Standalone Xbox 250GB HDD confirmed by Dashboard [update]

by Ben Gilbert on Mar 23rd 2010 9:30AM

While Microsoft may have stated up, down and sidesaddle that the 250GB version of its Xbox 360 HDD would remain exclusive to special console bundles (e.g., Modern Warfare 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction), it would appear that the particular drive will arrive as a standalone accessory sometime soon. As spotted by eagle-eyed Joystiq reader Rodney in the Spotlight section of the Xbox 360 Dashboard (pictured above), the accessory should be available at "participating retailers" rather soon -- the ad's wording indicates that the HDD might already be on store shelves (as of this writing, Amazon has the product listed without a price).

Though it's odd to see an official reveal through the Xbox Dashboard, we have been hearing rumblings about a standalone version of the 250GB HDD for quite some time -- listings even popped up on retail sites earlier this month bearing ... today's date! We've contacted Microsoft for pricing and release info, but until the West Coast wakes up, we've got this thrilling hi-res gallery of the Dashboard advertisement for you below.

[Update: We've just gotten official word from Microsoft that the 250 GB HDD retails for $129.99 and should be available today.]

Xbox 360 Dashboard with 250GB HDD ad

[Thanks Rodney!]

Tags: 250gb, 250gb-hdd, accessories, dashboard, hard-drive, Microsoft, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (67)

Ugh I really want one... But knowing MS and their pricing this will definitely be very expensive...

I really need a replacement for my old 20gig though...

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/02/gamestop-lists-xbox-360-250gb-hard-drive/

Hmmm... Expensive, but less than I thought it would be.

yea....not as bad as it may have been say if it were released a year ago with the 120GB & 60GB still on the market.....but still could be a bit cheaper

50 cents a GB is still a little to much. Good thing you can make one yourself or buy on off ebay for much cheaper.

If I already transferred my stuff from a 20gb to my 120gb, can I transfer stuff from my 120gb to a new 250gb? I remember something about only being able to transfer across HDDs once.

You should be able to move your stuff from your 120 to your 250. Although there are reports that the cables only work once, I don't believe that to be the case with the cables they offer now. The local Play-n-Trade offers hard drive transfers as a service, so the cables can't possibly be self-deactivating after one use.

I moved my saves from a 20 to a 60, and just got the FFXIII bundle over the weekend so I'll soon be going from the 60 to the 250. As far as I know, it should work.

I believe the "it only works once" disclaimer today means that when you do the transfer, your source drive is wiped clean after completion, so you can't copy the same content to multiple target drives.

Someone please ban Vince, needless trolling brings nothing to the table.

it was pretty much confirmed when they clearanced out the 120GB HDDs announced the 250GB HDD to be released in other regions.....

Yeah, my first thought was also a sarcastic "Wow, no one saw this coming".

I'll bet we see this around $120, with a price drop for the 120GB drive, if it stays around.

My guess is $139.99

Why are you guessing when it's already listed on retailer websites?

It's $129.99

That's Moore's Law for you - Microsoft wants moore money than what is reasonable for storage.

Whew.. $130..

You can still get double that capacity for less.

Does it come with the HDD Transfer Cable? I hope so, would love to upgrade from the 120 at some point.

Look at the picture, the transfer cable is right to the right of the HDD.

holy crap... 129$ for only 250gb? cmon ms stop the insanity.

In your face Microsoft, I'll just wait until that new dashboard update enables me to plug in a 500Gb USB HD!

Wait... shit.

Funny how microsoft charges out the ass for these hard drives its highway robbery. A 120 gig 360 hard drive costs about 89 dollars. While for the Ps3 that same price can get you a 500GB seagate hard drive aint that about a bitch................Ps not trying to start a flame war.

I can get 640GB Western Digital drives for that price. It's highly irritating.

really blight? thats too much that that 640GB HDD.....the one I put in my PS3 and got from New Egg last month only cost $80....sure it was on sale but it was only $12 off of regular price....

Does this mean that if you pop in your own hard drive now the cap will be 250gb instead of 120?

Of course, you could have done that ages ago when the 250gb was first released

I got one pretty much for free. I bought the limited edition Modern Warfare 2 console bundle, swapped out my 120 Gig for the 250 gig, swapped out my 2 old white controllers for the 2 black ones, and kept the MW2 game. Then I sold the console with the swapped items on Ebay for pretty much exactly what I paid for it. Only thing that sucked was that the xfer cable did not come with it, so I had to manually back up and re-download everything. It was worth doing that for the price, though!

I just want to give out time of my day to thank Craigslist and this bad economy. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have got my CoD4 Xbox360 with 3 controller and 2 games for $200.

WOW!!!

Someone SOLD that already!?!?

They must have hit a bad stride for REAL!!

$130 doesn't seem that unreasonable considering we're talking about MS. Granted, I scored a $60 500GB a few months back for my PS3.

But the security features of the 360 come at a premium in my eyes.

Well, at least MS is giving us USB storage access now. *shrugs shoulders*

We want to play the games, I guess we have to pay the price.

Security features? The 360 has been hacked.The PS3 hasn't. Being proprietary didn't help.

Apparently the only "security features" on the 360's HDD is a special security signature to prevent you from substituting in a high-capacity third party hard drive.

So that's good I'm paying a premium for that.

@Dr.Blight: The hack you are referring to is on the DVD drive, not on the HD.

I have never used a transfer kit before, so I don't recognize what
that is to the right of the HDD...but transfer hardware would be my
guess, and my hope. The sooner we can get confirmation on that, the
sooner I can get excited to start looking for one of these to pick up
a.s.a.p..

It is.

God damn, I just picked up a 1 terabyte hard drive for 80 dollars, it is external but the fact that 250 gigs is all you get for somethin over 100 dollars, that is robbery.

Laptop drives =! desktop drives

where did you get one for $80?? i've been looking for one and the cheapest I've seen them is like $140

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314
Not that far off the desktop capacity.

I wonder if the imminent release of this product is why it seems to be taking Microsoft forever to ship the HDD Transfer Kit I ordered.

I hope it's available in black. I only ever saw the separate hard drives available in gray.

this is great news, cause for the last month or so I've been trying to import one from Japan & Europe,the problem was finding a store or a legit vendor.but now w/ this news,am on my way to game stop at the mall.

They are selling them on eBay for $70

bbbbbbuuuuu buuuuu but Microsoft just said 6 months ago that they had no plans to release the 250 gig HDD outside console bundle packages. What happened microsoft...

This is why I hate everyone from the games industry, they lie through their teeth, and everything is all PR babble.

6? try 3....lol

I meant the MW2 bundle back in something like October or whatever when they were initially saying that this was a one time limited quantity deal.

oh ok....they turned around and said the SAME thing when asked about the listing a few weeks ago too....lol

They should be held to the coals when they lie and almost then seen as an outcast from here on out. Many of these news or review outlets for videogames are just press kits regulated by the industry. None of this is journalism at this point if we take lying as a given in this industry and just accept it because that is what the company needs to do to protect its investments. No, screw that, I am not tied to a company, nor should I have a vested interest in their well being. Instead, they should be a lot more worried about how I feel and act next time I purchase or support a product/company.

Wickedcobra,

What are you, like 12 years old?

This is how business works. This isn't exclusive to the video game industry, or any industry. You don't announce stuff too early because it will affect sales of stuff currently on the market. This is why companies never commit or comment about a price drop until the day it's in affect.

Media sites know this, it's not some big conspiracy. Relax, man.

It’s £66.99 from Amazon UK. Which is cheap compared to the £90 I paid for the 120GB.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Hard-Drive-250GB/dp/B003D3N7T2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1269358764&sr=8-5

For $500 dollars.

Amazon's listing now says "In stock on March 28th"

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Standalone Xbox 250GB HDD confirmed by Dashboard [update]

Xbox 360 Dashboard with 250GB HDD ad

Reader Comments (67)

Posted: Mar 23rd 2010 9:32AM Huey2k2 said

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