Posts tagged HDD at Xbox 360 Fanboy

Posts with tag HDD

Reminder: win a 120GB HDD for Xbox 360 [update]

Posted Sep 7th 2007 10:00AM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: Fan stuff

[Update: The giveaway is now closed and our winner selected. Once the winner is verified, we'll put up an announcement post.]

Hey kiddies, don't forget that we're giving away a 120GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 in celebration of the impending arrival of Halo 3. Entering the giveaway is incredibly easy, and it will take you less than two minutes. That's two minutes for 120 gigabytes of awesome. All you have to do is head over to the official giveaway post and enter. You've got two hours to do it before we pick our lucky winner, so get to it already! Oh, and if you don't win fear not, because we've got lots more stuff to give away this month. Keep your eyes peeled next week for the next bit of swag*.

*Hint: next week's swag is even better (and more valuable) than a 120GB hard drive. Think about that.

Borderlands on the 360 will require a HDD

Posted Aug 22nd 2007 3:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News

Concluding a Games Convention demo of the 2008 release Borderlands (that Diablo meets Mad Max shooter), the president of Gearbox Randy Pitchford confirmed with 1UP that when the game releases, it will require a HDD if played on the Xbox 360. Pitchford is fully aware of Microsoft's opinion on HDD required games, but still sticks to his studios' development guns stating that Borderlands needs a caching HDD due to the unique nature of the game and all its randomly generated missions of randomness. Honestly, we're just curious to see how Microsoft will handle games and developers when talk of HDD required games begins to bubble up. Cue death stare!

Snag 20GB HDD for $50, 120GB for $145

Posted Aug 9th 2007 12:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: Deals and Bargains

Let's face it, 360 accessories are expensive. In the case of hard drives, 360 accessories are ridiculously expensive. As a service to our readers, we bring you the news that you can snag a 20GB 360 HDD for the tempting price of $49.90 from GoGamer.com (for now at least). Add $2.59 for shipping and you've got a brand new hard drive for $52.49. Not bad. But wait! there's more. Why grab a measly 20GB HDD when you can get a 120GB HDD for the bargain price of $144.99 ($35 off retail)? Head over to Newegg.com and you can purchase one for $164.99. Just slap on the promo code "Paypal20" and pay with PayPal and you'll get an additional $20 off. After shipping, you'll pay somewhere in the range of $150. Again, not bad.

Read -- 20GB deal at GoGamer
Read -- 120GB deal at Newegg

[Via TechBargains. Thanks, djphatjive]

Elite owners, get HDD migration cable for free

Posted Apr 30th 2007 1:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News

New Xbox 360 Elite owners who've upgraded from a Core/Premium 360 may have been a little bummed to find out that there is no way to transfer an old HDD's data over to the Elite. But fear not, because Microsoft will give you a HDD migration cable for free ... you just have to ask for it. Either give Microsoft a ring-ring on the telephone or use the official migration cable order form and send it off. Full details can be found here. And be sure to keep using your 20GB HDD until the migration cable arrives, otherwise you'll have game saves on two HDDs causing you to lose data. And lost data is the suxorz.

[Via Digg]

Data transfer demo for your new HDD

Posted Apr 27th 2007 9:30AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Peripherals

If you're a current 360 owner and are in the market for a new 120GB HDD or the Xbox 360 Elite in the coming weeks, then you'll be dealing with some HDD data transferring. And thanks to Major Nelson's data transfer demo, the whole process will be painless. In the embedded video above, Major and ~~his clothes twin~~ Albert walk you through the whole thing step by step and even do a little Xbox 360 Elite unboxing to boot. It's actually quite simple and should take less than an hour to move all your data to your new 120GB behemoth. And, as if it wasn't mentioned enough, the data transfer will be permanent and can only be done once. So, make sure this is what you want, as there's no going back.

Save some cash, use your own 120GB HDD

Posted Apr 23rd 2007 10:45AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Hacks / mods

The hard drive prophecy has come true. Xbox-Scene is reporting that the new version of HDDHackr has been released allowing the use of an unlicensed 120GB hard drive for your 360 storage. The HDDHackr program uses the newly found 120GB signature and will allow anyone to use a specific 120GB WD HDD for their 360 storage saving roughly $100 over Microsoft's official Xbox 360 120GB HDD. Though, you'll need to be somewhat familiar with hacking programs and PC hardware setup to get the drive up and running. But, if that's your thing, you can save big bucks and up your Xbox 360 hard drive capacity to 120GB the l33t way. So, is anyone up for the challenge?

120GB 360 HDD worth only $100

Posted Apr 20th 2007 5:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News

Perhaps you've heard of the brand new, super fancy Xbox 360 Elite. You know, it's black, has HDMI and a 120GB hard drive, and it's super cool. You may have heard that the Elite has been utterly gutted, all of its vitals exposed to the world. It just so happens the 120GB hard drive was part of this dismantling process. With the drive cracked open and exposed, we can finally see the wondrous, ultra high-tech hard drive that justifies Microsoft's $179 price tag. Or can we?

It turns out that the drive inside the plastic case is in fact a Fujitsu MHW2120BH 2.5" laptop drive. Shindakun.net did some Google searching and discovered that these drives generally cost around $100. Not long ago, Aaron Greenberg stated that the drive in the Xbox 360 is comparable to a self-powered external hard drive for a PC. Alright, so there must be some sort of additional work that justifies an $80 increase above retail, right? The thing is, according to Shindakun, the 360 drive isn't self powered. You have to shut down the console to install it, because it's just an SATA drive with a proprietary connector. So, where does the extra cost come from? The plastic casing isn't that nice. Granted, there are R&D costs to consider, but $80 extra per unit seems a little steep. Without a direct explanation of the costs from Microsoft, we can make only one conclusion: we're getting ripped off.

Buyer beware.

120 GB hard drive snagged for $99

Posted Apr 20th 2007 12:45PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Peripherals

If the Xbox 360 has one consistent complaint, it is undoubtedly the cost of its peripherals. In particular, the price of its hard drive has been the most difficult to stomach. $99 dollars for 20 gigabytes seems positively ludicrous in today's world of cheap storage. The new 120GB hard drive isn't much better, clocking in at $179. Microsoft has defended the pricing structure, saying that they demand very strict specifications from manufacturers (things like drive speed, security, etc.), but it's hard to believe it couldn't be had for less.

Enter one lucky 360 fanboy by the name of Scooter. Scooter spotted a 120GB hard drive at his local Wal-Mart. Looking closer, the drive was priced at a cool $99.88. Seizing upon the opportunity, he asked a clerk to open up the case and ring it up. Of course, once the item was scanned, it came up as $172. After a quick interchange with customer service, it's revealed that Wal-Mart store policy requires that items be sold for the price at which they are marked (even if the price is incorrect). So, he walks out with a 120GB drive for a full $80 less than retail price.

Granted, we're sure the display price was corrected immediately following the sale, but it's nice to hear that at least one fanboy managed to stick it to the man. Our advice: scour your area Wal-Marts for mislabeled hard drives. You might end up with a killer deal. Follow the "read" link for photographic proof of the $99 120GB HDD.

[Thanks, Scooter]

How not to spend $179 on a 120GB hard drive

Posted Mar 29th 2007 6:00PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: Hacks / mods, Rumors

An X3F regular, AoE, has reminded us about a nifty little trick that lets you use SATA hard drives with the Xbox 360. We reported the story back in January. Just as a refresher, here's how it works: using a bit of software from Xbox-Scene, you essentially trick your Xbox 360 into thinking any Western Digital BEVS drive is actually an official 360 drive. Of course, you'll have to possess some hardware and software savvy to get everything humming along.

Before now, the software would work only allow for 20GB of space, because the ID located on each official HDD says as much. Now that official 120GB hard drives will be hitting the market, it should be possible to grab the ID file from a 120GB drive. Of course, we don't condone such things, nor would we have any idea where to find such a file, but there it is. So, if you've got the technical knowhow, you may want to wait a while before laying down 179 smackers for 120GB of space. We'll let you know as soon as this comes to pass (or not).

Xbox 360 120GB HDD advertising appears

Posted Mar 26th 2007 1:00AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Peripherals, Rumors

It looks like promotional materials for the new "rumored" Xbox 360 120GB hard drive are surfacing. We received this picture from fanboy reader Ralph, who says it's a shot of Gamestop's promotional poster for the much rumored 120GB hard drive. Yes, we know it's a tiny picture, but Ralph says it's so small because it was sent to him via his trendy little Blackberry. Stupid Blackberrys and their small screens. So, is this confirmation of a new 120GB hard drive and possibly the Elite 360? Not exactly, but it makes for great speculation goodness. And we all know how much we love our rumors and spec.

[Thanks, Ralph]

Specialized 360 for IPTV in the works?

Posted Jan 15th 2007 4:15PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News

Speaking with Major Nelson in his most recent podcast, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg spoke of the possibility of a specially configured 360 built with IPTV and DVR functions in mind. When questioned about DVR functions and the possibility of a larger HDD, Greengerg said, "clearly the current way the Xbox 360 is designed is not for that ... we did not build this box to be a High Definition DVR." Greenberg further states that it's possible that consumers will eventually purchase some kind of IPTV upgrade (possibly referring only to a larger hard drive) or purchase an IPTV specific 360 "configuration" from a service provider. Greenberg points out that a larger hard drive is really only necessary for DVR functions and that it's possible to run IPTV without a hard drive at all.

While this doesn't necessarily mean we'll be seeing an entirely new 360, it may be the first time an MS representative hasn't outright deflected the possibility of a larger HDD, and that's saying something.

X06 Korea: 360 gets 100 GB hard drive?

Posted Oct 19th 2006 1:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Peripherals

At the X06 event in Korea, it has apparently been revealed that Microsoft is releasing a larger hard drive for the Xbox 360. How much larger? 100 GB in total. The image above was taken from a slide presentation, though our ~~evil robot~~ overlords at Joystiq note that this item seems to have been missed by Gamespot's coverage of the event (anybody here read Korean?). Frankly, we find the image a little dubious. A standard 20 GB 360 hard drive only says "HDD" on the side and makes no mention of capacity. True, Microsoft would probably find a way to differentiate the products visually, but why lose the "HDD" lettering? Then again, we all knew they'd release a bigger drive eventually, and now is as good a time as any with the PS3 launch only a month away.

We'll go ahead and echo Joystiq's concerns here. What happens if Microsoft starts bundling these with Premium 360s? Will 20 GB premium owners be screwed? Also, how much will this cost? Similar drives go for $200, and we doubt the average gamer wants to throw that kind of cash around just for more space. Assuming this rumor isn't bogus, what do you think?

[Via Joystiq]

Datel's no-muss hard drive adapter

Posted Apr 7th 2006 8:30PM by Christopher Grant
Filed under: Peripherals, Hacks / mods

You could spend $20 on a bare PCB that requires you to remove the hard drive if you want to access what's inside, or you could spend $40 and get Datel's XSATA device. It sits between the hard drive and the console, allowing the 360 and your PC to "share" the hard drive using a simple high-speed USB 2.0 port.

It's a pretty slick looking solution, but I'd be hot-dogged if I added glowing blue-LEDs to my 360! How about a model that matches the 360's white plastic?

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in]

Impressions of Datel's 4GB Xbox 360 HDD

Posted Feb 5th 2006 1:00AM by Christopher Grant
Filed under: News

Our skepticism regarding Datel's 4GB USB HDD appears to have been well-founded. Reputable import shop, Lik-Sang, has gotten their hands on an early unit and confirmed our apprehensions:

"...If you are waiting for a third-party HDD for your core Xbox 360 system because you are pissed at both the high price and low availability of the official Microsoft unit... well, this is not yet what you have been begging for. This new device is connected to the 360 via the USB connection, same as any other portable PC hard drives or USB drives would be, and it does not offer the same range of options as the official HDD does (no game saves, no going online, only media files transfer). It also offers only 4GB of space..."

I think it's best to stay clear of this one, unless your requirements for external storage demand glowing green lights; otherwise, grab an MP3 player and get all the functionality of the Datel unit, and a portable music player to boot!

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