360 to gain USB storage support in spring update

If anybody cares, I found a pretty fast drive for $45. "Verbatim Store 'n' Go 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive with ReadyBoost 96317" with free super-saver shipping. Old top-shelf brand with good compatibility.
 
[quote name='GLOCKGLOCK']Yea, I think they are hitting us with this USB update and that is it. It is a pretty big deal if you think about it, so I'm not really that surprised. I think this is probably all we are getting until E3 when they announce the slim or something like that. Didn't they skip the Spring Update last year too since they hit us with the NXE in the Fall of 2008? Then they hit us with facebook/twitter/last.fm in Fall of 2009.

I have my 32 gb sticks ready to take advantage of this. Will probably dump my 512mb this week as well. Will probably move everything off my 120 to my 250 as well. Still wonder how backup will work to other devices, if it works at all, but we'll know soon enough.

Edit - I don't think I have used facebook, twitter or last.fm since the actual update went live to everyone because I checked them out in the preview program, realized how lame they were on the 360 and never went back.[/QUOTE]

If you decide to dump that 512 fairly cheap, let me know and I will buy it off you. Back on topic, I just got hit by the update as I was getting ready to sign off for the night and don't really have time to play around with it. Also I am not really running out of room or anything, the only thing I could see using a USB drive for is transferring my profile to another console quickly as recovering it takes like 3-4 hours easy.
 
I wouldn't do the "Configure" option, because it sounds like it wipes your USB stick clean. I'm wondering what Customize does.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I wouldn't do the "Configure" option, because it sounds like it wipes your USB stick clean. I'm wondering what Customize does.[/QUOTE]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/storage/default.htm

What if I don’t want to erase all the data on my USB storage device, what are my options?
Use the Customize option to choose the amount of space you would like to use on your device. Choosing this option will retain all of your existing content.
 
Need to update later. Anyone tried to move a save to a computer yet?

Also, according to the faq, the official drives are pre-configured, & come with a free month of gold. So that explains the price.
 
[quote name='DAWG26']My usb memory downloads things soooooo slow. Im very disapointed.[/QUOTE]

Slow flash drive, or slow implementation or are flash drives just slow in general?
 
First do not buy the branded flash drives because they are "pre-configured". Seriously, all you have to do is insert your flash drive, go to the system tab -> memory and then click on the usb drive icon. Just select "Customize" and pick how much space you want to use and in a couple minutes you will be good to go. Just pick up a 16 gb stick for $30 on newegg or amazon. Or if you want to use it for 360 along with personal use you can get some 32gb sticks for $60-70.

So far everything seems pretty quick for me. I transferred everything from my 512mb card to the flash drive. The interface made it pretty easy to pick and choose what you wanted to move. Copied some arcade games over and some save files as well just to see how it works. It would not let me transfer any installed games, but I'm guessing you can probably just install directly to the drive. This is going to make transferring everything from my 120gb->250gb HD very easy so that is great news for me. No need to shell out $20 for a data transfer cable and wait 10 hours for it to transfer everything. :bouncy:

When you insert the flash drives to your pc they show up with 16gb used, all in a hidden folder named Xbox360. You cannot access your individual files as I thought. There are just 18 files named Data0000 through Data0017 which take up the entire 16gb of space. So you have very little flexibility. You can transfer them to your PC HD, but it looks like doing a full backup of things is going to be a real chore. :cry:

One good thing about the 360 implementation of facebook and twitter is that it is must be really hidden in the dash somewhere. I couldn't even tell you where to find it since I don't use it. The reason it is good is because every few weeks on my PS3 when I'm going to the PSN store I inadvertently hit the Playstation Home icon because it is right next to the PSN Store icon :lol:. Since I don't even know where the apps are on the 360 I never end up accidentally clicking on them.
 
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Anyone know if this only works for the official sandisk microsoft flash drives or if any flash drive will work? I've got a few laying around that I have received from collectors editions of games. I hope they will work. My poor little 20gig is starting to get full
 
Love it. I have an older 1GB flash drive, and I got the warning that it did not meet the recommended standards, but everything stills copies pretty quick. Very cool.

Just tried my old external hard drive, and even that works pretty well.
 
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I think anything over 1GB of memory will work. And yes, any brand flash drive will work minus the 1GB minimum that is. The xbox will also only read up to 16GBs, you can probably still use a bigger stick but it will only read 16GBs of it.
 
you can also use an external hard drive, just make 16 gb partitions according to your needs. it can only read 16gb at a time.
 
[quote name='GLOCKGLOCK']First do not buy the branded flash drives because they are "pre-configured". Seriously, all you have to do is insert your flash drive, go to the system tab -> memory and then click on the usb drive icon. Just select "Customize" and pick how much space you want to use and in a couple minutes you will be good to go. Just pick up a 16 gb stick for $30 on newegg or amazon. Or if you want to use it for 360 along with personal use you can get some 32gb sticks for $60-70.

So far everything seems pretty quick for me. I transferred everything from my 512mb card to the flash drive. The interface made it pretty easy to pick and choose what you wanted to move. Copied some arcade games over and some save files as well just to see how it works. It would not let me transfer any installed games, but I'm guessing you can probably just install directly to the drive. This is going to make transferring everything from my 120gb->250gb HD very easy so that is great news for me. No need to shell out $20 for a data transfer cable and wait 10 hours for it to transfer everything. :bouncy:

When you insert the flash drives to your pc they show up with 16gb used, all in a hidden folder named Xbox360. You cannot access your individual files as I thought. There are just 18 files named Data0000 through Data0017 which take up the entire 16gb of space. So you have very little flexibility. You can transfer them to your PC HD, but it looks like doing a full backup of things is going to be a real chore. :cry:

One good thing about the 360 implementation of facebook and twitter is that it is must be really hidden in the dash somewhere. I couldn't even tell you where to find it since I don't use it. The reason it is good is because every few weeks on my PS3 when I'm going to the PSN store I inadvertently hit the Playstation Home icon because it is right next to the PSN Store icon :lol:. Since I don't even know where the apps are on the 360 I never end up accidentally clicking on them.[/QUOTE]

You can just formant the branded name flash drive. And I just trust my scandisck drive more than the cheap stuff
 
[quote name='62t']You can just formant the branded name flash drive. And I just trust my scandisck drive more than the cheap stuff[/QUOTE]

I'm not saying don't by a brand name drive, I'm just suggesting that you can get similar SanDisk flash drives for a lot cheaper than the Xbox 360 branded SanDisk ones they are advertising. I picked up a couple 32gb SanDisk for $60 or so on Amazon. Compare that to the SanDisk Xbox 360 branded flash drives, which run $70 for a 16gb drive.

I'm not saying to buy crap though. Realize that unless you are backing it up every day, you could stand to lose alot of progress in games if the drive dies. You buy a $5 HDMI cable and it craps out, no loss, you just get another $5 cable. You lose a hard drive full of info, it puts you back a alot more.

That said, has anyone tried backing up all the files onto their PC from the flash drive, wiping the flash drive and then copying them back? Does the 360 recognize the drive as it once was? If so then that is a workaround backup method.
 
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[quote name='Darkside Hazuki']And I still can't copy my Mass Effect 2 save.[/QUOTE]

You can't copy it, only MOVE it.
 
How do I get this update on a xbox360 (core) with no HDD or 512 memory card? I have my USB flash drive but it says I need a storage device to connect to Xbox live.
 
Can't remember if it's been said, but you can't really back-up anything onto your computer. Files come as dataXXXX (0000, 0001, etc.). So, no OCD organizing >.>

Sucks, cause now my borderlands quest will stay glitched :/
 
Can I stick some MP3s on my USB drive and transfer them to my 360 hard drive now?
Would be great instead of burn to a CD then transfer back to MP3s on the 360.
 
[quote name='Ozonekill']How do I get this update on a xbox360 (core) with no HDD or 512 memory card? I have my USB flash drive but it says I need a storage device to connect to Xbox live.[/QUOTE]

Download the update and burn it to a CD/DVD when it's put on xbox.com, or buy the official MS 8 GB stick for $40 when it comes out as it has the update already on it.
 
[quote name='JokerCard']Anyone try if you can store rock band songs on this and play on your friends consoles?[/QUOTE]
You should be able to. But the 360 will most likely have to have a connection to the internet.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']FYI if you still have a 360 512MB MU, you may want to trade it in to Gamestop soon. You get $9.50 ($10.45 w/Edge) credit right now and I'm sure that's going to drop soon since they'll be obsolete.[/QUOTE]

And someone just reported the 256MB at $6, so yes, it's definitely time to dump these while they have any value.
 
[quote name='Viva Las Vegas']Can I stick some MP3s on my USB drive and transfer them to my 360 hard drive now?
Would be great instead of burn to a CD then transfer back to MP3s on the 360.[/QUOTE]


i just configured my 8 gb drive to try this myself (thats what i wanted it for, music lol) and i cant add any music to it from my p.c. unless i am doing it wrong. i am hoping i can still put music on there from a cd, pain in the ass and will take a whole hell of a lot longer. but ill take that over nothing.

edit: just tried it and no go. rips it right to the hard drive, and you cant copy it over. im hoping im just stupid and someone else figures it out and tells me how to do it lol.
 
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[quote name='MSUHitman']the official MS 8 GB stick for $40 when it comes out [/QUOTE]

really!? is that the retail price, f-me! $5 per Gig?! insane, not cheapy at all. when I heard the announcement, I was thinking maybe $20, but that's still steep. $10, I'd go for it.
 
I don't know why people are so surprised. You didn't actually think they'd just say yeah, go ahead use your cheap usb storage stuff instead of our overpriced bullshit how ever you like.

That's like Sony coming out with a product that doesn't have some kind of proprietary crap attached to it.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']I don't know why people are so surprised. You didn't actually think they'd just say yeah, go ahead use your cheap usb storage stuff instead of our overpriced bullshit how ever you like.

That's like Sony coming out with a product that doesn't have some kind of proprietary crap attached to it.[/QUOTE]

You can use any USB storage device. You don't need to use the 360-branded flash drive. People are just pointing out how silly the pricing is.

And I really don't know where the comment about Sony and "proprietary crap" came from. All companies are guilty of that.
 
Worked a bit more with my USB drives last night. Speed was really good on my 32gb SanDisk drives. Moved all videos, themes and gamerpics to the USB, then to the 250gb HDD. Will probably move the 50gb or so of saved games and DLC over tonight. Only problem I see if that if you do the mass transfer (hit "Y" button while highlighting the drive) it seems that you can only move your content. So if you are looking to copy everything over to your new HDD/Flash Drive and leave a backup copy on your old HDD/Flash Drive you have to select every individual game and chose to copy the content instead of using the utility. That is definitely a bummer for anyone that has alot of games and DLC on their HDD.
 
Could you get a 32GB drive and partition it as two 16 GB partitions and effectively have 2 16 GB flash drives in one for use with the 360, or is it limited to one 16 GB partition per flash drive? If so, what do I use for the format? FAT? For that matter, a 64 GB drive partition as four 16 GB partitions. Etc. Or even a larger USB HDD. Would that work? Could I get a cheap 256 GB USB HDD and partition it as sixteen 16 GB partitions. :)
 
Followup question, because I'm a newb about what you can do with memory units/flash drives on the 360. I have a 128 MB (or maybe it's 256 MB) and it seemed to be the case that any saves I copied to it would have their ownership changed to a specific account. Is the idea that each flash drive or memory unit is for one particular Live account? If that's the case, that's why I'd want to have a multi-parition flash drive, so I can have a separate partition for me and my kids accounts, and thus be able to carry around saves for all of us.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Could you get a 32GB drive and partition it as two 16 GB partitions and effectively have 2 16 GB flash drives in one for use with the 360, or is it limited to one 16 GB partition per flash drive? If so, what do I use for the format? FAT? For that matter, a 64 GB drive partition as four 16 GB partitions. Etc. Or even a larger USB HDD. Would that work? Could I get a cheap 256 GB USB HDD and partition it as sixteen 16 GB partitions. :)[/QUOTE]

No it is limited to one 16gb partition per device and the max is 2 devices per system.

[quote name='crunchewy']Followup question, because I'm a newb about what you can do with memory units/flash drives on the 360. I have a 128 MB (or maybe it's 256 MB) and it seemed to be the case that any saves I copied to it would have their ownership changed to a specific account. Is the idea that each flash drive or memory unit is for one particular Live account? If that's the case, that's why I'd want to have a multi-parition flash drive, so I can have a separate partition for me and my kids accounts, and thus be able to carry around saves for all of us.[/QUOTE]

The game saves are tied to your GamerTag, not the device. Usually when you try to move saves from once device to another you need to be signed into that specific account to move the content. You can have multiple profiles & game saves on the same device (HDD, memory unit or flash drive).
 
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Does anyone have any word on if/when MS will be releasing the update for download on xbox.com? I understand if you buy one of the branded drives they will have the update on them, but I really don't want to pay for one of those when I have plenty of perfectly good flash drives.

Or does anyone know if you set up a flash drive on a system with the update, will another system without the update recognize it as a memory unit or just a generic USB drive?

The reason I ask is we have an Xbox at work but no way to connect it to the internet. I'd really like to bring in save files. I'd rather not have to drag the thing home and back just to do a damn update.
 
[quote name='MtlTom']Does anyone have any word on if/when MS will be releasing the update for download on xbox.com? I understand if you buy one of the branded drives they will have the update on them, but I really don't want to pay for one of those when I have plenty of perfectly good flash drives.

Or does anyone know if you set up a flash drive on a system with the update, will another system without the update recognize it as a memory unit or just a generic USB drive?

The reason I ask is we have an Xbox at work but no way to connect it to the internet. I'd really like to bring in save files. I'd rather not have to drag the thing home and back just to do a damn update.[/QUOTE]

I haven't seen anyone mention when it will be available. I would guess it would take as long as the standard dash updates take to make it onto game discs and onto the website for download.

The quickest way to get an answer would be to tweet @XboxSupport
 
[quote name='GLOCKGLOCK']No it is limited to one 16gb partition per device and the max is 2 devices per system.



The game saves are tied to your GamerTag, not the device. Usually when you try to move saves from once device to another you need to be signed into that specific account to move the content. You can have multiple profiles & game saves on the same device (HDD, memory unit or flash drive).[/QUOTE]

Thanks for all that help! Maybe I'm trying to move saves incorrectly, though, as I got some sort of warning about it going to change all the files to have my account as the owner. Or something like that. Also, is there a way to move all your data for your games at once? It seemed I had to move every bit for each game individually. For instance there were saved tracks for Trials HD, each as their own file - I had to select and move them one at a time. I gave up on that. Also some games didn't seem to have a normal save file, so that was confusing. I think Trials HD might have been one of them, but this was as week ago or so, so I'm probably mixing some of this up.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Thanks for all that help! Maybe I'm trying to move saves incorrectly, though, as I got some sort of warning about it going to change all the files to have my account as the owner. Or something like that. Also, is there a way to move all your data for your games at once? It seemed I had to move every bit for each game individually. For instance there were saved tracks for Trials HD, each as their own file - I had to select and move them one at a time. I gave up on that. Also some games didn't seem to have a normal save file, so that was confusing. I think Trials HD might have been one of them, but this was as week ago or so, so I'm probably mixing some of this up.[/QUOTE]

If you see individual save and track files then I think you are drilling down one level too far when trying to copy the game content. You only need to highlight the name of the game and hit "Y" to copy all content for that game.

With the new update it makes it very easy to Move content. You just highlight the device, hit "Y" and it brings up a screen and lets you easily select/deselect all items in catagories such as Games, Profiles, Demos, Videos. You can even drill down into each category and check off certain games/profiles/videos that you want to move.

Unfortunately if you want to Copy your content you have to do the same old method. Select Games, highlight the game you want to copy and hit "Y" then select "Copy" and it will copy everything over. If you see individual save files and DLC files you went one level too far by hitting "A". You want to hit "Y" where it says For Example "Gears of War", not drill down into where you can see "Gears Save File", "Gears Map Pack 1", "Gears Character Pack DLC".

There are still some games that do not let you copy or move your save file though. Also if you have save games under 4 or 5 different GamerTags and all tags are not present on the HD then I do not believe it will allow you to move that content. The GT that "owns" the save file must be present.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']I don't know why people are so surprised. You didn't actually think they'd just say yeah, go ahead use your cheap usb storage stuff instead of our overpriced bullshit how ever you like.

That's like Sony coming out with a product that doesn't have some kind of proprietary crap attached to it.[/QUOTE]

um the PS3 came with memory card reader and usb flash drive support on day 1. You can use a genetic usb cable to charge your controller. You can use any aftermarket instead of official HDD.
 
[quote name='GLOCKGLOCK']If you see individual save and track files then I think you are drilling down one level too far when trying to copy the game content. You only need to highlight the name of the game and hit "Y" to copy all content for that game.

With the new update it makes it very easy to Move content. You just highlight the device, hit "Y" and it brings up a screen and lets you easily select/deselect all items in catagories such as Games, Profiles, Demos, Videos. You can even drill down into each category and check off certain games/profiles/videos that you want to move.

Unfortunately if you want to Copy your content you have to do the same old method. Select Games, highlight the game you want to copy and hit "Y" then select "Copy" and it will copy everything over. If you see individual save files and DLC files you went one level too far by hitting "A". You want to hit "Y" where it says For Example "Gears of War", not drill down into where you can see "Gears Save File", "Gears Map Pack 1", "Gears Character Pack DLC".

There are still some games that do not let you copy or move your save file though. Also if you have save games under 4 or 5 different GamerTags and all tags are not present on the HD then I do not believe it will allow you to move that content. The GT that "owns" the save file must be present.[/QUOTE]

Ahhh! I will give it a shot tonight, as well as test out a flash drive I have handy. it's only 1 GB, but that's better then 128 MB for sure! Thanks again!
 
Tested a 2gb Sony flash drive. It past the performance tests and works fine. Glad for the option of using flash drives like that but paying $45 for a 16gig flash drive isn't worth it to me. I'll just buy a 120gb hdd when I can get a good deal on one.
 
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