How to: Make your own USB HDD for Xbox 360

[redtop91]

The Xbox 360 Premium hard drive sucks. Period. Why in the hell did Microsoft only provide a 20 GB hard drive when they provided the Xbox Marketplace? I download at least 3 gigs daily of various games demos, videos, movies and what not. I have also noticed that when running my media center extension and streaming movie from my PC that the lower the hard drive free disk storage, the slower the connection. Eff that. It's a Microsoft product, I'm willing to bet that I can use any old FAT32 USB HDD. While that is pretty much true, it is not as simple as just going to Best Buy and buying one. So I figured that for the not so tech savvy or anyone not satisfied with the Xbox 360 Hard drive, I'd do a write up for how to expand it. My digicam is broken so words will have to suffice for now.

1. I'm a cheap bastard. You drive a Nissan so you probably are too. So my steps will include the cheapest prices I could find for the project. If you can find cheaper stuff, more power to you.

Parts you'll need:-Any kind of hard drive and a usb 2.0 adapter to match. (I chose the Seagate Momentus 5400.2 Series 100 GB Ultra ATA-100 2.5" Hard Drive $80 give or take 5, the USB 2.0 adapter can be had anywhere. I bought mine from here http://insidecomputer.stores.y....html for 12 bucks)-(Optional) A case for the hard drive. Unless you want to be ghetto like me

1. Plug everything together. This is ridiculously simple. If you need help on this AIM me. I'll only make fun of you for about 5 minutes or so.2. Connect the drive to your computer. (If you USB 2.0 adapter came with a CD you might need it if the "Found New Hardware Wizard" pops up or if you are ghetto and have an OS like ME or 2000 or *gasp* 98) (No Mac love here. If you have one there is a solution, suicide) most Windows XP computers are plug and pray and should automatically pull the drivers. Easy.3. OK if you are running Windows XP and you have a hard drive that is equal to or less than 32 GB the next step is easy.Go to start--> right click my computer--> click manage-->click disk management--> and you should see this:4. Make sure no other drives are connected so you don't format the wrong one. And BTW, this really goes without saying but, don't format your C drive please(In most cases the option to format C will be greyed out because you need your boot disk or XP disk) It'll make your day go bad an baby Jesus will shed a tear. 5. Right click on the drive and click format disk and make sure to Format FAT32(If anyone has an easier method, LMK)6. Once the format is complete, disconnect the drive7. Connect to the Xbox 3608. Go to the Media Tab9. Voila! The portable device is your new hard drive.

I'll clean this up a little later.
Modified by redtop91 at 3:58 PM 3/29/2007

[MinisterofDOOM]

The big problem is that your 360 can only read from the USB hard drive and can't write to it. So you can't save games or Xbox Live content to it.

[redtop91]

That is definitely true but I'm thinking of a workaround as we speak. It will require more extensive modifications so I might just have that setup for personal use.

[xekushnr]

That's funny, a few days ago I was thinking of starting a thread based on this very idea. Even if I can only read from the HDD, my computer is 10 feet away from my 360, so I can transfer videos, music, etc., walk 2 steps to my left, and plug it in. It would be a lot easier than constantly deleting things from the HDD.

[otterman]

Step 1: Sell XboxStep 2: Build a computerStep 3: Play computerStep 4: Repeat step 3

[drftsil8ty]

lol, what if I have Xbox and Computer?

[otterman]

Then you should sell your Xbox to buy car parts or computer parts.

[drftsil8ty]

lol, i'll stick with my Xbox.

[otterman]

lol, i'll stick with the computers little retarded whore sister.

fixed

[redtop91]

Step 2: Build a computer

Computer gaming fails. Just like otterman.

[redtop91]

Opened up my extra hard drive today and I found a Samsung Unit labeled HM020GI that interfaces via a Serial ATA Connection. Searching Samsung's website I found a similar unit for 120GB http://samsung.com/Products/Ha...I.asp I'll be buying that next check. Anyone know what format the internal drive is in? I'd assume FAT32 but I wanna be sure. I don't want any bad sectors from multiple formatting.