GameStop lists standalone Xbox 360 250GB hard drive [update]

by Alexander Sliwinski on Mar 2nd 2010 6:03PM

GameStop has listed a 250 GB Xbox 360 hard drive for sale, priced at $130 and scheduled to release on March 23. When reached for comment, Microsoft declined to make a statement by the time of this posting. Checking with GameStop, the retailer wouldn't confirm the product either, but did tell us that the page featuring the 250GB drive "is not an error."

Microsoft had previously stated, like, only two weeks ago, that it planned to keep the larger drives tied to bundles. Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Product Manager Aaron Greenberg also told us at the time, "We're always evaluating." Clearly.

Update 1: GameStop has removed the listing. Additionally, tipster Matt V. (thanks dude!) reports that, on March 9, Amazon also briefly listed the 250GB drive dated for March 23 -- for only $59.99! Though the likely erroneous offer has since been removed from the online retailer, Matt says his order is still active and that Amazon has emailed him with a new estimated ship date of April 10. The plot thickens ...

Update 2: As of March 22, tipster Matt's order has been canceled by Amazon, but the retailer does suggest that an "alternate" item has been listed.

[Thanks, Patrick]

Source

Tags: 250gb, gamestop, hard-drive, hdd, microsoft, release-date, retail, Xbox-360, xbox-360-arcade

Reader Comments (92)

Yes it's true. Microsoft uses a standard 2.5" hard drive in a case with a proprietary connector on it so that you can't just buy any hard drive and plug it in. This enables them to bend you over and rape you on the pricing of them.

No you can, you can buy an HDD up to 250GB, and format using special 360 software, then put it in the enclosure. This only works in official sizes though(so 750GB HDD will only use 250). This is proven and will NOT get you banned. All 360 HDDs on eBay use this method, to provide cheap(and JUST as good!) drives.

Not trying to be a fanboy, but I think it's funny how much less Sony sold their 250 GB for even compared to this price.

Not trying to be a rudeboy, but how exactly is this humorous?

That is just ridiculous. I payed that price for HALF the amount. Its a fair(er) price for a HDD, but what a big F.U to those who bought the 120GB.

I got the 120 when it first came out so I got my use out of it.

I got my 120 with my elite. MS really screws consumers people who want to upgrade.

scratch the word people. we really need an edit option.

Finally I can hopefully buy a 120GB cheaper after this release.

Exactly my idea. I'll pay 60$ for a 120gb gladly. Hell, hopefully the 60gb goes down as well. I don't need a lot of storage- but I want BFBC2 and MW2 on my HD at the same time so stuff loads quicker.

My 20GB is full of Rockband songs. I am desperate. So this article means good news.

Same boat here. I only have a 20gb, so I can only have 1 game installed at a time with all the arcade stuff I bought. My 360's been awfully loud lately, so I'm trying to really limit the time I play anything from a disc. Despite the annoyance, there's no way in hell I'd pay more than $80 for a hard drive.

http://www.wwujd.com/mythsaboutunclejesse_files/Judge-Dredd.jpg

Page is dead now, Was working but Gamestop tore it down :(

I'll bite. I need a new drive, if this is indeed the price. The question is will it come with the cable and software needed to transfer from one drive to another ...

Game stop now longer has the listing

Gamestop has removed the listing

Ill take 2 please :)

Everybody needs to calm the eff down about the price. It's within reason for a proprietary item, may include a transfer cable with disc and is most likely a trustworthy hard drive...

The TB drives everyone says "i can get for bla bla bla dollars" are likely Deskstars which used to be called Deathstars because they effed up so often...They ain't as bad under Toshiba as they were under IBM, but if you look at Amazon reviews, it still makes me nervous (I see about 5 people b*tching about heat and noise issues)...I thought about buying one myself for $69, but a dead hard drive is like a death in the family to me...If you can find a brand you trust, good luck to you...

This was definitely welcome news to me. I need this drive...

Oh come on, don't try to defend their high drive prices, please!

I wanna kick myself for not waiting a little bit longer because there was a bunch of DLC last month as well is this month that I wanted to get. I was rocking a 20gig which lasted me a long time. Then I went ahead and bought myself a 120gig since Gamestop had a discount on the remaining HDDs. Now they have a new drive coming out with about 130 more gigs and its going to be $10 cheaper from what I paid for. Go me.

You guys know what I am going to do just to piss off microsoft??? I am going to buy a Xbox arcade and than this hard drive....AHAHAHAHA...AHAHAHAHA SCREW YOU MICROSOFT!!!!

Ummmmm, that doesn't hurt MS, it hurts your wallet.

If you buy the console tie in you get an extra $60 wireless controller and a $60 game for only $20 more. If you buy your Arcade, this drive, another controller and a game you will be paying $50 more. That is of course if you want another controller and that particular game.

Arcade Option:
$200 console
$130 HDD
$60 Controller
$60 Game
$450 Totoal

Bundle with 250GB drive, two wireless controllers and Spinter Cell
$399

Bitch all we want, but MS is still going to get away with this, as well as high prices on their other peripherals, aside from any other raping of customers. I'm generally a MS fanboy, a Windows/PC fanboy, but I would hate for them to be the only player in the console market.

Pretty expensive for a 2'5 SATA HDD inside a proprietary case.

Found a Western Digital 2.5'' 320GB on Amazon for $55.

Ugh, still grossly overpriced. I might actually have to buy this, though, because of how insanely small the 20 GB is. Damn Microsoft. Damn you to hell.

Nope, just buy a $60 HDD off the 'bay, load the right firmware(Google it), and swap. There you go, cheap 250GB HDD!

Really? I thought there was an update to the 360 that prevented it from having custom drives?

a samsung f3 500GB costs 50. a TB goes for 100...another reason i cant bring myself to get another 360(previous died on me).

@Lord Maim:
Microsoft does use standard laptop hard drives. The only thing that is proprietary about Microsoft's hard drive is the filesystem/encryption on it to prevent cheating and whatnot. It's been pointless and hacked to death already so Microsoft's rationale for continuing this charade rubs me the wrong way.

The initial concept of preventing cheaters from abusing save-state editing was fine and all but the fact of the matter is that the system is broken and Microsoft is unwilling to admit it and remove the price hike.

250 gb for 130 hehe no thx

Wow, yeah, $129.99? I upgraded my drive using a 250GB WD2500BEVT (has to be this model) laptop drive and got it for $58. Also, I was able to transfer my old drive's contents into this one without the expense of a transfer cable. Why pay twice as much for a drive that you have to wait for? I can assure you that fancy hard drive case and proprietary connector that goes from SATA to the Xbox hard drive port is not worth an additional $60. There are guides online, find them and save yourself the added expense Microsoft throws on its consumers for products that are otherwise cheap and easily attainable.

Literally twice the price of what I'd *accept* as reasonable.

WTF happened to the 120GB? Why is it gone, while the 60GB is still around? I hope the 120GB is returning at a lower price point. Oh, what is stopping MS from releasing this? The 120GB has been impossible to find for quite some time already.

I would believe the price...Elite's come with a 120GB drive for $300, but the Super Elite bundles include an extra controller, a brand new $60 game, and the larger 250GB drive for only $100 more.

I know its an unpopular stance but... ITS ABOUT TIME.

My 20 gig is too small now. :(

At any price, the 60GB, 120GB, or 250GB would ruin the look of my Halo edition Xbox 360 ;)

you can get the a 250gb from http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.250gb%20360
for like 72 bucks.

It's a WD hard drive flashed to work on the 360.

Wow. Is it bad that I'm impressed by this price point? You can buy a 250GB drive for $50 on Newegg these days, but given that the 20GB drive was once $100, and the 120GB drive was once $180, I consider this shit a deal in my books, lol.

MS is definitely over-charging, but the others are right - this isn't a 3.5" drive that's much cheaper, so you can't grab a 1TB and shove it in there :P

Both Sony and MS's solutions for storage have good and bad points.

The 360 drives are really expensive, but you can use the drive on any Xbox 360, it's like a big memory card. If you want to play the content offline you just need to do a license transfer to your new Xbox. However you can't upgrade the drive yourself.

Sony lets you use whatever hard drive you want, however you can't simply take your drive to your friends house and play it there. The content is tied to your specific console and works in there and there alone. If you want a new drive you have to buy a third drive (external) or have a big USB key to backup your current hard drive. However if you have 60GB of stuff on your current PS3, backing that up to a USB key is rather tricky :)

- D

Hi....the ad is on my Xbox Dashboard.

Previous 50 Comments

GameStop lists standalone Xbox 360 250GB hard drive [update]

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