actual 250 gb drives are 60-70 from some chinese sellers on ebay use bing cash back and get 8% off before it ends. I can't possibly recommend this waste of time.

1. You lose XBox 1 support doing this

2. You're in danger of losing save files or not being able to save games properly when using a non MS HDD. You may not be able to import saves from games like Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2 for example.

3. If Microsoft updates their system to not recognize non MS HDD's (like they did with the Datel devices) then you're screwed.

4. If you're doing this most likely you're trying to hack the system/games/pirate games and then if that's true then I want you to get banned because you're ruining it for everyone else.

i don't really care i got a slim now but i seriously doubt anything from china is legit. i bought one of those before and all it was was this exact harddrive inside. i had a few problems but once i ran the hack myself it worked fine. word of advice if you are going to do something do it yourself and don't trust some random chinese person on ebay

@MSUHitman I'm not doing it to hack the system just to store data on which is what a harddrive is for. Seriously you would recommed paying $130 for a $40 laptop drive?

Microsoft will you over. Just buy a official drive.

damn people, cut this guy some slack. Good for him if he is trying to save some money and sharing something useful for once instead of putting stories about dolls, sales numbers, or stupid shizz like that.
You people do know that everything we buy as far as electronics are made in China, when people say that chinese things are not reliable.. well... good luck with your chinese xbox, iphone, etc....
According to the new law for copyright, he is not doing anything illegal, he bought his xbox 360, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it as long as he is not burning games that he doesn't own.

get a flash drive or even an external hdd. just transfer the stuff to your computer if you want to use the drives and then config it again when needed.

@machtdh I'm glad at least one person here knows this, I bet everyone in this thread thought there Ipod and xbox was made in the USA huh?

oh i wasn't saying everything made in china was crap. just stuff that is cheap on ebay is probably a knockoff.

Not defending MS's overpricing, but if you do this, you run a good risk of having your console banned.

He's trying to save some money and not buy M$'s shitty crap that they want you buy so they make more money. I hardly believe their HDD is any better then any other HDD you can get for less.

el swordo that is definitely a good guide. I will consider this when I want to update and not get ripped off by Microsoft's high prices. Also mac is correct in most high tech devices made today are made in Southeast Asia (China, Korea, etc) because of cheap labor so lower overhead cost where they can maximize profit; especially Microsoft and Apple.

El Swordo I believe you will be okay because MS is worried about pirating and cheaters on Xbox Live and not necessarily this issue since there is a low percentage of users who own Xbox 360 who are going to avoid paying them for their high priced version of their harddrive.

@MSUHitman - You should really do more research. Three of your four examples are complete BS, and the only one that is valid is a "what if".

For everyone else, THIS WILL NOT GET YOU BANNED. The only system modifications that will get you banned is "messing" with your DVD drive. I recommend NOT creating your own HDDs unless you have put lots of research into it, and know what you are doing.

@rchrdJ

1 and 2 are correct. Any non-official MS retail HDD WILL NOT support the BC function for XBox 1 games. Ask Shrike if you don't believe me, he tested the refurb HDD's that are sold here locally in STL by Microcenter.

Also any game save with DRM WILL NOT work properly on non MS retail HDD's. ME 1 saves not on the official MS HDD will not transfer to ME 2 was my specific example and is accurate. Never tested, but I'm sure games like SF 4 and DoA 4 that had DRM on them (no copies) could of had issues as well.

3 I'll give you is a hypothetical, but given what Microsoft has already done (banning of Datel devices currently under litigation, new 360 Pure HDD's in a completely sealed proprietary case that has yet to be cracked) and the amount of console hacks people do for piracy or hacking prestige/xp/achievements in games makes MS the 2nd most active console manufacturer trying to work on piracy behind Sony's bi-monthly firmware updates.

Yeah I'm sure all the people pirating games, hacking the achievement/xp systems in games only did it by messing with the DVD drive. They do it with hacked HDD's and they used to do it with the Datel drives that went into the USB port (stepto said so in his Live enforcement panel at PAX 09.)

You've been doing news posts for what, under a year? Son I've been doing a gaming podcast with a heavy focus on news for soon to be 103 episodes over the course of the last 29 months.

You should be carrying my shoulder pads before you try talking down to me boy.

@machtdh
I didn't realize this was el swordo when I clicked on the blog, I guess the ignore feature only works on posts. He came on here months ago asking about the auctions for HDD's on EBay and most of us told him the same stuff I just said and he wouldn't listen to us and then he got a busted HDD and now it's his life mission to tell everyone how to get cheaper HDD's for the 360 but forgets to mention all the negatives for doing so.

The prices suck for 360 HDD's but you have 3 choices.

1. Refuse to pay the price for them and choose not to enjoy DLC and XBLA games that come out because your original 20GB HDD is full.

2. Try one of these workarounds and find out your saves have a higher chance to become corrupted or not work properly if MS changes their firmware and you get less functionality than a retail purchase drive.

3. Take it and buy it or at least try to find a deal on a used one at Gamestop or with various coupons to drop the price or maybe hope these old-style HDD's go on clearance soon since they don't work on new 360's.

@msuhitman it's not my life mission to tell people how to get cheap harddrives. I just thought I would let people know that there is a way to get a harddrive for less than half the price of official drive. the one i bought on ebay didn't work properly but i fixed it by running the program myself. sure their might be drm game saves but you can get around that by making a copy to a flash drive you probably already own. and if it doesn't work out properly you can still recover the harddrive for media storage etc. personally i would rather risk losing $50 then ever give in to price gouging. come on i can get a 2tb harddrive on sale for the price of microsofts official drive. sure it's not for everybody but just thought i'd throw out the option

Thank you, el swordo, for posting this helpful hint.

msuhitman, You sound like a douche. But thanks for your side of the story, whatever the accuracy of the information.

I did this back in December and it works flawlessly. As to some of the misinformation on here, I can pitch in my experience.

@MSUHitman: I'm not picking on you here. Your post included the most common complaints that I've seen so I'll use them just for convenience.

"1. You lose XBox 1 support doing this"

You can restore xbox 1 functionality without much trouble when making a new harddrive, It is one simple extra step however most people don't do it. I have done it and it works. The OP's link has instructions on how to do this.


"2. You're in danger of losing save files or not being able to save games properly when using a non MS HDD. You may not be able to import saves from games like Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2 for example"......"Also any game save with DRM WILL NOT work properly on non MS retail HDD's. ME 1 saves not on the official MS HDD will not transfer to ME 2 was my specific example and is accurate. Never tested, but I'm sure games like SF 4 and DoA 4 that had DRM on them (no copies) could of had issues as well.
"

Incorrect. All my saves, even those with DRM work fine. I have imported a mass effect 1 save which was made on my original 20 gb drive to mass effect 2 which I played on my DIY 250gb. Street Fighter 4 works fine, there is no difference. I have not personally tried DOA4 but I can't see why it wouldn't work.

"3. If Microsoft updates their system to not recognize non MS HDD's (like they did with the Datel devices) then you're screwed."

Theoretically this is correct. It will never happen though. The hack involves using the same drive keys, identifiers and firmware from MS' drives and putting them on the new drive. To a 360 or computer, the drives appear to be identical since they are running the exact same software as the original drives down to the very last bit. I can't think of a way to detect any differences aside from physical inspection.

"4. If you're doing this most likely you're trying to hack the system/games/pirate games and then if that's true then I want you to get banned because you're ruining it for everyone else."

Incorrect. This hack doesn't allow you to do any of that. Further more, it doesn't open any exploits which would allow anything like this to occur. All it does is write MS' software and HD keys to a new drive. It is EXACTLY the same as the official 250gb drive.

In closing, by doing this hack you have the same chances of being banned as if you had just bought the official MS drive (i.e. none). It will not allow hacked/pirated/burned or whatever games to run. It will not open up any exploits. It will not allow you to run unsigned code. It does not defeat any of the 360's or MS' security measures. It will allow you to do everything that the official drive will and nothing extra. The firmware is official. The keys are official. The ID is official. The LBA refers to the sectors in exactly the same way. The drives are identical in every way except for the sticker on the front.

@msuhitman You've been doing a podcast for 29 months? You're a f-ing expert son.

classic

@JJJJS - You are completely right.

@MSUHitman - Don't be a douche bag. I just told you that you need to research this as you are obviously misinformed. Having a podcast for 29 months doesn't make you any better than anyone else.

Everything Hitman said was wrong LOL.
You also don't need to having anything modified on your Xbox to hack achievements.
Only some gamesaves won't transfer properly and you can fix those using programs on your computer.
This doesn't allow you to pirate anything, it acts as a normal 360 harddrive.
These are indistinguishable from official drives since they are flashed to look exactly the same.