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Xbox 360 Can I turn an old 360 HDD into a storage device?

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by shigllgetcha, 29 Sep 2008.

  1. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    I upgraded my HDD to 120gb recently and im left with the 20gb old HDD that i have no use for and was wondering can i use it as an external storage device for my 360?

    Is the HDD just a standard 2.5 sata HDD or is it abit different?
    I took the HDD out but it doesnt look like the HDD in my laptop. The laptop has pins but the HDD in the xbox has a different connector, more of a slide in connector

    Could i buy an enclosure that i can put the HDD into with a USB connector coming out of it to use it as an external drive?

    I know that it has to be FAT32 format and its under the 32gb limit. im sure i can just use the windows formatting program to reformat it
     
  2. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    Well, I don't think there's an wasy way of using it as-is (Whether some of those weird datel things work without it being plugged into a 360 or not, I have no idea..). Easiest way I can think of is whipping out a torx driver and taking the drive out - Inside the caddy it is just a bog-o-standard 2.5in SATA drive.

    If you intended to keep the warranty then you might be SOL with this idea.
     
  3. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    i have it taken out already i just mean can i connect it with an adapter or anything, warrantee isnt an issue anymore
     
  4. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    A bog standard 2.5in SATA drive caddy should be fine. Just be aware that you won't be able to store and protected content (Like the media stuff from the XBL store) on it, I'm not even sure whether you can store game saves etc on external drives.
     
  5. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    ah no im aware of this its only for music and that. think ill order an enclosure now

    do enclosures need to be powered seperately, id say 5v from a usb wudnt power a hdd.

    i know i have a hub with a power cable that works better without the cable connected
     
  6. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    I've seen a few that're just one connector, but the majority of the ones I've used have either been an external power brick, or two USB connectors. I'd bet a 2.5in caddy would be two USB connectors rather than a power brick, given the conitations of portability and so on.
     
  7. tranc3

    tranc3 ADHD Modder

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    hm i might have to do this with mine since the xbox bit the dust.
     
  8. staples

    staples What's a Dremel?

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    You could definitely do this, another option perhaps is to look on ebay for a 3rd party XBOX 360 hard drive skin for £10-15.

    When and if the Xbox Live update comes up it would give you another hard drive to potentially keep games, or movies on.
    I have heard the 3rd party ones can be an awkward fit but I guess it is an option.

    I think the problem with USB power idea is that the hard drive takes too much power, is it a 5400 or a 4200?
    I have a recollection of reading an article of a USB powered 4,200 laptop hard-drive but I cannot place it.

    20gb is nothing to be honest and while it is more than useful I would put to use a 3rd party skin as it would also give you flexibility to try a much larger hard drive if the time ever became right without the worry of wrecking your original storage device.
    Just a thought anyway.
     
  9. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    yeh i ordered an enclosure

    i checked the hdd last nite, it has 5V and something like 0.65A printed on it, whether thats what drives it or thats just what you need to read the info off it(and a power in it drive the disk) i dont konw. Id assume it drives it but doesnt matter ill dig something out.

    id assume the update will only let you save on the proper HDD, i cant see MS letting you save the game to the storage device, it wouldnt be that fast anyway. i think with a hd conect through a USB it only goes at like 400kb/s.

    its really only for music and dat

    a bigger hard drive isnt much use because the xbox will only read off a storge device no bigger than 32GB (the fat32 limit) and i dont think it will show up more that one partician
     
  10. DougEdey

    DougEdey I pwn all your storage

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    32GB limit?

    My 360 reads my 500GB drive perfectly, just requires formatting as NTFS... And Fat32 has a 2TB limit
     
  11. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    does it? i read a page ages and ages ago that it would read anything bigger than 32GB. thinking about it now i think it meant that windows 98 or 2000 or me or something would only format up to 32gb, ill have to dig it out and see, i might have picked it up wrong, ive have it printed somewhere. in that case i might order a bigger hard drive.

    was just checking the order seems the enclosure uses too usbs to power the hard drive, just aswell
     
    Last edited: 30 Sep 2008
  12. staples

    staples What's a Dremel?

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    Yeah, FAT32 can be much larger than 32gb. That was just a Microsoft OS thing.

    Just a point on my last post I am not sure if all 3rd party encloses allows for 360 system use...(just video/audio files)
     
  13. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    i read it wrong somewhere. 20gb is plenty anyway. its just a waste leavin a hd there if i have a use for it and a €10 case will make it usefull

    na its just for files dont need system use
     
  14. DougEdey

    DougEdey I pwn all your storage

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    I got £40 trade in for mine a while back
     
  15. fathazza

    fathazza Freed on Probation

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    arent the drives locked?

    they definately were in the original xbox....
     
  16. cyrilthefish

    cyrilthefish What's a Dremel?

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    Maybe people are getting confused with the 4GB file limit on fat32? I think thats one of the main reasons people tend to have problems with on fat32, no dvd iso images allowed :p

    Anyway, as for the enclosure it's almost certainly going to be fine without a power adaptor.
    I have a cheap 2.5" sata enclosure and whilst it did come with a second usb cable to provide additional power if needed, it doesn't need it to run the 160GB 5,400rpm hdd from my laptop :lol:
     
  17. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    yeh im not sure if ill need to use the second cable. i have a usb hub conect to the 360 and it has a power cable but ive never use the cable. the power cable makes th rrod come up and turns the 360 on after youve shut it down

    so the drive mite be powered by just one cable
     
  18. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    right, i got the enclosure and pluged the hdd into it.

    it comes up with the safely remove hardware and usb device regonised and all that

    but it doesnt come up in my computer. it is on the device manager under hard drives (or something to that affect) above the hdd in my computer named something like st****** A USB

    Ive tried it on xp and vista but i cant see how i would format it if i cant sellect it.

    would i have to cennect just the hard drive into my computer and format it through windows and then maybe it will come up as a usb mass storage device? just wondering before i go to the bother
     
  19. fathazza

    fathazza Freed on Probation

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    you need to partition it...

    right click on my comptuer --> Manage --> disk management
    the disk should show up there right click on it to add a partition
     
  20. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

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    thats great that worked thanks.
    i had been in disk management but i got into it some other way and it frooze when i chicked disk management but thru my computer it worked

    itll be great for music, bloody backshot billiards was drivin me mad with that bloody background music
     
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