120GB Xbox 360 HDD discounted in Europe 'while supplies last'

(Side note: I wish the "Remember me" thing worked and I wish I could change my password)

360 hard drives ARE overpriced, but a direct comparison to an OEM HDD is absurd. With a PC HDD you have to open your case, screw it in, find an open power cable, find/buy an SATA cable, find an open SATA port, close your case, format it, and then finally install an OS. Less steps if it is external, but that adds a power cord and possibly proprietary software.

On a 360 you open the case and slap it in, add in one step for transferring data if you can find that cable.

Are they overpriced? Yes, by at least 40%. Should they still be more expensive than a regular drive? Also yes.


MS should have gone the Sony route by simply having a 2.5" slot that people could toss laptop-sized hard drives in to.

Yes we know. Everyone knows that you can get a 1 TB HDD for the same price. We've been having the same conversation for 5 years. Shits not going to change.

@Sean

You forget the steps:

Find a drive, order the drive, wait for the drive, get the package, take the drive in hand, %your stuff goes here%, reinstall all apps, start searching for porn.

makes you wonder how "cheap" will be...

"360 hard drives ARE overpriced, but a direct comparison to an OEM HDD is absurd. With a PC HDD you have to open your case, screw it in, find an open power cable, find/buy an SATA cable, find an open SATA port, close your case, format it, and then finally install an OS. Less steps if it is external, but that adds a power cord and possibly proprietary software."


Or you just open the hatch on the PS3, pop it in, and let the OS handle all the work.

@Sean

1. External HDDs for PC don't have proprietary software as a prerequisite for using the actual storage functionality of the drive, with exception to NAS/USB combo drives that use a built in hardware controller for the drive interface
2. Installing a HDD in a PC is no different from installing one on a 360 with exception to creating a new volume on the drive for PC; installing an OS on it is NOT a prerequisite if you're adding a drive to the PC, which is exactly what you're doing with the 360, since the 360's OS is stored on a NAND chip in the console itself
3. You don't 'open the casing' on a 360, you detach the existing drive or remove the Arcade model grill and slot on the drive
4. The actual component list for a 360 drive is not at all justifiable, as you are working with what is essentially a USB external drive using a proprietary connection adaptor as opposed to the usual SATA->USB2.0 interface adaptor
5. Transferring your data from one 360 drive to another is a once-off process and requires you purchase an extra kit; in addition, to my knowledge, it can only be done from a smaller drive to a larger drive, never from a larger drive to a smaller or same-size drive


There is no good justification whatsoever for the price Microsoft charges for the drive other than a marketing strategy to get more Arcade or smaller-drive models into homes, and have those users gradually shell out for a larger drive as they find they want/need it. There was also no justification for why the original drive in the 360 was a mere 20gb, where they could have put in a 60gb drive off the bat for as little as $5 more when purchasing their drives in bulk - they merely staggered the releases to try and get people to buy into a larger drive over time.


It's pathetic on their part, but the strategy works and it helps them equalize the costs involved in putting every 360 unit out there.

@sbispi

Yes, I agree, except that you're an idiot. I can't figure out if you're trying to tell me I'm right or wrong, you seem to take both sides.

I cannot go out, buy any PC hard drive and place it on top of the tower and expect it to work when I turn it on. I have to open it and screw it in and connect cables and so on.

When I said "open the case" I meant the box the hard drive comes in, not the console itself.

I did say the prices are too high, thank you for agreeing with me.

@Sean

Yes, it's overpriced. But is it really that difficult to undo a few screws and connect a couple cables? It's really not. And if you factor in the time it takes to transfer all your stuff from your old 360 drive, that probably would take longer. The only real difference between a 360 drive and a typical HDD is the silly plastic case, and the useless proprietary connection.

Sean, the XBox hard drive is more akin to a USB hard drive. You plug it in, and go. All the steps you listed for installing a hard drive into a computer, especially considered it won't have to have the OS installed, is bullshit.

If you are adding a storage drive, which is what you are doing with the XBox, all you do is unbox it, and plug it in, and go. All modern OS's will recognize the drive immediately, and it will be ready to go in seconds, if it's preformatted from the factory. Transferring your stuff over only takes a little bit.

@ Sean

/facepalm

Seriously.

Nope. Sold it last year.

With that drive, you would barely be able to install ME2, and nothing else...

I have an Elite with a 120GB and a Core with a seperate 20GB that I bought for it WAY back on launch day.

The Core I just use for my HD DVD's and Netflix on my TV downstairs though. The Elite is up with the other systems in my cave.

@Bradwart

Hey man I thought you got banned?

My poor 20 gig HD is bursting at the seams and I can't justify spending over a hundred dollars for 120 gigs. It's especially bad right now because I'm trying to cram CoD4 and ME2 into it.

Hopefully he learned his lesson, and will stop trolling.

I think he had a record of 2 bans in 2 days.

I've still got my 20GB, it has about 3 or 4 GB left.

nope. I sold my 20gig last year and upgraded to 120gig. Wish I had done what StormEagle did and just bought an elite w/120gig and hdmi output for an extra $180, then I'd have 2 360's, one for the cave and one for the bedroom.

I had the 20, bought the 60GB upgrade pack for 70 when CC went under, then that console developed disc drive issues so I replaced it with an Elite.

Still haven't decided what to do with the old one.

But my 120GB is already down to 40 something... :(

I don't do Install from Discs. I haven't found one game that TRULY benefits from it. i have 88GB left on my 120GB. This after I've downloaded 200+ Rock Band songs, multiple XBLA games, numerous pieces of DLC, Themes, and ALL my saves from every game I've ever played for 360.

I dont know what you guys are doing to put such a dent in the capacity but GOTDAYUM.

I still have my 20GB HDD. I still have enough room to install 1 game at a time (which you really need to do because the DVD drive is so loud). It just means I don't buy anything any more on XBL. Other than console exclusives, or "clearly better on the 360", I use my PS3 much more.

I'm considering getting the 250GB HDD when it comes out, depending on the pricing. If it's under $130, I would seriously consider getting it.

I do installs (apart from Halo 3) as it cuts down on drive noise and does help load times, especially in Mass Effect. You don't get the 'loading' portions during gameplay.

L4D2 sure didn't benefit though...

Still, there's nearly 50GB just in game installs, plus all that DLC.

"I don't do Install from Discs. I haven't found one game that TRULY benefits from it."

Guess it depends on what you mean by "truly". In my experience almost every game loads faster and, best of all, the disc doesn't spin so you don't have to listen to all that damned noise.

I LOVE installing my games on my HDD, faster loading, less lag, and the Xbox is silent. Silence isn't a huge deal I know, but I'm about 5 feet from it... so it makes a huge difference.

Hopefully they let us use our own HDDs in the NeXtbox.

I have my 20gb I actually really want to upgrade to a 120 or 250gb so that I can actually buy some GOD games. But I'm not about to fork over a ridiculous ammount of money for a hard drive just so I can fork over even more money for those games. If MS actually wants us to buy the already overpriced games on demand, they need to provide us with an affordable place to store them.

my second xbox still got 20GB. I plan on upgrading to 120GB

I'm still using my 20 GB HDD. It's painful.

Not to horrify anyone, but I have so little space left that I have to play Mass Effect 2 OFF THE DISC.

If MS offers a 250 GB drive at the former price of the 120 GB, I'll finally suck it up and get a new HDD.

I still have mine and was hoping this 120GB HDD would be around £40, as I'd actually be tempted to get one then. £80 is still -WAY- too much.

I'm still getting by on my 14gb.. Been thinking about upgrading, but simply can't afford it right now. I do have the PS3 slim to d/l videos and demos if I really need it though.

I saw some 20GBs at Wal-Mart in Warrenton, VA for $50; looked like NIB.

Ah, I got two packs confused. I think those may be new, but these aren't.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Refurbished-20GB-LIVE-Starter/dp/B002N5KV4A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1265307353&sr=8-2

Those Walmart ones might be refurbs. I didn't really inspect the packaging, but the Amazon picture looks about right.

I need to get a 60 or 120 and gut it for my Halo 3 console. It just won't look right with the silver instead of copper on the 20GB one.

Dang it...reply fail.

And I built my 120gb out of a 20gb and $50 worth of drive, rebuilding and selling my 20gb right now.

I'd just be worried about a ban.

XBR FTW

1.5TB drive

That is actually a good point I never thought of before. Still, I'm happy with my 120GB, and would probably be fine with ye olde 20GB. On the Elite I have only used 7GB in Marble Blast Ultra, Alien Hominid, I Made A Game With Zombies In It and currently some Fallout and Gears 2 DLC.
I deleted the old DLC from Oblivion after I'd finished, all the maps from Gears 1 and have only ever installed Assassin's Creed 1 because it wouldn't play from the disc because of scratches.

They're probably hoping people will spring for the drive and buy the content, but you raise an interesting question. I wonder how many people have simply passed on buying games on demand or other content because they simply didn't want to buy a larger drive? I know on the PS3 I've bought some PS1 games I was only mildly interested in part because I wasn't worried about storage space.

You can put me in that list, Vidikron. I still have my 20gig, and I'd probably buy a lot more off of Live if I had the space. I just don't want to shell out that much to upgrade, I usually install the one game that i'm fixated on at the time, and maybe a demo or two, and delete them when I'm done with them. I would like more space for video content in particular, but I've done without this long and it hasn't killed me.

yes I agree.

a lot of fake hard drives at ebay. banning them will make people totally clueless of why they got banned

And since the HD is treated very much like the memory card, you haven't heard of banned memory cards either. You can't find the 120 GB Western Digital drives new anymore, but I can still get a 160. Might just do that and lose the 40GB of storage because the 360 I'd use it on has the jet engine DVD drive.