Xbox Hard Drive Question

I have to send in my current slim 250gb hard drive to Microsoft for replacement, the problem is I have a lot of content that I'd rather not have to re-download all over again, and I really wouldn't want to lose my Mass Effect saves from all three games.

I still have my old 120gb hard drive and I was wondering if it was possible to transfer everything from my current hard drive to that one and then vice versa once I receive the replacement? I've yet to fill up my current hard drive so I'm positive the old one has enough room.

Would I be able to use the slim to slim transfer cable if I buy a slim enclosure for the old hard drive? Does the cable not work transferring from a lager hard drive to a smaller one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Aren't ME saves kinda known for ing up if you switch between HD's?

Why not just back up the saves to the cloud and then see if they work prior to transferring everything. See how below.

http://support.xbox.com/en-CA/xbox-live/game-saves-in-the-cloud/cloud-save-games

To use cloud storage for your saved games, you need:

An Xbox LIVE Gold Membership
A console connected to Xbox LIVE
514 megabytes (MB) of storage space on your console (local cache)
Step 1: Turn on Cloud Saved Games (for a console)

From the Xbox Dashboard, go to Settings, and then select System.
Select Storage, and then select Cloud Saved Games.
Select Enable Cloud Saved Games.
A local cache is reserved on your console, and you can now save or move saved games to the cloud. For more information about this cache, see the section under When is my cloud game save uploaded to the cloud below.

If you get an error message when you turn on cloud saves games, see Troubleshoot game saves in the cloud.

Step 2: Save or move a saved game to the cloud

New game: When you start a new game, the game usually asks you where you want to save your game progress (your saved game). If you turned on Cloud Saved Games (step 1), select Cloud Saved Games as the storage device. Now every time you sign into your Xbox LIVE profile and play the game, your saved game is automatically stored in the cloud.
Existing game saves: If you have an existing saved game that you want to store in the cloud, you can move the saved game to the cloud. Here’s how:
Sign into your Xbox LIVE profile.
Go to Settings, and then select System.
Select Storage.
Select the storage device that contains the saved game that you want to move to the cloud.
Select Games.
Select the game with your saved game.
Select your saved game.
Select Move.
Select Cloud Saved Games.
You can copy, move, or delete saved games that are stored in the cloud, just as you would copy, move, or delete items on your hard drive. For more information, see Copy, move, or delete content.

if you have the space, it should work, especially if you have the newer cable.

I would just remove the HDD from the 360 and send it in minus the drive. Unless the drive is the issue, I don't see why you'd need to send it into MS with the console.

Regardless, if they switch it out with a different system, they are supposed to do the license transfer from old console to new console, though yes, you'll need to re-download everything again due to the DRM on the items. If they repair the console, there's nothing you need to do.

If you copy the contents of your 250GB drive to your 120GB drive, it may not work even with the newer cable. The newer cables works from same size to same size or smaller drive to larger drive, though I don't think any of the cables work going from larger to smaller.

To the CAG that suggested saving it to the cloud, I think ME2 has issues with the saves being transfer by any means save the HDD to HDD process with the transfer cable. I know I had no issues with my ME2 saves, including the hidden one, when moving from 250GB to 320GB on my old Super Elite going to my new Slim 4GB + 320GB HDD.

[quote name='shrike4242']I would just remove the HDD from the 360 and send it in minus the drive. Unless the drive is the issue, I don't see why you'd need to send it into MS with the console. [/QUOTE] Unfortunately it is the HDD. I cant run installed games, dlc or arcade games without the console freezing. Thanks for everyone's help I made copies of all the saves that I was allowed to and put them on a flash-drive just in case. I was actually able to use the new transfer cable to go from larger to smaller. [quote name='shrike4242']To the CAG that suggested saving it to the cloud, I think ME2 has issues with the saves being transfer by any means save the HDD to HDD process with the transfer cable. I know I had no issues with my ME2 saves, including the hidden one, when moving from 250GB to 320GB on my old Super Elite going to my new Slim 4GB + 320GB HDD. [/QUOTE] I tried transferring ME2 and ME3 to the cloud but for some reason it never allowed me to. Hopefully the hidden ones transferred over OK, now I just have to avoid any spoilers regarding the extended cut tomorrow.

hey...just transfer them to a usb drive and then copy them back when you get back the drive ...
hope that helps!!

Here is what you do...

Slap a USB drive into your Xbox 360 and copy the game saves to a USB drive. Then send the console in. When you get the console back, transfer your saves and info from the USB back to the HDD. Simple, especially if you have a 8 or 16GB USB stick. That is what I did when I went from my old 250GB HDD to a new 320GB HDD a couple weeks ago. Loaded up my 8GB USB stick w/all my game saves and stuff I didnt want to lose. Worked perfectly. The cloud could work, but you only get like 500MB of space to work with which is ridiculously tiny!

If you dont have a USB stick, use a transfer cable and your PC (and Xtaf Xplorer) to manually transfer the game saves and valuables you want to keep. The only problem with this method is you need a transfer cable, and Xtaf Xplorer is a little glitchy so you need to make sure you are using the proper Xtaf Xplorer version for the drive you have. Its kind of a PITA but works best if you really know what you are doing as you can even copy stuff like installed games and other things that Microsoft wont let you transfer w/a transfer cable.

You could also just use the transfer cable and hook up your 120GB HDD externally via transfer cable to your Xbox 360 and transfer stuff that way. It will work with the new dashboard update...but there are certain things that the Xbox/Microsoft wont let you transfer... It will work though and wont lock you out like the older dashs would. The 120GB drive you hook up to your Xbox via the transfer cable will show up in your device list as something with "transfer cable" in its name so you can easily tell which drive you have hooked up via transfer cable.