News - Microsoft launches standalone 250GB Xbox 360 hard drive

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The Xbox 360's largest storage solution is now available as a standalone accessory for US customers, and will be arriving in the UK next month.

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Read more.

Would be nice if could just swap the HD with a non propriety one a la PS3. At the very least, for for those who've splashed on the Elite.

Amazon atm are doing the 250GB HD for £66 pre-order. At present though I barely use 40% of the 120GB HD so a 250GB one would be a waste of money currently.

They want how much for it? I mean it's better than the £120 they wanted for the 120GB model but it's still outrageously expensive for a laptop hard drive! Sony have the right idea with the PS3 - let your customers just use what they want! Does anyone know if there's anything to stop you just upgrading the HDD yourself? It would require some fiddling to get it working but I really can't see anything wrong with modifying something which you own!

it's a proprietary file system based around Fat32 IIRC
there is a program out there that allows RW access via SATA directly to the drive, but I'm not sure if you're able to replace the drive. Knowing Microsoft there's probably a custom firmware on the HDD which you'd have to work around

I see a glut of used 120GB drives coming on the market as those with terminal upgraditis rush for these.

Or not. ;)

Oh yeah there is a custom firmware on the drive but it's possible to get a drive working yourself. I was just wondering if there was anything wrong with doing this i.e. could it get the DIY'er into trouble/get them banned?

IM tempted :D

My 120 gb drive is almost full as I install all my games to the drive

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Originally Posted by watercooled

Oh yeah there is a custom firmware on the drive but it's possible to get a drive working yourself. I was just wondering if there was anything wrong with doing this i.e. could it get the DIY'er into trouble/get them banned?

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Are you stupid? Of course it can/will get you banned.

You are modifying the hardware which is against the EULA for Live if they found out.




Looks like the pricing is to make it more attractive for new customers to just get the S.Elite than the arcade + 250gb hdd.

No I'm not stupid actually, in fact I know lots of people who have done this and have been using it for years without getting banned - I just wanted to know if it was actually against the EULA because that's the only thing stopping me really. There's no way I'm paying that amount of money on a hard drive in a cheap caddy it's just stupid. I mean I understand people buying them if they think it's somehow a special hard drive or just don't know how much they cost but how can anyone who knows all that justify spending so much on one? It's a total rip-off!

The article has been updated. Microsoft has confirmed that the UK RRP is actually £64.99.

£65 doesn't seem too bad when i;ve seen the 120Gb ones being sold second hand in CEX for £45, certainly not an ideal price compared to a 250Gb laptop sata drive obviously, but compared to the 60Gb drive in my 360 it'd be a good upgrade perhaps. I tend to load games onto hard drive so the extra space would be good.

It's heading in the right direction but still very expensive. If they're using the same line of drives they used for the 120GB drives then this is probably the one they're using: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/250-G...MB-Cache-12-ms bit of a price difference, eh?

ok, but then you compare it to a 2.5" WD drive in an external enclosure and then it's not that big a price hike
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/250GB...-Powered-Black

At least the passport includes some electronics (SATA-USB interface), the 360 one is still SATA electronically at the outside but yeah I see what you mean. If they dropped it to £50 I'd consider it reasonable.

I think they usually try to justify the extra price by preloading demos and what nots on the drive before you get it