Xbox 360 memory storage on a USB drive

UnbreakableVow

Okay, so I'm moving on Monday, and I might not have the Internet for a couple months. I'm going to need to keep entertained, so I'd like as many games as possible, including games I'd long since deleted from my hard drive to make room for game installs. I could stick them all on my 60 gig hard drive, but then I wouldn't have much room for game installs at all and that's kind of a pain in the ass to repeat that process. I'd like my hard drive to be dedicated to game installs and the USB drive to games if possible.

- Am I correct in understanding that XBLA games can be saved to a 16 gigabyte USB drive?
- They can be played straight from the device, or do I have to transfer them to my hard drive?
- If they can be played from the device, do I have to be online for any reason? I did my license transfer last year so everything is registered to my machine.
- Is there a particular kind of USB drive I need?

Help would be much appreciated! I want to see if I can grab one tonight at Wal-Mart or something and start loading it up.

mntorankusu

You can play them straight from the drive. Licenses behave exactly the same as if they were stored on your hard drive-- it doesn't matter where they're stored, as long as it's the same Xbox.

You can install disc games to a USB storage device, too.

Almost any USB drive should work, but the faster they are, the better. There are some that just won't work, but it doesn't seem to be related to the speed. Just dumb luck. You can use an external hard drive, too.

Edit: urahonky, the device works exactly like the hard drive. You can play games straight off it. And a hard drive works fine, that's what I use.

harvest

Don't you only get the first 16 gigs of storage via USB?

urahonky

Okay see I tried to plug my external Hard Drive (80GB) into my 360 and it didn't even recognize it at all. Maybe it was just the case of "dumb luck".

Shady3011

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

- Am I correct in understanding that XBLA games can be saved to a 16 gigabyte USB drive?

That's right.

- They can be played straight from the device, or do I have to transfer them to my hard drive?

You can play them off the stick.

- If they can be played from the device, do I have to be online for any reason? I did my license transfer last year so everything is registered to my machine.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to be online.

- Is there a particular kind of USB drive I need?

Anything over 1 GB should be fine.

Keep in mind you can't transfer disc installs between devices.

Shady3011

urahonky wrote: »

Okay see I tried to plug my external Hard Drive (80GB) into my 360 and it didn't even recognize it at all. Maybe it was just the case of "dumb luck".

You need to format it to have a lone 16 GB FAT32 partition.

mntorankusu

You don't have to format or partition it or anything, it just makes some files on the drive that it uses as a 16GB "virtual drive".

What is with all of the misinformation here

Edit: It probably does need to be FAT32, though.

Shady3011

Considering most external drives are NTFS, you'll need to partition it anyways. It's probably best to just make a lone 16 GB FAT32 partition just for the 360 so you can use the rest of the space as NTFS.

UnbreakableVow

Thanks for the help, guys

So this should be a viable option, then?

Shady3011

That's good. Brand wise, I've used a Kingston and something else that escapes my memory (it is a name brand though) and both worked fine.

mntorankusu

Well, here's a bit from a review of that drive on Newegg

"Seems to be hit-or-miss on XBOX storage compatible. A friend of mine had this same device work fine on his xbox, but mine recieved a "Data-Loss test failure""

UnbreakableVow

I'll just spend the extra $5 and get a Sandisk then, I know they're usually a pretty reliable brand

Shady3011

If you were to buy it at Walmart, they are pretty lax with their return policy on that kind of stuff. You could give it a shot and if it doesn't roll with it you could easily return it for another. Then again, time is money.

Here's a Kingston 16GB drive from Amazon that's pretty cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Hi-speed-Datatraveler-DT101G2-16GBZ/dp/B0041Q38SA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1295133806&sr=8-3

Here's a Sandisk in case you really want a Sandisk. Only $1.50 more.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Flash-Drive-SDCZ36-016G-A11/dp/B001T99ZTI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1295133833&sr=8-2

UnbreakableVow

That's a nice price but I need it today or tomorrow :?

Shady3011

If you are worried about possible incompatibility, go for the Sandisk especially if you want to minimize possible returns. I do recommend Kingston if you do see any. They are usually the cheapest in terms of price.

UnbreakableVow

I grabbed the Sandisk, all they had were Sandisk and PNY

UnbreakableVow

Okay, I configured it and it gave me this message:

"Your device is ready, but doesn't meet Xbox 360 performance recommendations.

You may experience significant performance problems playing games from the device or saving games and profiles to it."

Is this just MS's shitbird way of trying to get me to pay the same $40 I just paid for an "Xbox 360" flash drive that has literally half the storage space?

urahonky

Wonder why it won't read NTFS... Nothing's been FAT32 for a long time.

urahonky

mntorankusu wrote: »

You don't have to format or partition it or anything, it just makes some files on the drive that it uses as a 16GB "virtual drive".

What is with all of the misinformation here

Edit: It probably does need to be FAT32, though.

I wasn't using it to store data, just read mp3s

Shady3011

urahonky wrote: »

Wonder why it won't read NTFS... Nothing's been FAT32 for a long time.

I'm guessing to artificially place a storage size restriction. Even at full capacity, FAT32 can only create a partition volume of 32GB.

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Okay, I configured it and it gave me this message:

"Your device is ready, but doesn't meet Xbox 360 performance recommendations.

You may experience significant performance problems playing games from the device or saving games and profiles to it."

Is this just MS's shitbird way of trying to get me to pay the same $40 I just paid for an "Xbox 360" flash drive that has literally half the storage space?

Maybe but I don't remember having that message pop-up after formatting my thumb drive. You'll have to test drive it to see for yourself. Funny thing is the Xbox 360 branded one is also a Sandisk.

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=77578

UnbreakableVow

Yeah, that's particularly the reason why I think it's bullshit

I just tested Doritos Crash Course and it seems to work fine

The Wolfman

I think that message is just related to the speed of the flash drive. My old 2 gig SD card gives that warning, but my 8 gig Class 6 MicroSD doesn't. Seems to be just ye olde standard "This may be less than optimal" warning that means nothing in terms of real world use.

Santa Claustrophobia

The Wolfman wrote: »

I think that message is just related to the speed of the flash drive. My old 2 gig SD card gives that warning, but my 8 gig Class 6 MicroSD doesn't. Seems to be just ye olde standard "This may be less than optimal" warning that means nothing in terms of real world use.

Pretty much this. Of the four thumb drives I have, only one returned that message. It worked fine anyway. I did replace it for a brand that I knew wouldn't return that 'error', but I doubt I'd have had to.

As long as the 360 can actually recognise the thing and properly format, it'll work for what you need it for.