xbox 360 - putting games to hard drive

[TAKTAK]

One thing of interest, if you do a hotswap, does it shout at you?

[finlay666]

kills the game and goes to desktop IIRC

[TAKTAK]

Does it constantly poll the drive?
Or if you could take the disc out and replace it with another without opening it, would it work? (not really any way to know, but oh well)

[finlay666]

well IIRC it checks on spin up, BUT pressing the drive open button is seperately controlled and triggers an event etc

Don't think it's possible to change a disc without triggering the event though

[Terbinator]

get a life nerds sharing a game with someone isnt equivalent to killing someones dog

Im sorry but wtf ?

[Saracen]

Illegal, you are sharing something with someone who doesn't have permission to use it.

Same as copying a dvd, techically illegal.

As for the matter, the disc performs a check when it spins up so you have to have it in, if you change the console the hard drive is attached to you have to rip it to the 360 HDD again too.

Actually, it's not necessarily illegal and certainly not necessarily the same.

Under UK law, and other jurisdictions vary and often on the side of being more liberal, computer software benefits from some exemptions from copyright restrictions that don't apply to other items, like DVDS. For a start, a "lawful user" of a piece of software can make backups if they're "necessary" to his lawful use.

Also, EULAs make it clear that when you "buy" software, you're actually buying a licence to use the program, not the software itself. So you've bought the physical media, the packaging, the physical material the instructions are on, but not the right to copy the contents of the media, or the wording of the instructions.

So .... you buy a game, and it comes on a disc. Are you a "lawful user"? Yup. Given that the program code on the disc is identical, are you any less a lawful user if you install from a different disc, provided you use your code?

The fact that the physical disc got damaged doesn't make you any less a lawful user and so, if you have a backup, you could use i8t to reinstall the game and neither that backup copy nor your installation would be illegal.


As for arif's original question, in my opinion, there's two aspects to that. Firstly, is it physically possible to do what he asked about? I don't know but I'd be surprised if it couldn't be done .... but it might well be illegal to do it.

Arif .... the short answer, legally, is that if you've both bought the game, and one of you has damaged the disc, then what you asked might well be okay because you're both lawful users. But if, as implied by your remark about "saving money", what you mean is ...

- buy one copy of a game
- install on the HD on one XBox
- use the disc to play on another ....


..... then unless that software company specifically allowed that (such as a three-PC licence that some utilities like AV software allow) then it would be illegal, even if you could get it to work.



So in short, copying a computer software disc might well be perfectly legal, IF either you're allowed to do so by the EULA, or if the copy fits that "Backup" exemption to copyright law. Also, using it on multiple PCs might be legal, if either the software EULA allows it or if both users are "lawful users" anyway.


As for what we allow or don't allow to be discussed, it's not quite as suggested earlier. There's nothing wrong with someone asking if doing what arif asked is allowed or would work. What we don't allow is discussion of or advocacy for copyright theft. He's quite entitled to ask questions, provided he's not asking for help to, or given help in, breaking the law.


Oh, and one final point. I'm not a lawyer, and the above is my understanding, and our stance is based on protecting Hexus, so we err on the cautious side, bearing in mind that we have no desire to get lawyers involved, and certainly not in deciding what's legal or not. If we aren't comfortable that it's legal, we don't allow it.

What is clear is that this is something of a grey area. For instance, one part of copyright law says lawful users can make necessary backups of software, but another bit makes it illegal to bypass copy protection measures ... so what if a lawful user makes a necessary backup, which is an act specifically permitted, but bypasses copy protection measures to do it? Hexus does not intend to end up paying legal fees to get answers to that kind of question ... hence our stance.

[Knoxville]

get a life nerds sharing a game with someone isnt equivalent to killing someones dog

I'm confused, at what point did anyone compare the illegality of sharing a game with killing a dog?

Either way bumping old threads just to make inflammatory posts like that isn't really the kind of thing we expect from our members here.

[Nick]

'salright Knox, I've 'dealt' with it/him the troll.

And back on topic... if I did fancy killing a dog, do I have to pay license fees to Microsoft if I batter it with an Xbox 360?

Is an Xbox 360 compatible with dog killing?I've heard the PS3 will be better for this once they figure out how to use all it's weight for the job... but the PS3 is also far less like to be breed-locked, unlike the Xbox 360?

[arif7]

wow who would have thought asking one little question would have cause all this! Was just a simple question as i didnt no if it was possible or not and couldnt understand why you can copy a game to a hard drive but still need the disk. Not to worry now i get the point that what i asked cant be done. Thanks

[Rob_B]

With regards to the console checking the CD after the initial check does anyone know the process?

I ask as most games spin the disc up when starting the game, then after a few seconds it spins down & doesn't do it again. When playing FC2 from the HDD my disc would never properly stop & maintained a slow, light hum throughout the game until exit. I found that a bit strange?

[Terbinator]

When playing FC2 from the HDD my disc would never properly stop & maintained a slow, light hum throughout the game until exit. I found that a bit strange?

Could just be hard drive noise as opposed to disc noise possibly ? I find that when im playing a game from the HDD that its quiter than when im on the dashboard doing nothing O.o

[Rob_B]

Could just be hard drive noise as opposed to disc noise possibly ? I find that when im playing a game from the HDD that its quiter than when im on the dashboard doing nothing O.o

Good thought but it was definately the disc spinning (as confirmed by ejecting it midway through a game & I could heard it spin down before opening) I know FC2 constantly streamed but surely from the HDD if installed, strange it was only this 1 game that did it.

Never mind though, was a crap game anyway!