Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360 Hard-Drive Transfer Kit

Boss Tempo: "you can download it forever as many times as you want as long as you're signed into your gamer profile."

Almost. You have to be signed into your gamer profile AND connected to Live. And as stated before, any other profiles can no longer access the content when they are signed in. If my wife wants to hit some Zuma or GRAW Chapter 2, she has to use my profile.

That's bullshit.

In your summary you say, "...but otherwise it went smooth enough."
"Went" is a verb, so you need the adverb "smoothly" not the adjective "smooth".

This thread is getting FUDalicious. Does anyone need help making a mountain out of a mole hill? I have a bucket of BS we can use and a shovel so we can lay it on real thick. Oh, you already have plenty of help. Nevermind. Maybe the SDF needs help over at a 360 drive noise thread from 18 months ago.

Seriously, there are a lot of workarounds for this. Redownload your arcade games. Enable auto sign-in. Let your gf/wife use your gamertag. Or, just continue to pound your couch with fists of rage screaming at MS to make it even easier.

Remember when you had to blow in the cartridge, lick it with a dry tongue, and then wedge another game in on top of it just to have a chance at playing? NOW I HAVE TO PRESS X, GODDAMNIT BLAAHGHRRAAAAAH!!!

"NOW I HAVE TO PRESS X, GODDAMNIT BLAAHGHRRAAAAAH!!!"

LOL!!

The 360 pretty much requires broadband internet access. It should be listed as a requirement on the box.

"however, if you're upgrading, they'll provide a free Hard-Drive transfer kit redeemable at Xbox.com"

Got a link? I'd like to get this going!

Microsoft does have a procedure for getting the license on to a new x-box, but it is a real pain.

After getting a replacement due to the usual red circle, everything seemed ok until my wife tried to play a game. All the xbla games were bought under my account so I never noticed a problem. Even if I logged in the game didn't all work for her.

When I called microsoft, they asked me to tell them all of the games that I bought. Then they asked me to create a new live account on the new box and then transferred me to a supervisor who explained that they would send me a codes for points to cover the games that I had purchased. By repurchasing all of the games with this new profile, it enabled all of the games to run for any user on the machine. It did take them a few days to send me the codes.

If you are the only gamer using your machine this is nothing to worry about. I had really hoped that they would have fixed this. Whoever gets your old box and downloads an xbla demo will probably find that it turns into the full version for all the games that you bought on it.

How much does this cost? Or does it come with the elite?

@andres
If your brother can play the TMNT Arcade game on every console without being connected to Xbox Live, then he is really lucky.

I'm on my second console now (the refurbished one that MS sent me as a replacement) and I know for sure that if you're not on the console used to buy a Live Arcade game, that game won't be fully playable (it will be just the free demo) if you are not connected to Xbox Live with the gamertag/profile you purchased it with.

Don't believe us if you don't want to, just go to the Xbox dot com forums and do a search for "Cant play full versions of Arcade Games". Then tell the ones who posted on that thread that they are wrong. I would love to see that.

Now, some people are saying that the ones with that problem (as myself) should stop complaining because there are workarounds, like setting our profiles to auto sign in to Xbox Live. But the truth is that said people is giving for granted the access to a broadband internet connection at all times. What if for whatever reason (use your imagination) you don't have a broadband internet connection available? Then you are stuck with trial versions of games that you have paid for! But thank you for letting us know about the auto sing in "solution". And the other current workarounds or "solutions" are just as practical.

Long post over.

There is always a lot of confusion regarding how the DRM works on XBLA. Let me see if I can clear some of this up.

First, you must understand what occurs when an XBLA title is purchased. The title is given a license that depends on a _combination_ of the user's Gamertag and the console serial number. This serial number is unique to each 360 and is in no way tied to the hard drive. This license is necessary to prevent unauthorized copies of the game from being played on other systems. Without this DRM, it would be possible to simply copy the game to a memory card and then on to another system.

Second, you must understand what occurs when an XBLA title is launched. In order for a 360 to execute the game, it must match one of two things. Either, the gamertag that was purchased must be signed-on and logged-in to Live OR the game must be launched on the system where the game was originally purchased. If either of those conditions are true, then the game will run. This is to limit the number of copies of a game can be running anywhere on any 360. Technically, you could get two copies of the game running if you were playing it on the original console NOT signed in to Live and on another console where the gamertag is signed into Live. However, that would be the theoretical limit of the number of copies the game could be running at the same time.

This is why you must be signed in to Live on the Elite after transfering the data over. Because it is not the system it was originally purchased on, you must satisfy the second condition. Even if the license was copied over, the license is tied to the gamertag AND the original system serial number. Note that this won't be an issue if you are simply upgrading from a 20GB drive to a 120GB drive ON THE SAME SYSTEM.

What does this mean? It means this cable is essentially useless. Why? Because you can simply redownload any content you have purchased anyway from any system where you are logged in. If you are logged in to the original system it was purchased on, the you won't be required in the future to be logged in to play. If you are logged in from your new Elite, then you will be required to logged in to play. You are in the same boat as you were when you use the cable. The cable is only good because you won't have to redownload everything (which could take a while) and possibly for transfering stuff like music, pictures, etc. that you've copied over to your 360.

Microsoft could fix this by allowing you to transfer a license between two systems. Make it a requirement that both systems are connected to Live at the same time and then revoke one license and generate another.

One last thing: if you sent in your 360 for repairs, you can squawk to MS about the issue of having to be logged in and they will reissue you all of the points you spend on your previous system to repurchase your games. However, you do need to have a new gamertag (they usually just have you create a silver account) to re-purchase. The reason? If you are logged in with your originaly gamertag, you can't repurchase the titles because Live knows you've already purchased them! I have no idea if enough squawking might get you the same resolution if you switch over to an Elite.

@Michael McGuire
This man speaks the truth. I just had to do it myself for all my games. MS was nice to give me like 20,000 points with the new 4000 point codes, but they had a system lock that would only allow me to redeem 8000. So more problems. Anyway you can only play games on the system it was downloaded on, after that you have to be connected to live. Reason #1 why im not getting the 'Elite'. I'd hate to have to wait 2 months for support to get things right and get me points all over again :/

So, this doesn't use the original Xbox 360 right? I only need the elite, 120gb harddrive, and 20gb harddrive?

I just talked to someone on 1800 4my xbox phone support, and she said i couldnt request the transfer kit until buy the elite and give them the serial number...i know theres not much behind this but...typically the ppl on xbox support seem to know what theyre talking about...but some lady told me the previous and that the memory card will not transfer any game saves, arcade stuff, or live accounts and that i MUST use the transfer kit...

I just completed a "points after repair" process that took about 3 weeks to finish with Microsoft and called yesterday to ask about this. The guy confirmed that I could just do another points after repair to take care of my needs. Of course, the only problem is having to wait to play your content offline. I also have to wait to buy any new content until I know for sure that I'm going to buy an elite (the buyer of my premium is already ready to go).

I know DRM is frustrating, but it's the only way to prevent people from taking their content over to a friends house and they have full advantage to play it under any profile.

Just trying to register a new comment name so that people stop confusing me with the Jason who hates the 360. :\

Not just XBLA Titles are affected by this DRM... Regular Games, Themes, GamerPics, Videos are also.

I downloaded the free car packs for Test Drive Unlimited on my original 360. Now on my warranty replacement 360, I cannot play TDU offline with my save game because the profile says that it requires content that's not available. It works fine when online. I deleted and redownloaded the cars but still could not open my save game offline.

I have the free SciFi Battlestar Galactica theme set in my profile and it is only displayed when I'm online. When offline, it reverts to the Default theme. I cannot see the Themes and Gamerpics that I've purchased or downloaded for free when offline as well.

I purchased a couple of TV shows on my original 360 and now cannot play them when offline.

This is a big deal since I regularly take my 360 to the office to play during lunchtime offline. Also twice a year when Microsoft brings down Live for system updates I cannot access content I paid for.

I emailed Major Nelson about this and didn't receive a response. The lame Silver Account redownload solution is not acceptable. Maybe the Spring update in a couple weeks will finally fix this...

So what about us people, who had a broken 360, a warranty from a store, and used the money from the old premium to upgrade to the elite? I asked the guys to hold my system for as long as they can to get my hard drive transferred, how long is it going to be before I can get a transfer cable?

I have had guitar hero sitting in my room for a few weeks waiting....

I just bought 120 gb harddrive so I could put my 2500 mp3s and family photos on my xbox and watch and listen without going through my connected computer. The xbox will only let you create playlists from stuff stored directly on the removable HD. How do I get it there?

OK, here is my situation:

I have downloaded XBLA content with both MY gamer tag and with my wife's. Everyone with a profile/gamer tag on my current XBox 360 can play that FULL content (my sons and wife can all play stuff I downloaded/paid for from my GT). The problem, as I see it, is if I transfer this content (or even recover my tag onto an elite), then ONLY I will be able to play this content anymore. My wife and sons will not be able to. If that is the case, I'm super pissed off.