XBox360 Hard Drive

[superkdogg]

Like the title says, I think I'm getting XBox360, but I don't know if I want the hard drive or not since it's like $100 more. I pretty much play only sports games (Madden, College Football, Baseball) so I don't know if it even matters in those games.

Also, is it possible to install your own hard drive in the 360 or does that make Bill mad and he'll take away your toy? 'Cuz I'm sure it's cheaper to put one in than it is to buy it with one.

Thanks,

KDogg

 

[LanceM]

From Microsoft's J Allard's latest quote bank:

"Because we didn't abstract storage in the first generation Xbox, backward compatibility [on Xbox 360] will require a hard drive," Allard said. "The good news is that the core system owners can upgrade if they decide to update at a later date." (pasted from IGN)

As far as your very own non-MS drive, I'm sure someone will find out a way... maybe.

 

[AdamSnow]

At this point - since no one has been able to poke around the inside I'm willing to guess you will need to purchase one with the unit...

Give it a few weeks after release, and I'm sure someone will figure out how to do it though.

 

[jdport]

unless you really don't want any of the extras that come with the more expensive model, you might just as well pay the extra $100 and get the hard drive plus all the goodies without having to mod your box... buying your own hard drive would be a bit cheaper but not that much cheaper, IMHO, to make it worth the trouble of modifying your xbox and buying the more expensive model gives you a lot of nice extras to boot.

 

[jbritt1234]

The HD is not the only thing different between the models. Last time I read the more expensive cable came with a wireless controller, remote and cables in addition to the HD. If you are going to buy even just wireless controllers, you may as well just go ahead and get the more expensive set.

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: jdport
unless you really don't want any of the extras that come with the more expensive model, you might just as well pay the extra $100 and get the hard drive plus all the goodies without having to mod your box... buying your own hard drive would be a bit cheaper but not that much cheaper, IMHO, to make it worth the trouble of modifying your xbox and buying the more expensive model gives you a lot of nice extras to boot.

What jdport said.

 

[LanceM]

Exactly. 20 GB HDD + HD AV cables + headset + *wireless* controller + remote control (and don't forget yet another ethernet cable to your growing collection) is definitely all worth $100.

 

[duragezic]

To me, the $399 version is crap except for the hard drive, and even then a 20gb is useless except that I'd want it for games to cache files to it. My roommate has a Xbox that works just fine with wired controllers (the good MS ones are down to $26 + tax, to replace a quality wireless one must cost more, in fact I prefer wired to wireless when playing Halo 2 on Live at a buddies), he has the headset which collects dust, has the remote control which may as well get tossed around the room (controller is better), and no one has a good TV so HD cables are useless. If I could get the $299 one and add in my own HDD I might consider buying it, but for $399 + at least one more controller + at least two games and you got like $550 total.

But the original Xbox needs to be modded to accept any other hard drive, so I'm 99% sure the Xbox 360 won't accept any old IDE hard drive. Plus it may get you banned on Live again if they see that its modded.

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: duragezic
To me, the $399 version is crap except for the hard drive, and even then a 20gb is useless except that I'd want it for games to cache files to it. My roommate has a Xbox that works just fine with wired controllers (the good MS ones are down to $26 + tax, to replace a quality wireless one must cost more, in fact I prefer wired to wireless when playing Halo 2 on Live at a buddies), he has the headset which collects dust, has the remote control which may as well get tossed around the room (controller is better), and no one has a good TV so HD cables are useless. If I could get the $299 one and add in my own HDD I might consider buying it, but for $399 + at least one more controller + at least two games and you got like $550 total.

But the original Xbox needs to be modded to accept any other hard drive, so I'm 99% sure the Xbox 360 won't accept any old IDE hard drive. Plus it may get you banned on Live again if they see that its modded.

Isn't the rumor that it has laptop-style HDDs? (i.e. smaller form factor)

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you got a non-MS HD you'd also need to find some way to copy the xbox1 emulation profiles preloaded on the MS drive.

The Microsoft's J Allard's quote is only telling half the story. Not only is the storage needed, but also the emulation profile for each xbox1 game. MS may allow downloading new ones as they are added, but they will have no reason to offer downloads of the core set of profiles that ship with the HD.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: jdport
unless you really don't want any of the extras that come with the more expensive model, you might just as well pay the extra $100 and get the hard drive plus all the goodies without having to mod your box... buying your own hard drive would be a bit cheaper but not that much cheaper, IMHO, to make it worth the trouble of modifying your xbox and buying the more expensive model gives you a lot of nice extras to boot.

What are you talking about? You could buy a HD that is more than 3x as big for the same price.

 

[jdport]

Yea, you can buy a hard drive 3x as big for the same price, that's true. But you can't buy a hard drive the same size for that much cheaper (a bit cheaper but not that much) becuase hard drive prices just don't go up very fast as the size of the hard drive increases. So buying a 20G hard drive is only a little less than buying a 100G hard drive for example. For the money you'd save (buying the same sized hard drive) you get all the extras with it and don't have to mod your box.

Yes, you could buy a much bigger hard drive for the $100 but then you'd have a modded box which may or may not cause problems, and a bunch of hard drive space that you really don't need. The hard drive is primarily used for caching games, save game data, etc correct? Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that you'd use up 20GB for that very quickly.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Isn't the rumor that it has laptop-style HDDs? (i.e. smaller form factor)

Yep. 2.5" drives. I imagine they've spent alot of money on making it a propietary format with propietary cables...yadda yadda yadda....that will be cracked two months after release.

 

[Tu13erhead]

They're laptop-style SATA drives.

 

[Evander]

On xbox1, using a "foreign" hard drive can get you a ban on xbox live, I believe.

Second point is that if you buy a 360, you pretty much need to buy a memory card for an extra $40 (unless you're the type who's never bought a mem card for the last 10 years since the playstation). But you if buy the $399 model, no need for the card + you get all the bonus stuff like wireless control, etc

 

[superkdogg]

Guess I'm stuck with it, huh? I don't have Xbox1 or HD TV, and don't need the other junk, but the HD is enough to soak me for $100. Damn Bill and his fun toys!