External Xbox 360 Hard Drive (HDD)

This instructable is on how to create your own external Xbox 360 hard drive.

This hard drive can be used to store: Music, videos, photos, a much more!

Step 1 Supplies

What you need for this instructable is:

1 Xbox 360
1 external hard drive
1 USB cable
1 Power cable ( if your external hard drive requires it)



To start off plug your hard drive into your mac. (USB cable, power cords)

Comments

[gmh5760]

Creative, but why not just use the networking feature already built in to your xbox? I have two PS3s and two 360s networked to my main computer, which doubles as the household media server. This is providing 3.5TB (3,500GB) worth of movies, music, and music videos to the rest of the house. If your console and computer are both online, then you are already set up to network them together.

[my 9 lives]

awesomeness

[mr.noris]

can you turn an xbox harddrive into a external harddrive for a computer

[wnbtechie]

check out this post here: http://wnbtechie.blogspot.com/2011/01/4gb-vs-250gb-or-upgrading-your-xbox-360.html

easy way to upgrade your Xbox hard drive for the cheap without worrying about the limitations of an external hard drive or the complications of doing a JTAG

[hi111]

is it the powerpc g5???

[hi111]

I have the ppc g5 and it is terribly slow... if i make honors this trimester (good grades) i am going to make a nice pc and possible dual boot hackintosh.

[cody777]

iv got that same imac only without isight

[27723773]

ok, i was startin to get really excited about this, because i have a fancy-schmancy seagate freeagent 320gb (or something like that) and i wanted to use that instead of just buying a new, separate hard drive. then, i saw you went to the music library, which is what i do with my mp3 player. so, this isnt an xbox hard drive, this is just a way to play your music from the tv, you cant copy saved games to it, you cant install games or DLCs to it, so now im royally pissed. please rename the title or do something to umm.... (disambiguate?) this, b ecause im sure a lot of other people have done the same.

[Deus]

there's no way you can play x360 off of an external usb harddrive, what you can is put the gamedisc in the xbox360 and then copy it to the internal harddrive (but you still need the disc inserted when you wan't to play)

[duct tape]

I beg to differ. Ever heard of JTAG, my friend?

[Deus]

 Yes, I know about JTAG. But I commented that a long time ago, mate ;-)

[Mikey8567]

The USB use of external HD's is read only. It's MS's way of keeping control of the size of the HD's used with their 360's. If it was that easy then you could use any size HD for your main drive on the 360. MS likes money wayyyy to much to make it simple for ya. BTW ya didn't hear it from me.... but yes there are sites and hard ware that allow you to "Hack" or "MOD" a 360. But be forwarned if you do it will void your warrenty and if you do get a 3 ROD they will return it unrepaired (they cover the repair for 3yrs from the day you buy it). And also if while using XBox Live to play games they determin that your running a MOD'd 360 they will not only ban your account but also BLACK LIST your 360 and you'll never get that 360 online with XBox Live again. Just some food for thought. Hell I have a Hardware "Modded" original Xbox myself.

[bruc]

So will i be able to save games to that hard drive instead of my Xbox one?

[Deus]

best format it (since you have a mac) HFS+, because it supports files bigger than 4 gb and most HD movies are >4gb

[willrandship]

Does the 360 support HFS+? if not, then you should probably just go with FAT32 instead of FAT. Better yet, if you can get ahold of a linux LiveCD (Not hard) format it in XFS!

[Deus]

I'm not sure about support for XFS, what I do know is that HFS+ and FAT32 are supported. It doesn't even support NTFS, which I find kinda weird

[willrandship]

Really? That's weird considering they are MS. Wasn't XFS what the original Xbox used?

[light man]

can the computer be a PC instead of a mac

[ChosenWon]

The 360 automatically rec's any external usb hard drive, thumb drive, and even digital cameras. Now storing game data, saved games and demos to an external...that would be a great thing.

[herbsn]

the usb connection on the x box 360 is " read only " so you cant download to it from your 360 i dont know how to change usb to read and write i would like to know but it has to be possible might need a eprom reader/writer to reprogram firmware on the 360 motherboard?

[WarSaw]

you cant save stuff of marketplace just like ZeroHikair said your just formating it to be a thumb drive.

[Lazy Ape]

would this hard drive setup work with playing stored games? I have a modded 360 and I need more space for the downloaded games.

[The magical duct tape kid]

To tell you the truth, I don't know. You could always try to save your game to your 360; when it gives you the option of where you want to "store" the game select "portable device"? I will have to try this some time...

[Lazy Ape]

Definitely let me know if you do...thanks

[The magical duct tape kid]

Sorry man, I tried to save a game to the external hard drive; but it would not let me... Sorry...

[Lazy Ape]

thanks dude

[gamefreek]

so i can put game glitches on it to

[ZeroHikari]

so basically, your showing us how to format a portable hard drive and use it as a portable hard drive again? most people dont have mac's so would be nice if u cud give instructions for a pc version. apart from that - all you should basically say is get a usb stick or aportable hard drive, drag nd drop music etc and plug it into ur 360 or do the simple option that saves hassle - windows media centre (windows vista if u have it)

[frollard]

Good instructible :) Simple instructions to a reasonable problem :D One thing that bugs me though (take with a grain of salt); Use the picture comments as boxes over the area you want to explain, not as a tiny blip. On larger screens, they're frustratingly hard to mouse-over to read. Bigger ones don't obstruct the image much...i.e. image 1 - select the entire xbox, not a chunk of the desk :D

[The magical duct tape kid]

thanks man, will do!