XBOX 360 USB support - can't back stuff up to PC, can you?

Deusfaux

Seemingly regardless of what I do with 360 data on this little 2GB USB stick I'm experimenting with, when plugged into the PC I get the same hidden folder with only 4 files in it. DATA0000 through DATA0003

File sizes never change. Deleting items from 360, adding new ones, replacing same ones, nothing changes.

I also putting an item I had copied to my computer back to the drive, like a pretend scenario where I'm using the backed up data, and it didn't work. The data would not show on the 360.

So apart from using the USB stick itself as a dedicated backup for saves and things - one cannot use it as a medium to transfer content to a PC, no?

If so, supremely lame.

I need my dexdrive equivalent

Deusfaux

hmmm I think you can.

the irony was that I copied 4 files originally to the drive, and got 4 files showing up. thinking they might be related to those I backed up, I tried messing with individual files one at a time.

However, copying all four back to the drive, made the files reappear on the drive even after being deleted via the 360.

So it appears you're essentially copying the entire image over, which is perhaps not as efficient as individual files, but it backs them up all the same.

I'll do a bit more testing to confirm this, and also to see if I can copy to the backup to a different usb than originally used.

Deusfaux

I learned not all files necessarily have to be copied back from the pc. I found just 2 of the four could be copied back, and all the data was there.

It's probably safer just to copy them all, though

now to find out if copying data over to a non-360-formatted drive turns it into one

Deusfaux

must use same drive originally used, or possibly same brand or model. sucks. your data is stuck on the pc if you lose/break the drive you used to get it there

also no need to "format" drive on 360 first, can just copy data back to drive from PC backup location

amnesiasoft

From everything you've just said, the obvious answer is that those files have nothing to do with your actual data. Those are likely just some additional information about the drive that the 360 uses, and the data is stored in the memory of the flash drive outside the file table.

Shadowfire

And I'm betting it won't be too long until the community figures out how to use this...

Deusfaux

to 2nd above - if they had nothing to do with actual data - how was I able to put them on a blank memory stick and use them on the 360 ?

I think it's just stored in a masked and protected way. when i formatted a different 1GB drive, it only had 3 files. the first one was identical to the first on the other drive in size, but the next two didn't match anything.

Psychotic One

Not to hijack but its the closest fit with out making my own question thread.

What brand of USB thumb drive do you suggest for this. Bought a 16gb pny drive but it says it didn't pass the loss test. Just looking for confirmed working brands.

amnesiasoft

Deusfaux wrote: »

to 2nd above - if they had nothing to do with actual data - how was I able to put them on a blank memory stick and use them on the 360 ?

Deusfaux wrote: »

must use same drive originally used

That seems to imply otherwise.

Deusfaux

because those files contain both the actual data, as well as some kind of identifier information about what drive was originally used?

amnesiasoft

You also said 4 very small files that never change size. If they never change size, a reasonable guess is that they compose some sort of image file of the whole partition. But you also said they're very small, which implies to me they are not an image file of the partition.

You seem to be contradicting yourself in multiple places.

Deusfaux

yeah I was wrong in the first post about that. they, added up, equal the full size you allocated for 360 storage.

at least one is very small, but another was over 1 GB. I was reading it as bytes the first time

I did also say myself it appeared to just be a disc image of sorts broken into several smaller files.

amnesiasoft

Okay, now you're making more sense.

corky842

Software like this might work. If it doesn't work now, chances are it'll get updated to work with the new USB stuff.