Microsoft's Xbox 360 HDD workaround: buy another
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Nov 8th 2006 at 5:55PM }
Speaking with GamersReports, Xbox Group Product Marketing Manager Aaron Greenberg addressed concerns that Xbox 360's current 20 GB hard drive would not be sufficient for the forthcoming movie and television download service. When pressed for a solution, Greenberg offered up this workaround:"I can tell you what people tell me they do to get around this. What they do is they put their Live account on a memory unit and then they have one hard drive that they put their games or related content on, and then they have another drive that they put their movies and TV on."
Of course! Why didn't we think of that? Duh, the 360 HDD is detachable -- just buy another! And $100 later, we've got enough room to store 5 hours of HD content on a separate drive. Wow, that's awful.
The good news is a larger hard drive will almost certainly hit the market. The even better news is there's already technology that will allow you to avoid buying any more of Microsoft's overpriced drives, big or small. Try Datel's XSATA ($49.99), which allows users to transfer data from the 360's HDD to another drive via PC connection. A quick search yields several 250 GB hard drive options hovering around the $100-mark. Do the math. That's more than 60 hours worth of HD movie and television content storage capacity -- for just $150. So much for Microsoft's "workaround."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
craig @ Nov 9th 2006 1:55AM
What makes you think that Microsoft will support retail SATA hard drives other than their own? I'm by no means an expert, but I would think Microsoft would try to make as much money as they could on the hardware. It's funny how this tragic comedy plays out. It's analogous to the current state of affairs with the U.S. politcal landscape. Both parties constantly skew the facts to try and give themselves a better light. Microsoft is slanging wolf tickets and ya'll are still buying.
Todd @ Nov 8th 2006 6:05PM
That is a beautiful picture of Bill Gates. I wish I could get that framed. ;)
draco @ Nov 8th 2006 6:07PM
makes sense. maybe one day they will provide you with the choice of purchasing a 100gb drive for 400$. that would be a nice solution too.
Thomas @ Nov 8th 2006 6:06PM
Dont forget to mention that you'll need a mem unit too if you use the 2 drive method..
I myself, just use my drive for saves and demos, not to forget a couple arcade games.. If I need more room, I delete old shotty demos..
But I can tell ya there is no way Im giving M$ more of my money just to use there new service..
I wish they woulda gave US the USER the ability to swap out to an HDD we bought like the PS3 is doing..
draco @ Nov 8th 2006 6:10PM
thats a good idea, ill get on that 50$ mem card and extra hard drive. but wouldn't that mean that each drive will have the 7gb "reserved" for "backwards compatibility"?
I think they may offer a 100gb drive for 400$ soon, so I'll wait for that.
Dracula Jones @ Nov 8th 2006 6:12PM
What a BS "solution."
In addition to the XSATA, I read that they have another product out or coming out that connects directly to a PC, not to the 360, and you just dock the HDD onto it and you can manage all the data on it. I haven't been able to find a product page for it and I forget where I read about it. Kotaku maybe? Can't find it! Anybody?
epobirs @ Nov 8th 2006 7:42PM
I strongly suspect they have an effective solution in the works but are keeping a tight lid on it to avoid having existing products affected by consumers holding off a purchase in anticpation of a more desirable choice.
The Osborne Effect is a scary thing for anyone with a long history in the computer business.
potato @ Nov 8th 2006 6:17PM
As a 360 owner, I'm horribly disappointed that MS would say something like this - this smacks of the arrogance that Sony usually demonstrates. I can understand that there's no good solution right now for storage on the 360, but to suggest that the "solution" is for me to have a rack full of 360 HDD's in my house? That's ludicrous, a suggestion like that shouldn't even be MADE.
Aex @ Nov 8th 2006 6:13PM
"Try Datel's XSATA ($49.99), which allows users to transfer data from the 360's HDD to another drive via PC connection."
I wonder how hard Microsoft is pushing to get that device pulled from the market o.O?
Chris @ Nov 9th 2006 8:10AM
What this statement means to me is they are telling us "Hey it's okay to remove that hard drive from your system. Don't feel bad about switching it out cause we are about to offer one 5 times its size and you'll have to switch that out with your current one."
In other words they are gettin us use to the idea of switching out our HDDs.
Dracula Jones @ Nov 8th 2006 6:14PM
Found it: Datel Xport 360
http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEykEZpuFZdNXJnFbs.php
Doomstalk @ Nov 8th 2006 6:15PM
People who aren't afraid of voiding their warranty can just pop open the casing of their current drive, and stick a bigger laptop SATA drive in its place. Or you can get one of those nifty adaptor thingies that lets you hook your 360 drive up to your PC and take advantage of a much cheaper solution.
Doc @ Nov 8th 2006 6:16PM
I wonder if MS will allow usb HDD's for this very reason?? it seems they have a little hurdle here in terms of hey we have this to offer just you can't have too much of it or you'll be full. I know they want the sales for the HDD's but which one do you want more people downloading content or sales of a few extra HDD which in the long run will slow the growth of such a service...the ball is in your court MS what are you gonna do?? this is major for them don't mess it up MS
Doc @ Nov 8th 2006 6:20PM
the only other option would be to have a virtual storage space through live where you can hold all of you recordings...this would be interesting just not sure how practical though
Pete C @ Nov 8th 2006 6:23PM
#11, I agree totally. I usually view Microsoft's Xbox division as always trying to cater to gamers and expand their offerings, but this is ridiculous. It's pretty much the stupidest suggestion anyone could make, much less a MS marketing expert. Good job Aaron.
Mike JOnes @ Nov 8th 2006 6:24PM
LoL this doesn't beat MS's most recent survey which actually coincides with this Hard Drive thing. Yep only Sony tries to rape consumers
• How interested would you be in buying an Xbox 360 branded mini-keyboard plug-in device for your controller to make text messaging and chat easier, assuming it would cost between $19-$29?
• Paying per song (~$0.99/song) to download music to your Xbox 360 hard drive from a music service. You would be able to use this service while playing a game.
• Paying a subscription per month (~$14.99/mo) to stream any and all music to your Xbox360 from a library of over 2 Million songs. You would be able to use this service while playing a game.
• Paying per video (~$19.99/movie, $1.99/TV show) to download standard definition full movies and TV shows to your Xbox360 hard drive
• Renting movies (~$3.99/movie) that are downloaded in standard definition to your Xbox 360 until you watch them and then are deleted
• Paying a subscription per month (~$5.99/mo) to access 10-20 internet radio stations streamed to your Xbox 360. You would be able to use this service while playing a game.
• How interested would you be in using an integrated Xbox 360 Web browser that would allow you to access and browse the Internet over your Xbox Live connection?
• How interested would you be in participating in beta tests for upcoming games if they cost an additional incremental fee?
http://files.xboxic.com/general/thumbs/survey1.jpg
http://files.xboxic.com/general/thumbs/survey2.jpg
otakucode @ Nov 8th 2006 6:26PM
Doc: How would that be a solution? The content is so large it cannot be streamed, so every time you want to access your content you'd have to re-download it.
And how is XSATA a solution? I hook my 360 HD up to my PC, copy all my stuff over to the PC drive... and... then... uhhh... I can't do anything at all with it. I'd have to transfer it back to the 360 HD to watch it. Major pain.
MS just needs to support streaming media over a local network via a shared folder. No WMP, no WMC, no other BS, just straight up shared folder. If the content is DRMd to hell anyways (of course it is) letting us put it on a dirt cheap network attached drive doesn't hurt anything but sales of the $100 20GB drive. Those are just for people that bought the Tard Pack anyway.
Robotic House Plant @ Nov 8th 2006 6:27PM
I fail to understand why Microsoft is dragging their feet on introducing a larger hard drive. Everyone wants one. Why not introduce a newer, larger model?
We all know the system is capable of supporting a larger drive.
Jake @ Nov 8th 2006 6:28PM
Joystiq are you guys seriously just complete idiots or what?
"The good news is a larger hard drive will almost certainly hit the market."
said only two days after GameDaily's interview with Peter Moore:
"Moore once again claimed that there were no plans for a bigger HDD."
Get your head out of your ass and report some facts for once instead of your fanboy wishes and opinions.
KineticOnline @ Nov 8th 2006 6:33PM
Sticking in a bigger hdd to the hdd case doesnt work, the formatting partitions off the hdd so that you still end up with a 20gb hdd.
Im hoping the tv episodes will work the same way as the arcade games, burn them onto a cd/dvd with the right folder setup and the 360 still lets you play them.
otakucode @ Nov 8th 2006 6:31PM
Mike JOnes: None of that surprised me... maybe the web radio a little bit... but that last bit, with paying to get into a beta test?! Beta testing for free is bordering on stupid. The company gets tangible benefit from your testing. At least if its free you can claim that playing the game pays you back a bit... but PAYING to test? Hell no. Someone ought to try a slavery lawsuit against them if they try it.
jojo29 @ Nov 9th 2006 11:08AM
I fail to see how the "Microsoft Game Division" is any different than Microsoft?? They are all run by the same people, who don't give a shit about 'gamers'. I've stated many times: I DONT want MS OUT of the console wars, BUT i do not want them anywhere near the top ( last gen it really was PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, WHEN not IF, you count Japan ) because i can already see how MS would strongarm the industry, just look at how they ABANDONED their original Xbox.
snapperdragon @ Nov 8th 2006 6:38PM
A bs solution from MS. With each thing they try to overcontrol, they lose credibility and customers.
It kinda reminds me of what Sony is doing with the PSP and all the firmware updates and whatnot proprietary formats and stuff.
Each one of these inconveniences (like needing windows mce for streaming of video) decreases the overall value of the system by some amount. All that translates to a less useful system than it could have been otherwise. This makes people not like it as much and look at the competition.
I think Sony and Nintendo have this part right...letting their customers pick up whatever memory and external disk drives they want instead of forcing them into proprietary solutions.
snapperdragon @ Nov 8th 2006 6:43PM
Maybe MS is releasing Xbox 360 MCE...you know, for 600 bucks, it has a 300 GB disk, HD DVD, and an HDMI port with functioning 1080p.
Due to the Osborne effect, they will not say anything until it is out so that they don't affect sales of the existing hardware...but they don't really have to worry about going out of business because they are not relying on xbox money to keep them afloat.
How's that for an old-timer and the Osborne effect (no internet searches used).
Dracula Jones @ Nov 8th 2006 6:52PM
#17: Why don't we ask Steve Jobs if there's a new iPod coming out and see what he says?
Of course a bigger HDD is coming, this quote was just a blunder by someone trying to give an answer without actually saying anything of use. Peter Moore is the best in the business at doing just that. Aaron Greenberg, not so much.
Pirk @ Nov 8th 2006 7:13PM
If they designed the new bigger harddrive with a usb port you could plug into the usb slot and transfer the data from your existing unit before hooking it up to the 360. That would solve the initial data transfer problem.
potato @ Nov 8th 2006 7:12PM
"People who aren't afraid of voiding their warranty can just pop open the casing of their current drive, and stick a bigger laptop SATA drive in its place. Or you can get one of those nifty adaptor thingies that lets you hook your 360 drive up to your PC and take advantage of a much cheaper solution."
Actually you can't. Last time I checked MS has verification built into certain sectors of the HDD, preventing you from going 3rd-party (otherwise we'd already see 3rd party 200GB mofos, won't we?). There is some disagreement over what this means, as the HDD size is encoded as part of the verification process. This either means that, even if you can clone the drive signature, it may cap your 80GB drive to 20GB simply on the verification code alone.
FrankTheCrank @ Nov 8th 2006 7:16PM
HAHAHAHAHAHA....
Typical Microsoft solution, upgrade.
360, what a mess.
epobirs @ Nov 8th 2006 7:52PM
#17
It isn't at all unusual. It's been done many times in the PC realm. Beta testing requires a commitment to do the work agreed upon. It isn't just a buggy sneak preview. Also, a public beta test gets into management expenses. A fee covers those costs and filters out those who won't produce useful feedback.
The fee could easily be rewarded later with points or a free DLC item when the game ships.
Seventy5 @ Nov 8th 2006 8:36PM
.....how come Blake didn't post this story?
Oh yeah, because he's a tool. Just thought he'd have caught this one first, what with his dominating the post count with negative Sony shit lately. My bad.
epluribus @ Nov 8th 2006 8:57PM
^^^LOL. I was thinking the same thing. Ole Blakey-boy is so quick on the fluff (or maybe "fluffer") pieces praising the 360, and even quicker to try to find fault with everything PS3 (the color of the plastic on the game cases?!). I'd love to see his spin on this same story: "Microsoft announces advanced next-gen storage options for the 360!".
So let's see if I've got this right: I need to get the more expensive 360 in order to be able to get any of this great downloadable content. Then I need to get an additional hard drive, a proprietary memory card, a Windows Media Center Xtreme Edition PC, subscriptions for all this great content like TV reruns, some sort of wireless controller charging kit, more shelf space for the power brick, an additional external cooling fan to prevent melting my AV cables, more shelf space and some duct tape for this external HD-DVD thingy.
Am I ready for the HiDef era yet, or have I forgotten anything?
ill trooper @ Nov 8th 2006 9:00PM
Really now, that's a weak solution... None of these companies have their strategy fully thought out. Will these MS HD downloads be compatible with the Zune or PlaysForSureDude™? Will Sony even have a headset standard for the PS3 so you can communicate like you can on Live? Will Apple get their iTV out soon? Will the Wii play DVDs eventually?
Each company running in circles sending mixed messages.
KawF @ Nov 8th 2006 9:19PM
As any Xbox 360 owner would know, paying $700 for a system to get 60gb-(20gb or so for the system files) of storage is A-ok!
IT'S YOUR CHOICE! YOU HAVE A CHOICE!
Cool huh, Microsoft is letting you choose to get raped. How nice of them. And of course the majority of you bend over and take it hard up your wallet.
mike @ Nov 8th 2006 9:26PM
Mixed Messages? Apple's already announced when it's coming out.. Q1 next year. The thing was shown to the public and demoed. It's pretty much done. You can find clips on YouTube. It will be renamed though.
PS. HD content is going to be slooooooooooow..
KawF @ Nov 8th 2006 9:25PM
@ill trooper
With the PS3 you are able to hook up any bluetooth based headset. I have one I bought for $15 that I'm going to use.
Pete C @ Nov 8th 2006 9:27PM
"360, what a mess"
So what do you call the PS3 launch? A trainwreck?
ghettofab @ Nov 8th 2006 10:08PM
.. oh i get it how about ream us for another hard drive purchase..... excellent what a great solution
how about just buy another 360 and use it exclusively to download porn...........scumbag msoft360 and company!
ill trooper @ Nov 8th 2006 10:24PM
Yes, Kawf, I knew that and I think it's a pretty cool solution, however, there's always something to be said for the 'everyone gets a headset wtih their console' rule that Microsoft has going - it allows developers to support communication without question (as long as you subscribe to LIVE) and I wish Sony had something in the retail box like that...
dsub @ Nov 8th 2006 11:35PM
it's very simple folks.
Does MS have a 100GB HDD waiting in the wings. Your damn right they do. Will they tell us? No. Why?
Because they likely won't start packaging it in or selling it until the 2007 hardware revision with the 65nm chips start hitting shelves. If they tell everyone now that in January/February the 360 will be coming with a 100GB HDD...think of all those 360's that wouldn't be sold because of waiting consumers during the Holidays.
It's just business folks. In the meantime they might as well try to sell you another HDD. The quicker they get rid of the 20GB ones, the sooner they can start selling the 100GB ones. I don't think they'll sell the drive for anymore than $100, but they want to make sure they've depleted their entire stock of 20GB drives first.
This workaround still doesn't solve anything though. The only thing that comes close to solving the problem is getting the XSATA attachment, that will let you drag and drop files from your 360's HDD to your PC HDD on your PC.
sandro @ Nov 9th 2006 10:04AM
What a MESS, M$ is really CRAZY!!! the 360 will cost a lot more after all the things I need to make 1080p and have enough space for movies and games!!
coocoo @ Nov 9th 2006 12:41PM
Wow, how about a game console that just plays games. What a novel idea. I have watched a total of ZERO dvds on my 360. I do like ripping my music to the HDD, but with WMP 11 on my XP desktop, I can stream the music and WMV video from my computer.
Now I realize that the console makers are all stuck in a game of keeping up with the Joneses, but the 360/PS3/Wii will not become a media center in most households. The only place I see that is in single person households. Otherwise you get the conflict of someone gaming while someone else wants music while someone else wants to watch a movie.
But then, I tend to prefer single function devices. I have never owned (or will own) a printer/scanner/fax. If one function breaks you either have to replace that function, live without it or lose all 3 when you get iti fixed.
Austin @ Nov 9th 2006 2:49PM
I think everyone is missing that you will have virtual space. TV shows once bought will be downloadable at any time. You can begin watching standard def as soon as you hit download, and high def within 2mins. Movies are the same way but are only for rent so you wont need to store them anyway.
So other than for XBLA or demos what do you need another drive for? Music? Pics? They are Streamed from PC. Videos? Use a WMV converter and stream that as well. WTF would you need a 100G drive for?