DailyTech - 100GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive on the Way

Submit News

Gadgets 100GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive on the Way
Brandon Hill (Blog) - October 19, 2006 12:14 PM

E-mail

del.icio.us

37 comment(s) - last by therealnickdan.. on Oct 20 at 2:24 PM

Microsoft pushed Xbox 360 storage capacity to 100GB

With Sony's PlayStation 3 coming in November with a 60GB hard drive on the high-end system, Microsoft's mere 20GB hard drive included on the $399 Xbox 360 looks rather small in comparison. That will all change with the new 100GB hard drive add-on which will be introduced during the first quarter of 2007 in Korea.

With so much Xbox Live content now available for gamers including downloadable music/video content and game demos, the 20GB hard drive can fill up rather quickly. And while we do know that the 100GB hard drive will be available as an accessory, there is no word yet if the hard drive will replace the 20GB unit used in the high-end Xbox 360 at a later date.

There is no word yet on pricing or the North American availability for the hard drive, but we'd imagine the same Q1 '07 time frame as the Korean launch.

Also on display was a 256MB memory card for those that prefer to save their games to that storage medium. Other peripherals of note that are coming shortly for the Xbox 360 include the HD DVD drive, Wireless Racing Wheel, Wireless Headset and the recently released Live Vision Camera.

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

Good add-on

By TimberJon on 10/19/2006 12:20:16 PM , Rating: 2

Got my vote. I bet it will be shipping in bundles later on. Better be cheap. I can get a 100gig HDD for almost nothing..

RE: Good add-on

By RamarC on 10/19/2006 12:30:45 PM , Rating: 2

i wish manufacturers would just go with 'standard' equipment for expansion. memory cards and the hard drive should just be any usb memory device. then you could add a 2gb thumb drive or a 120gb hard drive with ease and wouldn't have to overpay for commodity hardware.

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By pyrosity on 10/19/2006 12:43:45 PM , Rating: 2

Agreed.

I was going to argue against this on some points, but then I remembered that Microsoft chose to not put a HD on the Core version at all. That still makes practically no sense to me.

Can the 360 read external hard drives via USB (for, say, viewing its music files)? I know that it can read mp3s off of popular mp3 players, but what about from external hard drives?

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By One43637 on 10/19/2006 5:36:01 PM , Rating: 2

quote:

by RamarC on October 19, 2006 at 12:30 PM

i wish manufacturers would just go with 'standard' equipment for expansion. memory cards and the hard drive should just be any usb memory device. then you could add a 2gb thumb drive or a 120gb hard drive with ease and wouldn't have to overpay for commodity hardware.

couldn't agree more. i filled up that HD in the first 2 days.

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By Xeronix on 10/19/2006 5:36:53 PM , Rating: 2

The ps3 is able use use any standard 2.5" SATA drive, aswell as an external USB drive. It also is able to use a range of standard memory cards.

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By dome1234 on 10/19/2006 12:37:22 PM , Rating: 2

correct me if i'm wrong, isn't the 360 using 2.5'? 100G 2.5' isn't that cheap

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By RamarC on 10/19/2006 12:50:05 PM , Rating: 2

100gb travelstar is $100 for the raw drive. add another $25 for an enclosure and that's fairly cheap.

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By FITCamaro on 10/19/2006 2:33:45 PM , Rating: 2

I don't see how they can say the 20GB hard drive in the $400 Xbox 360 is small compared to the 60GB hard drive in the $600 PS3. The base $500 PS3 only has a 20GB drive as well.

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By Teletran1 on 10/19/2006 4:31:21 PM , Rating: 2

Good and Add-on don't belong in the same sentence for consoles. Dont forget the extra 100 bux you get to spend on a wireless adapter for the 360. Its obvious that MS wanted to fleece everyone in this round for all of the rediculous attachments and add-ons while pissing on Sony for having an expensive system. Add it all up and there isnt much of a difference in price between the 2 systems even without the next gen video capabilities.

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By zombiexl on 10/19/2006 6:33:44 PM , Rating: 2

I agree 100 for wifi (i assume thats what you mean) is high, but wired is the best way to go for online gaming anyway. I ran ethernet to my 360 and would do the same for any machine I were to use for online gaming (be it a consle or a PC). Plus when 802.11n is finally available in as a real option you dont have to feel you were ripped off by a console having something you dont use (BluRay for example).

Parent

RE: Good add-on

By zombiexl on 10/19/2006 6:33:44 PM , Rating: 2

Parent

By tdream on 10/19/2006 12:30:18 PM , Rating: 2

Couldn't you just replace the 20gig with a 100giger. I'm sure someone will figure out how to do it sooner or later.

RE: ..

By Aikouka on 10/19/2006 12:35:57 PM , Rating: 2

Not too sure about that; however, there is a device I saw in the store that supposedly lets you connect your XBOX 360 to your PC and allows you to treat your PC as a hard drive for the XBOX 360.

How well it works and if it even works... well, I have no idea, because I never purchased one as I need all my PC's HDD space for my PC ;).

Parent

RE: ..

By Trisped on 10/19/2006 1:06:54 PM , Rating: 2

From what I hear you can only use the drives from Microsoft. Basicly they have a key on the drive, which is different for each type. Since we only have 1 type (soon to be 2) cracking it will be almost imposible.

Parent

RE: ..

By ViperROhb34 on 10/19/2006 1:13:24 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
there is a device I saw in the store that supposedly lets you connect your XBOX 360 to your PC and allows you to treat your PC as a hard drive for the XBOX 360.

You can already store music and images on Windows XP instead of your Xbox with a free download from Xbox.com as you may(?) know.. If you have Windows Vista as Iam running.. the software is built in that finds your 360 and allows you to watch video, stream music or images in real time..

Of course no one often mentions using a USB2 hardrive for Xbox360 which offers a huge storage capability that is also portable ..

Parent

RE: ..

By NullSubroutine on 10/20/2006 2:13:07 AM , Rating: 1

you can do that now with window MCE

Parent

RE: ..

By ViperROhb34 on 10/19/2006 1:25:03 PM , Rating: 2

Yes you can do it yourself..

Just take your 360 HD and another laptop hardrive you bought.. connect them to your PC.. ( you must have the laptop hardrive convertors that are bought at an pc store for about 12 dollars to connect them to your serial ata connectors )

Use Norton Ghost to clone your original hardrive.. Xbox 360 will recognize your newer bigger HD just the same once its done..

Parent

RE: ..

By therealnickdanger on 10/20/2006 9:24:08 AM , Rating: 2

I don't think that's accurate. The hard drive and 360 are linked with a unique encryption key. I'm pretty sure Ghosting will not resolve this. Check the xbox-scene.com forum for the final word, but I'm pretty sure that if this were possible, I would have done it already.

Parent

RE: ..

By ViperROhb34 on 10/20/2006 11:51:34 AM , Rating: 2

Using Ghost .. here's the link

http://360.xbox-hq.com/xbox-tutorials-17.html

Parent

RE: ..

By therealnickdanger on 10/20/2006 2:24:33 PM , Rating: 2

Thanks for the link, I'll look into that more tonight, but I'm pretty sure what I read on xbox-scene is correct. I'll order a new 2.5" HDD the second I confirm it...
*crosses fingers*

Parent

Speed?

By Sunday Ironfoot on 10/19/2006 1:37:09 PM , Rating: 2

Anyone know what speed hard drive this will be? Hopefully 7200RPM. What speed is the 20GB one?

RE: Speed?

By ViperROhb34 on 10/19/2006 1:50:43 PM , Rating: 2

The RPM speed affects little but the seek time of data.. not as much read and write times.. in a Windows PC this means alot.. as data is being accessed all the time every single moment.

In a non-pc use RPM means alittle less.. because in a Windows enviroment the pc is constantly - every single moment you're using the pc - swapping windows data and things you aren't aware of - on top of files you're saving.. a game you're playing..

Parent

RE: Speed?

By Sunday Ironfoot on 10/19/2006 1:54:27 PM , Rating: 2

Wouldn't it mean loading times are faster for games that buffer data to the hard drive?

Parent

RE: Speed?

By Sunday Ironfoot on 10/19/2006 1:55:54 PM , Rating: 3

I swear if I ever see another one of those "Oooops! Something went wrong..." messages...

Parent

RE: Speed?

By therealnickdanger on 10/20/2006 10:38:00 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Wouldn't it mean loading times are faster for games that buffer data to the hard drive?

Yes it would, but since Microsoft decided (foolishly, IMO) to not require the hard drive in every model of 360, game developers don't utilize the HDD for anything. The only speed enhancements you would notice are in loading demos, arcade titles, and other content on the HDD, so it's not a total loss. However, I'm sure it will be 4200RPM or 5400RPM at the most, since extra heat is not something they want to see.

100GB will be awesome. Currently, I keep no media on my 360, just demos, DLC, and arcade games, and I've got less than 5GB free. They had better not overcharge for the hard drive... but I'm sure it will be $150... given the current OEM pricing on 100GB 2.5" SATA drives.

Parent

The issue I have with the 360

By daftrok on 10/19/2006 2:36:02 PM , Rating: 1

The issue I have with the 360 is that they are monopolizing a LOT on their accessories. They're doing a lot better than before, but there are still some issues. Not being able to hook up a cheap 160 GB usb hard drive to my 360 really pisses me off. Not being able to utilize the function of a bluetooth usb adapter (I like transferring files wirelessly from my PC to my console) is another issue. So rather than bringing out a 200 dollar 100 GB hard drive for the 360, just give us 360 owners a firmware update so we won't have to.

Also, unless you are an insane media freak, this 100 GB drive is useless unless you can record HDTV (which I think would be nice, if you go to gizmodo, they featured a really nice usb HDTV tuner, which would go great with the 360). So that's my issue with the 360.

It is pretty cool of them to let you hook up your mp3 player (I refuse to say the dreaded i-word), but still doesn't accept hard drives, GRRR. So that's my vent for now. If anyone knows about firmware updates for the 360, that would be awesome.

RE: The issue I have with the 360

By daftrok on 10/19/2006 2:39:32 PM , Rating: 1

And NO, I do not want to hook my xbox 360 to my pc. If I'm going to do that, I might as well just put my PC downstairs, and that means more wires I can add to my downstair tangled wire hell.

Parent

RE: The issue I have with the 360

By zombiexl on 10/19/2006 6:38:32 PM , Rating: 2

You can hook up a USB harddrive to the 360. Basically just for music but i dont think you can write to it. There's a howto on it @ http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/mods/USB%20Hard%20Dr...

Parent

RE: The issue I have with the 360

By ViperROhb34 on 10/19/2006 7:10:54 PM , Rating: 2

Maybe you outta read about the 360 instead of slamming it.

And any owner knows USB, USB2 devices will work with it of all kinds.. including HARDRIVES ( that you said won't work ), Flash Drives, USB Micro(hard)Drives, USB PC Keyboards....

Parent

RE: The issue I have with the 360

By Hemipower on 10/19/2006 10:39:31 PM , Rating: 1

usb hd does work with the 360, but what can you actually do with it, same as a memory stick, you cant put game saves on it, only play music. ok so lets add all this up: premium-$400, wifi-$100, hd-dvd-$200, and now 100gb hd-$200(most likely price), thats a lot of money. and still no hdmi. but at least hd-dvd looks better than the crappy compressed blue-rays (this will change though).

Parent

I don;t get it

By Homerboy on 10/19/2006 4:09:19 PM , Rating: 2

why do I need more space on my xbox? I don't use 10MB on the one I have now. Media content? Isn't that to be stored on my PC or my home server and streamed to the 360 through its media center capabilites? (mind you I don't do that... thats why I have 3 XBMC machines)

RE: I don;t get it

By One43637 on 10/19/2006 5:47:17 PM , Rating: 2

quote:

by Homerboy on October 19, 2006 at 4:09 PM

why do I need more space on my xbox? I don't use 10MB on the one I have now. Media content? Isn't that to be stored on my PC or my home server and streamed to the 360 through its media center capabilites? (mind you I don't do that... thats why I have 3 XBMC machines)

you don't download demos off the marketplace do you? some of those are 1GB in size.

Parent

RE: I don;t get it

By zombiexl on 10/19/2006 6:39:47 PM , Rating: 2

Guess you never delete those demos?

Parent

I would rather have...

By Trisped on 10/19/2006 12:26:25 PM , Rating: 2

I would rather have the ability to put my own HDD in an enclosure and put that on the 360. They will want $200+ for it (because it is a laptop HDD), but I can get a 120GB Laptop HDD for about $120 and a 100GB for about $76.

Transfer

By Aikouka on 10/19/2006 12:38:12 PM , Rating: 2

Wow, wouldn't that be quite uncool if I filled up my 20GB HDD on the X360 right now and then I purchased this. With the fun proprietary interface, it'd be a pain to transfer information over without some third party device (which if I recall, there are some, but even then, that's extra moolah) to facilitate a transfer via PC or whatever.

I don't really want to redownload everything :P.

Visit your local pc store

By encryptkeeper on 10/19/2006 1:36:16 PM , Rating: 2

If you already have an Xbox with an HD, just take the HD enclosure apart. I'm pretty sure it just uses a standard 2.5 laptop HD. I can't remember if it's SATA or ATA.