Customer Reviews

Xbox 360 120GB Hard Drive

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I don't have the "black" one but I couldn't find the one I needed to write the review for. It's the same thing anyway - but mine is the one that is the same color as the original 20GB Xbox 360 drive.

The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because I think it is overpriced and should be offered by Microsoft at an "upgrade" price for people who had already purchased the 20GB drive.

Anyway, the drive comes with a kit (disc and USB cable) that allow you to easily transfer all your data from your old 20GB drive to the 120GB one. The transfer was easy and hassle-free. The entire process took less than 90 minutes. When I turned on the 360 afterwards with the new drive attached, everything booted up exactly as it had with the old 20GB drive. There was no further configuration or registration needed. All data had been preserved perfectly - downloaded demos, trailers, and other content, saved game data, music, etc. The new drive is even a little bit faster than the old one - although it's possible that my old one had gotten fragmented and that was slowing it down, so maybe it's really the same speed.

Anyway, this is nice. Now every time I want to download something I don't have to scrounge for some free hard drive space by deleting stuff I would really rather keep.

And a note to Microsoft - in case you are reading this - you should more clearly advertise that this drive comes with the data transfer kit. I have been considering buying this drive for months now, but was hesitating because I didn't think I would be able to transfer all my data from the old drive. At one point I even called the Xbox support line and specifically asked if there was a way to transfer the data over, and the lady I spoke to made no mention of the transfer kit. She told me that if I logged in and "recovered my gamer tag" that all my saved data would be restored. I brushed this off simply because that would have to mean that every bit of my 20GB of data has been sent over the internet to Microsoft's servers - and even if this had been the case, I would have probably had to leave my 360 turned on for a couple of weeks to wait while it all downloaded again.

Price is a bit steep since I just got my Xbox 360 5 months ago but a must have item for me. The 13 GB of usable space on the original drive is too small to hold demos, clips and ripped CDs. I started ripping my CD collection to the Xbox 360 and quickly ran out of space. The Media jukebox is wonderful for playing my CDs over my sound system.

Installation was completed in less than 5 minutes and the transfer of the 20 GB took 1 hour, 19 minutes. I am currently downloading 7 GB of game demos I can play, as well as TV and movie clips. Tons of FREE content if you have the hard disk space.

I believe I can even transfer my home photos to it to use as a slideshow.

Super simple installation. Insert CD, pull out USB connections, plug transfer cable into new drive and other end in the rear USB. Push A. When finished, remove CD, turn off unit, remove USB cable, and change out new drive for old (2 seconds or so to pop out old and insert new). Turn on and enjoy.

Most people who already own a xbox 360 this product may be very tempting and some people have been waiting months on this. You could use this to store music on your xbox hard drive as well as videos and xbox live arcade games and game demos.

For people who are continually running out of space on their 360 this is a Godsend. If you're downloading HD movies you'll really appreciate this. If you want to store your music on your 360 you'll love this. However, if you're just using the xbox 360 hard-drive for your game saves then this is more than you'll ever use.

It would be better to wait until you're having problems storing everything you want on your 20GB hard drive and then decide if you need this. If you do decide it is worthwhile later you might be able to pick it up for a little less money.

EDIT_____

Now with the New Xbox Experience it is possible to install games on your hard drive. Since most games are about 6 GB it makes a 20 GB hard drive seem super small. Still, I don't think most people need this, but an avid 360 fan will find plenty of use for the extra space.

Another space concern I've found is downloading extra game content. Those map packs and extra songs for Rock Band fill up your drive pretty quick and they aren't things you'll ever want to delete. If you are looking for someone who plays Rock Band, or Guitar Hero, a lot they might be in real need of this.

Normally if you buy a 120gb BRAND-NEW, you wont have to worry about this issue, but IF you buy a USED hard drive from one of the other vendors on this site you NEED to make sure what type of hard drive your getting.

There are two types; the black one that comes with the elite 360 and the chrome/silver one that is sold independently.

The Silver one should come with the data migration kit that allows you to transfer all your memory from your 20gb hard drive to your new one. MAKE SURE THAT THE VENDOR INCLUDES THIS CABLE or you will be up a very deep creek without a BOAT.

You can only get a Black hard drive used if someone were to sell their hard drive from the elite 360 (a rare occurrence, but it happened to me). This hard drive wont come with a data migration cable at all UNLESS the previous owner received one from Microsoft. ONCE AGAIN, MAKE SURE THAT THE HARD DRIVE YOU BUY HAS A CABLE WITH IT or you will be unable to transfer your data from old hard drive to new.

Microsoft can offer to send you a free migration kit, but that's ONLY IF YOU FILL OUT A FORM AND SUPPLY THE SERIAL NUMBERS OF YOUR OLD 360 AND THE NEW ELITE 360 YOU JUST BOUGHT. Bought a used hard drive and not a elite 360? Plum out of luck, cause you can't get one from Microsoft unless you supply that information. You could buy one off eBay, but they usually go for upwards $10-$15 IF YOUR LUCKY, $20-$40 IF YOU'RE NOT.

Right now I'm looking for a Data Migration Cable because i didn't have the knowledge I'm giving you all right now. Either buy the 120gb Hard drive NEW and guarantee you'll get the cable with your purchase, OR GET IN TOUCH WITH THE USED HARD DRIVE SELLER AND MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE A CABLE TO SEND WITH THE HARD DRIVE THEY'RE SELLING. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID.

As the title states, if you order this item, you may or may not get an official Microsoft product. If you, like me, read through the reviews on this page, you have seen a lot of 5-Star ratings, and lot of 1-Star ratings. The reason for this is that Amazon.com sells this item from the storefronts of various venders. Amazon.com has no control over what product these sellers send you.

More than likely, you will receive a Third-Party Hard Disk that will not work with your Xbox 360. If you receive this item, it does not come with a transfer cable or disk. My advice is that if you get one of these, return it immediately and try again as the Hard Disk will perform incredibly well as a shiny, brand spanking new, "Made in China" paperweight.

If you are lucky enough to receive an official Microsoft Hard Disk, then you WILL get the transfer cable and disk you will need in order to move your stuff to your new Hard Disk and you can call it a day.

Luckily for all of us, Amazon.com's return policy is excellent in regard to problems of this nature and if you get duped by one of these fly by night storefronts Amazon will return your hard earned cash within a few days.

Final word on this product: BE CAREFUL. If you get what is shown on this page then you are golden, otherwise be prepared to return it.

This replacement drive was extremely easy to install/set up, and it frees up a virtually limitless amount of space to play with. While the 20GB drive was always a little on the puny side, the 120GB seems to be almost overkill. I highly recommend this larger drive for any Xbox Live users who

* Download a lot of "permanent" content such as "Guitar Hero"/"Rock Band" tracks, Xbox Originals games (which are typically about 5 - 8 GB each), etc.

* Rip lots of music on to their Xbox for customized game soundtracks.

* Watch movies/videos on their Xbox, especially in HD format. This could become even more crucial if the reported partnership with Netflix to deliver downloaded content is ever announced.

Copying the contents of your old drive is facilitated via a utilities disc and copy cable, both of which are included with this 120GB drive package. After following a few simple on-screen prompts, it counted down the 1 1/2 hours that it took to copy my almost-full 20GB drive. This step was very easy to complete and I had no trouble with any of my previous-purchased content, games, etc. running on the new drive.

The only downside to the copy process is that it seemed to also "revive" a lot of the promotional and demo content that I'd long ago deleted from my old drive. I'm not sure if the copy process actually restored these files from the original drive or if it is designed to load them from its own source (maybe the utilities disc?), but it was a minor annoyance to have to go back and re-delete all of these unwanted files one by one.

Many of the reviews of the Xbox 360 120GB hard drive touch on the cost. Yes, it's overpriced compared to standard hard disks, but it's also the only such peripheral available for the 360, so the griping is a moot point. Simply put, if you download a lot of Xbox Live content, then someday you'll need more space than the original 20GB drive allows. And there are ample opportunities to offset the cost on the secondary market such as selling your old drive (there's no way for the 360 to handle multiple drives at once anyway, so it's just a doorstop once you install the 120GB) and the copy cable.

Again, if you want to experience the most out of your Xbox Live account, then just bite down on the inflated cost of this peripheral and then enjoy all of that spare room.

The drive I received has no stickers indicating it was ever manufactured for/by Microsoft. The "120GB HDD" label is even mounted upside-down. No data transfer cable. Given Microsofts' disabling on "unapproved" memory hardware, I can't afford to keep this one. It's going back.

The 120gb hard disk for Xbox 360 is an excellent option for storing lots of demos and downloadable content, but it's way overpriced, considering that for the same price you can buy a 640GB portable hard disk from WD or Seagate.

Yes, it's a ridiculous price for 120gb, but the problem is, the hard drives on the 360 are not compatible with PC interfaces (yes of course that's on purpose to make you spend more money), and my 20gb drive was almost full. Now, if you use your 360 HD for only game saves, of course, 20gb will last forever; game saves run from a few k to 1mb or 2. Just like the original XBOX HD 8gb, I think was plenty of room for just game saves. (That's all I ever used mine for except for a few favorite CD's I ripped to it).

But, with the 360, in my case, though I have a big pile of games, that's not all I use it for. You will find that if you use marketplace at all-downloading demos (from 700mb to over 1gb apiece) trailers, episodes of NCIS you missed, multiplayer map packs, (Halo 3's will be HUGE, I heard);etc, like I do, that 20gb fills up quick; I only had 2gb left. So, I finally decided to spend the money, picked up the drive and read the instructions for file transfer (very easy, in my case with a full drive took about 2 hours, make the connections, and let it do its thing. Now I have all of my files from before, a bunch of new demos (I keep them for awhile while deciding to spend the money on the games or not), the content it comes loaded with-videos, and a bunch of Arcade trial games;and I still have 100gb free. To me, worth it! If you're a light user of the 360 and just use the HD for game saves though, save your money.

My complaint is, MS should have given us the 120gb to begin with. But then, they couldn't make that extra $170 bucks off us, I guess. One last thing--the transfer supposedly works only once, and only from the smaller drive to the larger. Your 20gb will be wiped of content, but still has the 360 OS on it; if you attach it it will boot up, so bascially you'll have a spare drive, but will have to recover your gamertag, and re download everything, if you use it again.

Summary: Worth it, and highly reocommended, if you're a heavy downloader, like me. If you don't go on line much, or don't use marketplace, you can pass.

Don't listen to the #1 review, the HDD that I got is clearly a fake even though on the webpage it says it's authentic Microsoft and there is no transfer kit. The box has avatars on it, absolutely no where on the box or HDD does it say microsoft.