? Thus, it reduces the odds of data being accessed when you don’t use the console. Obviously, this feature can be very important in case you have important files stored on the drive.
Reduced noise
You know those long gaming sessions when your console generates a lot of noise? It can also be the case for Xbox machines in case you have an external storage device or even an internal drive that continues to spin even though the console has been shut down. If you power down the storage, the noise will be eliminated, assuring a quieter gaming experience.
Improved start-up times
The storage might go faster if it’s not in standby or sleep mode. That’s when you power on the Xbox console. Such a situation can lead to faster start-up times and quicker access to the games and apps.
Although the storage turning off when the Xbox console switches off feature can undoubtedly be helpful for gamers; it could also depend on the specific configuration and settings of the gaming machine and storage device. To make sure that the feature is working as you want, you need to check the power management settings of the console.
Tim M. Hill helped bring Digital-Overload from a weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. He continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a writer to Digital-Overload, Tim mainly covers mobile news and gadgets.
