Is the 120 GB HD really necessary?

D

die138

CAGiversary!
Feedback
3 (100%)
I'm planning on getting a 360 but i'm not sure if I should get the elite or halo edition. With the 120 GB HD being the selling point. Is it really necessary? I just want to download games and bonus content for games. I don't see myself getting movies or anything else. So what do you guys think? Also how much free space do you guys use and/or have left?
 
No.

I have a 20GB with over 30 arcade games and tons of videos and demos. I have about 7GBs left.

The 120GB is such overkill, the only people who could find it useful are the lazy.
 
If your planning on downloading movies, tv shows, vids, etc, then yeah the 120GB is nice. But for gamesaves, add on content, live arcade games, and a few demos, the 20GB is fine.

With the 120GB you can just 'download and forget' and just keep everything you dl on there. With the 20GB You have to do some 'maintenance' every few weeks and clear out some old demos and trailer vids, etc.
 
If you ever plan on taking advantage of the IPTV...then yes, you will need it. Otherwise 20GB is fine. Yet the PS3 has 80GBs and you can upgrade the HDD...because THAT is really needed :lol:
 
[quote name='zewone']No.

I have a 20GB with over 30 arcade games and tons of videos and demos. I have about 7GBs left.

The 120GB is such overkill, the only people who could find it useful are the lazy.[/quote]
man your 20gb must be a magic hard drive because I have about 15 arcade games a bunch of videos and demos and i only have 550 mbs left. I should also note I have both the Ghost Recon Map Packs, as well as the Rainbow Six Vegas 2 red/black map packs and the Gears of War maps. So thats about 3gis right there. Maybe its also because my videos are all HD, and not standard definition.

Bottom line I need a new hard drive, but to answer your question OP if you plan on just gaming (i.e. Game saves and Arcade games) the 20gb is perfect, but if you want to have downloadable content, HD videos, and a good amount of demos your going to need the 120gb at least in my opinion. However I know you can just delete stuff and redownload it later, but to me its a hassle, and I rather just keep in on the HD if I know I will mess around it every so often. (and because I am lazy lol)

After all that I don't plan on upgrading my HDD at all because of it being way overpriced, and will probably wait it out until I see it cheaper or on clearance etc. Damn Microsoft for not making the HDD easy to upgrade like the PS3.
 
[quote name='zewone']

The 120GB is such overkill, the only people who could find it useful are the lazy.[/QUOTE]

That makes no sense.

Anyway, if you have a lot of movies/TV shows you want to buy then it makes sense. I have no idea what being lazy has to do with it.
 
[quote name='die138']I'm planning on getting a 360 but i'm not sure if I should get the elite or halo edition. With the 120 GB HD being the selling point. Is it really necessary? I just want to download games and bonus content for games. I don't see myself getting movies or anything else. So what do you guys think? Also how much free space do you guys use and/or have left?[/QUOTE]

I look at it this way... I've upgraded my PS3 to 120... and I decided on an Elite (I might've waited for the Halo edition had it come with a 120), for the same reason I upgraded my PS3. Never deleting stuff to "make room", unless I want to. ... with a 20GB, you're pressed for space and the very small footprint makes for a built-in cleaning of the drive when new content shows up...

Now, if the colors matter more than 120GB, by all means... get what you think looks best. ;) But for $50 you get all the cabling you need and 120GB. (I don't have a new-fangled receiver, so I need the adapter for the audio...) I think that alone is worth it... if the Elite was still $499... it'd be a tougher call...but not by much... considering the package price for a 120 is what, $179?
 
[quote name='njchris']That makes no sense.

Anyway, if you have a lot of movies/TV shows you want to buy then it makes sense. I have no idea what being lazy has to do with it.[/QUOTE]
Uh...because movies only stay for 1 day.

If you're too lazy to manage your downloads than it is useful.

How doesn't that make sense?
 
Yes, it is necessary. I don't know about zewone or what kind of voodoo magic he does, but if you grab some map packs or some character packs, then the standard HD that comes with the premium goes away fairly fast. I have the GoW packs, the Rainbow 6 packs, both CoD3 packs, the character pack for M:UA and just by those it can go away fairly quick. And mind you that I manage my HD fairly well by deleting unwanted demos/demos after I've played them, trailers, etc.
 
[quote name='zewone']I do it by not downloading DL content?[/QUOTE]

Then you're best served with a memory card and no HDD. :) Other than large content stashes, and add-ons, the only reason to have a hard drive in the first place is for BC.... Of course as time passes, perhaps the hard drive will be more and more integral...

Just keep the original Xbox handy and voila! Problem solved. :)
 
[quote name='Mechafenris']Then you're best served with a memory card and no HDD. :) Other than large content stashes, and add-ons, the only reason to have a hard drive in the first place is for BC.... Of course as time passes, perhaps the hard drive will be more and more integral...

Just keep the original Xbox handy and voila! Problem solved. :)[/QUOTE]
You can't download demos or videos without a HDD.

The 120GB HDD isn't necessary, that's why the Premium outsells the Elite.
 
Hard to say right now, but if you pick up a lot of DLC, then you'll want it.

As others have already said, if you're going to do any HD or IPTV stuff, you'll absolutely need one, as management of all those large files would be a total pain in the rear.

I don't do the non-game DLC, so I've been getting by just fine on 20, but I wonder how long that will last over time.

Edit:

[quote name='zewone']You can't download demos or videos with a HDD.[/quote]

I think you mean you can't do demos or videos without an HDD? Anyway, the Premium outsells the Elite because it's much cheaper in comparison. I think most folks would love the extra space, whether they need it or not.
 
I've got 5 gigs left and with the upcoming XBLA games, that's gonna dwindle fast too. I really want the 120 GB but the price is keeping it outta reach (until I find a deal).
 
I've only downloaded the GoW DLC, which was free. I sold the games a few months ago so I plan on deleting it.

As long as Halo 3 doesn't have 12 gigs of DLC, I'll be ok.
 
[quote name='gunm']
I think you mean you can't do demos or videos without an HDD? Anyway, the Premium outsells the Elite because it's much cheaper in comparison. I think most folks would love the extra space, whether they need it or not.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I meant without.

Of course people would love more space, but it isn't necessary.

The core is cheaper than the premium, but the premium still outsells the core. Component cables, HDD, and headset are pretty close to necessary.
 
I don't need anywhere near 120 gigs. I get by fine with the 20 GB but I could definitely go for a 40 or 60 GB one.
 
[quote name='zewone']I do it by not downloading DL content?[/quote]

Perhaps so. I play a ton of CoD 2/3 and have the original free map pack for CoD2 and then both map packs for CoD3 (I think one was 800 MB and probably the same for the other) and the free map that they gave out. I still have that free episode of South Park that XBL gave out since it still works. I have the GoW mappack (very fun I might add) and the Rainbow 6 Vegas map/bonus packs. I then have Puzzle Fighter, TMNT the arcade game, and a couple of other XBLA. Right now I still have a couple of demos and videos on the system, but I plan on deleting those soon. All in all, I'm nearing the end of my HD space.
 
FWIW (not much) I only have 58 MB left on my Elite right now. I have a ton of demos that I keep around because the kids like to play them. And I simply don't have to worry about it. I like that...

I want to put music and pictures, etc, on there but I haven't even gotten around to doing that. But I have plenty of room for when I do. (Yeah, streaming is great but my main computer shuts down after 10 minutes even after HP came out and swapped out the motherboard. They are coming back again this week. So now I want the stuff on the 360 as a backup if nothing else.).
 
The 120 GB hard drive is quickly becoming a must for anyone that buys add-ons for their games. I don't store any sort of music, videos, or pictures on my 20GB and it's pretty much always full if I have more than two demos downloaded. All those 1 GB downloads for Oblivion, Rainbow Six, GRAW, Gears of War, etc. add up fast.
 
I've had my Elite since early June, and I currently have 16 Arcade Games, 8 Retail Games, the Ace Combat 6 Demo, the Call of Duty 4 MP Beta, and the Gears maps.

All in all, I have about 1 GB of space left. So, I went through 19GBs in about 3.5 months. I'd like to think that I'll be playing the 360 for about 3-5 years, so I'd have to believe that the 120GB is a worthwhile investment.

Also, consider this:
Premium (20GB): $349.99
Halo (20GB): $399.99
Elite (120GB): $449.99
20GB HD: $89.99
120GB HD: $179.99

Assuming that you will have to exceed 20GB at some point in the future (I'd consider it highly likely), do want to have a $90 brick laying around or have to sell off later if you do upgrade?

All in all, I think if you're going to spend $300-400 for a console, an investment to 6x your HD space for an extra 20-25% is worth it.

~HotShotX
 
[quote name='io']FWIW (not much) I only have 58 MB left on my Elite right now. I have a ton of demos that I keep around because the kids like to play them. And I simply don't have to worry about it. I like that...

I want to put music and pictures, etc, on there but I haven't even gotten around to doing that. But I have plenty of room for when I do. (Yeah, streaming is great but my main computer shuts down after 10 minutes even after HP came out and swapped out the motherboard. They are coming back again this week. So now I want the stuff on the 360 as a backup if nothing else.).[/quote]

I have the same problem with one of my home HP desktops. If I turn off the screen for a little bit without something running in the background outside of A/V, then it restarts itself. If the screensaver goes on, then it restarts itself. I thought it was MOBO as well, but that did diddly squat when I tried fixing it.
 
If you don't plan on buying any movies or tv shows, then no there is no reason for it.

That being said, after the next dashboard update I think we'll all see the real reason Microsoft launched the 120 gig hard drive.
 
[quote name='GizmoGC']I have about 50 XBL games, some TV Shows etc. and still have 9GB left on my 20GB drive. WTF am I doing right?[/QUOTE]

a lot of the xbl games take up very little space, as do most of the standard def. tv shows.
as the others have said, downloading map packs and some of the other downloadable content for the regular 360 games adds up quickly.
most of the 360 demos I've downloaded occupy 1gb or more. first episode of heroes in hd - that was free - occupied 2.3 gb. and for the record, the 20gb harddrive came with 13gb available (and there wasn't much on it).
anyone know the size of the operating system, or if there is a partition for developers?
 
[quote name='shipwreck']The 120 GB hard drive is quickly becoming a must for anyone that buys add-ons for their games. I don't store any sort of music, videos, or pictures on my 20GB and it's pretty much always full if I have more than two demos downloaded. All those 1 GB downloads for Oblivion, Rainbow Six, GRAW, Gears of War, etc. add up fast.[/QUOTE]

Sums it up nicely.

With nearly all the arcade games, free game content for the games I do own (Out of the 80 or so I own, I'd wager atleast half have free content), free themes/gamerpics...I'd down to about 1.8 gig if I don't keep any demos.
 
[quote name='shipwreck']The 120 GB hard drive is quickly becoming a must for anyone that buys add-ons for their games. I don't store any sort of music, videos, or pictures on my 20GB and it's pretty much always full if I have more than two demos downloaded. All those 1 GB downloads for Oblivion, Rainbow Six, GRAW, Gears of War, etc. add up fast.[/quote]

This is a good point, I rarely dipped below 10gb (and then only when I had demo's downloaded), but now I've got content downloads for things like R6 and Lost Planet I'm hovering round about 8 gb.

It's not going to be long before I'll need to look at getting the 120 gb drive, and the headache of transfering data that will come with it.:cry:
 
Never ask if x amount of HD space is too much. It might seem like it now, but you have no idea what the future will hold.
I remember once telling a friend of mine that the new cutting edge 386 PC I bought came with a 250MB HD and how on earth would I ever use that much space! I think we all know how that turned out. Always go for bulk.
 
I bought an elite in July and am currently using close to 40gigs, it's nice having the extra space, if you're going to use live and download extra content/arcade games, the size of your hdd is going to become increasingly important the longer you have your xbox
 
[quote name='benjamouth']This is a good point, I rarely dipped below 10gb (and then only when I had demo's downloaded), but now I've got content downloads for things like R6 and Lost Planet I'm hovering round about 8 gb.

It's not going to be long before I'll need to look at getting the 120 gb drive, and the headache of transfering data that will come with it.:cry:[/QUOTE]

The Lost Planet maps are pretty small, R6 are 1GB each which is insane. As time goes along won't your play time with older games go along with it? If you haven't played R6 in a couple months, delete the shit and reclaim your space.

In-game content is definitely where you get in trouble. Arcade games, tv shows and demos aren't an issue.
 
Get the elite. You WILL need the 120 gig HDD If you download map packs and demos. Besides, The halo 360 is uguly.
 
[quote name='zewone']You can't download demos or videos without a HDD.

The 120GB HDD isn't necessary, that's why the Premium outsells the Elite.[/QUOTE]

It couldn't be that it's $100 cheaper, either. ;) The consensus is that 120GB will prove useful... do you want to pay now or later is really the only argument, I suppose.
 
[quote name='Mechafenris']It couldn't be that it's $100 cheaper, either. ;) The consensus is that 120GB will prove useful... do you want to pay now or later is really the only argument, I suppose.[/QUOTE]
If it was "necessary", the $100 wouldn't matter.
 
[quote name='zewone']If it was "necessary", the $100 wouldn't matter.[/QUOTE]

Necessary means different things to different people. For me the entire console isn't "necessary." But if you're going to spend $180 later... even if you don't think you need it now, save the $80 and get the Elite, unless you _really_ love white.

That's all I'm driving at. I completely understand that you don't think it's necessary at all, ever, not until the end of time... but if someone's considering it, saving $80 now vs. $180 later is a consideration. If they dismiss it as "never-ever" then fine. Save the $100 and get a Premium/Pro... Heck, if you don't want demos or movies (and most people might avoid the latter...) you can save even more and get the Core/Arcade version... with the possibility of getting a 20GB should the 'need' strike them.

There's a compelling argument to at the very least consider it before dismissing it as "never need it... nope... not ever." What is good for you might not be good for someone else, and in that, weighing all the options is always a prudent thing. Having someone emphatically say one way or the other should be taken with a grain of salt... and I think the OP realizes that.... but getting a good cross-section of our opinions on the matter will make for a smarter shopper... at least we hope so. :)

Perhaps the person will never need it... I can't say for sure. I know I like the extra space... and eventually things are going to bloat and get more and more weight behind them (saves, add-ons, etc.) and some people would rather just have the space for it, rather than bother "making room."

It doesn't technically apply here... but the old saying "on matters of taste, there is no argument" can sort of apply. We're not really arguing for or against something, we're simply throwing our opinion in the hat for a guy sitting on the fence about a particular 360 item. And I think we've done that quite well. :)
 
[quote name='zewone']No.

I have a 20GB with over 30 arcade games and tons of videos and demos. I have about 7GBs left.

The 120GB is such overkill, the only people who could find it useful are the lazy.[/QUOTE]

I've got 55 arcade games with the CoD4 beta and maybe a few videos and I have 5gb left.

That's after 1.5 years of owning the console

Yes, the drive is worth it.
 
No its not "necessary". Lots of people told me I'd want it before I jumped in and I still went with the 20gb anyway...

But speaking from experience now, I sure could've used the extra space were it available.
 
[quote name='velvet396']No its not "necessary". Lots of people told me I'd want it before I jumped in and I still went with the 20gb anyway...

But speaking from experience now, I sure could've used the extra space were it available.[/quote]

Exactly! In the end you will need the 120 gig HDD if you want to keep lots of downloaded content, Demos, Music and trailers!
 
Yes, I would LOVE the 120GB HDD, but it is way too overpriced currently. I think it would be more cost effective for myself to get an ELITE and then sell my old one....but I won't do that.

Currently my 20GB is OK, but I find myself deleting demos and some old downloadable content for games I don't play....it would be nice just to have some of those things. I deleted a bunch of Arcade games also that I only had the demo for.
 
Just remember that the primary reason they released the 120 gig is for IPTV which will be launched this fall.

If you aren't that interested in IPTV/DVR stuff then the 120 gig is just for videos and demos and you don't want to delete very often.
 
I would say if you are a hardcore gamer.......it's worth the upgrade.....

Especially as you know your game collection will only grow over the years....and all those XBLA Games and Game Expansion Packs will only accumulate. (42 XBL Arcade games and counting....even I was shocked when I realized how many games that was).

Also....if you play your old XBOX games....its good to have the space as well.
 
I usually have 5-6 GB free on my 20 GB HDD with the Oblivion expansion, some videos, and a demo or two.
Eventaully 20 GB just isn't going to be enough. Microsoft should have bundled the core with the 20 GB HDD and sold the premium with a 40 or 60 GB HDD.
 
20GB (in actually much less) is not enough. Mine's filling up quick, and will probably max out very soon now that XBLA games had their limit bumped. FEAR alone has taken a big chunk from the map packs and Oblivion used up over a gig.

I might get the 120GB sometime next year, when Microsoft realizes how fucked up their pricing is and lowers it.
 
It's not necessary yet and hopefully it wont be BUT like some have said if you buy alot of map packs and game addons like Oblivion then you gonna be stuffed fast. Also betas will add around another gig whenever they are out.

I currently have 8.8 gigs free and my hard drive just has 17 full arcade games, 5 demos, 2 videos (200mb total) and the CoD4 beta. I don't fool with shows and movies and delete 99% of videos after watching. You can do it with a 20g you just have to keep things need and delete what you wont be using again.

BTW be sure do go back and delete stuff like Halo 3 beta and etc from your memory I had forgotten about that for awhile and it was jusst taking up space.
 
I have a fair amount of music, the COD maps, Gears maps, Oblivion DLC, 4 or 5 demos and still 6 Gigs of space. Like others have said. If you plan on DLing a lot of HD video then get the Elite (even though all the movies are only rentals and are useless to keep after a day). If not than you don't really need it. If i ever really need space i'll delete the map packs or arcade games and re download them for free (Live keeps track for you) when i want to play the games again. Only a minor hindrance. Just don't delete the demos unless you never want to play them again. Some of them seem to magicaly dissapear from the download list.
 
Yea, 20GB is just not enough. I have a nice amount of arcade games, barely any demos and a few videos (plus some game content) and I'm down to 3GB.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top