Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive

Yes, because it utilizes large, high-capacity 3.5-inch internal hard drives, the Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive requires a dedicated AC power adapter to operate. Unlike smaller portable solid-state drives, the USB cable alone cannot provide enough power to spin the internal disks. This restricts its use to environments near a wall outlet.

While you can technically store and launch older or less demanding games from it, it is not recommended for modern AAA gaming. The drive spins at a standard 5400 or 7200 RPM, resulting in slow read speeds and noticeably long load times. It is much better suited as a 'set it and forget it' backup for static files like digitized family photos.

Yes, out of the box, the drive is pre-formatted to NTFS, which is the standard file system for Windows operating systems. Mac users will be able to read the files on it, but they will not be able to write to it without reformatting. To use it seamlessly on both Mac and Windows, you must reformat it to exFAT.

It usually comes bundled with a short trial of Seagate's proprietary backup utility, Seagate Toolkit. The software allows you to schedule automatic, continuous backups of your important folders. However, many power users simply ignore the software and use the drive natively with Windows File History or Apple Time Machine.