The Xbox 360 will at long last see an expansion in the size of external hard drives it can accept. No longer will you have to wallow with a mere 32GB of space.
In fact, the console will see hard drives up to 2TB, and support for up to two external drives at once. Per Major Nelson:
The next update for Xbox 360 Preview Program members will allow the use of 2TB hard drives to store Xbox 360 data. If you are not part of the Preview program you will get this functionality later this year. In addition we will also no longer reserve space in advance on your hard drive. If you are using 16GB of hard drive space for games – we will only take 16GB of space. And just like today – you will be able to use two external drives at a time.
The update is coming first for Xbox 360 Preview Program members, and will roll out to the wider Xbox 360 user community later in the year. Then you'll have all the space you need to store your Goat Simulator games.
Source: Major Nelson
Reader comments
Expanded external storage coming to Xbox 360 — up to 2TB drives
Only problem with the 360 os redesign id see is them dropping xbox games compatibility & wmc extending
Welcomed, but about damn time. Thank you Microsoft& Xbox team.
Love the continued support for the 360
WOOOOOO!!!!!! :D
Who still uses a 360? Lol! It's been obsolete for like a year and a half. Let it die already!
Lots of people...
Why would you stop using something just because something new has come out? I still get the free games with gold, and have a huge stockpile of games to play on it. I'm still waiting for a good reason to by an XB1 - but I think Halo5 might just be that reason!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope that this can help me finally install MGS Ground Zeroes on my 4Gigs X360 ^_^
I wonder , wonder and keeps on wondering they're stil supporting last gen.. I'm not easily impressed but I'm impressed MS. Someone give them a medal.. No someone give me a XBox 360. Oh wait! I already own a PS3.
I hope this works on the original Xbox 360 Elites as the largest drive I can currently go with is the 120 GB internal, getting bent over in the process due to their relative rarity nowadays. If this update covers the old Elites, then I'm at least good for a year or two before I can make the jump to a newer console. (Even then, I have so much 360 content that the drive and console will still be useful.)
Yep I have an arcade unit that they had no problem with. I believe you can still get 120/250 gb drives thru www.service.xbox.com
Finally!!
My hard drive on my 360 has been full to the brim and I've used three 32GB flash drives to store all the extra games so far. I dont want to delete and Games on Demand games I've downloaded for fear of them removing the ability to redownload them in the future.
I'm pretty sure they're all redownloadable, but I have the same concerns as you. My current 360s' drives are full because of this.
Not always, I was reading a thread about BF:BC2 being delisted as redownloadable since it was a GWG title, I checked the store and it wanted my to pay 19.99 even though it was a previous "purchase". With MS its best to buy a flash drive and store a local copy...
Halleluja!
Better late than never I suppose.
YES! I have so many games that I've downloaded onto my drive. I had to get multiple thumb drives to store stuff. This will be good for downloading movies, too.
I've been waiting for this forever. My 500GB drive is full and 32 wasn't cutting it. Thank you MS! However, I didn't know that there was a preview beta for the 360. Yes, Wael Hasno, I do want to join. I wonder if I can with me already on the XO preview?
Microsoft sent me an invitation because I'm a preview member on the Xbox One. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a long term member or something but that is how I joined and I'm not sure if there is a way to invite people on the 360.
Oh well, I'll just continue to load up my digital queue until it's publicly available. I do wish you could invite others like on the XO.
My guess is their trying to keep it small since I doubt they have as many 1st/2nd gen refirbs as they do with S models
Why waste any more money on Xbox 360
Huge back catalog of games, continued support by way of software updates, more to draw from for free games with gold games, a lot of people have one and feel no need to switch or can't afford it, etc etc. Microsoft still has a very large user base on 360
Not just games, but the 360 is a great cheap Netflix streamer that ALSO has games. The S and E variants are virtually silent and similarly priced to a good streaming box (roku, appleTV etc) and most ppl still watch content from DVDs so you get that too along with the gaming capabilities.
As for games, I find myself playing on 360 more than on the One simply because of the huge library and far far far cheaper price of the games and the 2nd hand market. ALso, I'm not sure if its just me, but there really is an underwhelming difference in visual quality between the 360 and One.
Because games?
The games for gold on the x360 are yours to keep and don't need a live sub to play. Whereas with the x1 you need a live sub to play the games for gold which you download, essentially your renting the content.
It's still a great gaming machine games are still being produced for it, it has a huge back catalogue of games and apps especially for younger gamers (I wish there were more games for young gamers for xbox one) and as far as I'm aware the 360 is still being produced. External hard drive support for it ....good news.
Yes!!!!!
Preview invite beggars coming in 3..2..1..
Lol.
How much longer will xbox one survive, amidst the changes being brought forward with the power & performance available to all with windows 10.
Xbox One with Windows 10... It's that much better.
I know that I'd say it puts it at a disadvantage on the gaming front
Can you elaborate?
Yeah. The OS performance should be pretty much the same but direct x 12 is vastly more efficient and should lead, at least for games that can use it, 20-25% faster framerates based on the benchmarks we've seen from the W10 desktop preview and the few dx12 capable benchmark tools out there.
Now we need native 2tb internal drives in Xbox One
Ok crazy, they haven't made a 2.5HDD that big yet... @_@
There are but there not that fast Samsung spinpoint comes to mind
They absolutely have, but only seem to be available as portable drives and not 2.5" hard drives.
Also, from what I've seen they are the 'new' native USB interfaced drives and not SATA in a SATA-USB enclosure, but this might just be me not having seen a native SATA version.
I use a Seagate 2.5" size portable 2Tb drive on each of my Ones and so far so good. I ran out of internal storage way faster than I thought.
What are you talking about? They're are tons of 2.5" 2TB drives. I put one in my ps4, and have one connected to my 360, too. My PS4'S old 500GB became an external for my Xbone :D
You can use any external usb drive.
Fyi, games stored on external drive load faster.
All depends on connection standard most externals still use sata2
Both the One and PS4 ONLY use USB 3 to connect their internal drives, not SATA, so the USB 3 interface at 625MB/sec is nowhere close to being saturated. People have found that replacing the int drive in the PS4 with an SSD yeilds virtually no speed difference so it would seem that the interface isn't even operating at its full capacity either as any SSD is going to be a lot faster than a 4200 or 5200rpm spindle drive.
The only reason I can think of that an external drive would be faster than the One's internal drive would be that the One's OS is utilizing the drive for OS-type stuff while loading the game from the drive at the same time which is quite probable. While when loading a game from an external drive it *might* load the OS and external game files simultaneosly from both int and ext drives and thus save a few seconds here or there.
Still, it would have been nice to have native SATA support instead of USB3 only, it might cost a few $ in licensing fees though, I don't know.
How can I become a preview program member?
You need to sacrifice a PS4
LOL
LMAO
Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!
Lol
THIS!
Holy shat, LMAO.
In all seriousness, you need to be invited by someone who is already in the program. If you want I can invite you I just need your gamertag.
Invite me. I'm dying to get into preview.
GT Kuttaz
Invite infinitebrain please!
I would be very thankful if you could invite me. My gamertag is FPSRytky
I would like an invite please. Gamertag is maverickreload
Give Daniel Rubino sensual massage.
My guess is same original requirements for xb1 preview which was become a xbox 1 addict
I remember getting the 20GB version and being like "no way man, this is so freaking big!".
Oh the memories. I had the same then upgraded to 60gb w/ HDMI then 360 S and went crazy installing all my games as I didn't know what to do with all the free space :)
But that was when games didn't require downloading really. Was mainly for saves. Now for drm and other baloney reasons pretty much make you download full games. That's what eats the space up.
On a similar note...what external hard drives have you guys had the best success with on the Xbox One?
For me personally I love to invite my friends over to play games. Therefore all my friend different taste for games( call of duty,bf4, FIFA,) and 500 GB isn't enough so extra storage is welcome. Otherwise, I would have to download and delete games frequently.
Didn't really answer missionsparta's question with your comment.
Exactly.....
I've used a 4TB Western Digital red drive since they launched the external storage feature on the Xbox One. No issues, so far *knock on wood*.
I have a 1tb Casio drive. Don't remember model. No issues.
I use a Seagate 3TB. It works well but disconnects sometimes when idle (never when playing games or being used)
I have had 1tb Toshiba for about a year with no problems. Got it from Amazon for $50, well worth it.
I have a Western Digital MyBook 2 TB (USB 2.0/3.0) on my Xbox One. Works great!
I've always used WD Hard Drives 500GB with no issues. Plus it's fast. I recently got the 2TB WD drive and installed like 50 games and still have significant room left!!
X-D
I'm using a Toshiba Canvio USB 3 model, 2TB, on my 360. Works perfectly.
Fucking FINALLY! This is long, LONG overdue.
I really don't understand why Microsoft is so slow to put convenient features in! We always have to beg!
Agreed. Like the years-long demand for Xbox live gold to use services like Netflix and Hulu.
Now what's pissing me off is how they've ruined OneDrive in Windows 10. Reverting to a 5 years old dropbox knockoff model is bullshit. That alone means I won't switch to Windows 10. 8.1 until they fix this broken ass thing. Completely ruined OneDrive sync.
That's the Microsoft Modis operandi, though: Three steps forward, two steps backward and then trip over their own feet.
"In addition we will also no longer reserve space in advance on your hard drive. If you are using 16GB of hard drive space for games – we will only take 16GB of space. "
wait... what?
LOL. I thought the same thing.
Originally you had to preset how much space you want it to reserve when formatting a drive to work with your Xbox 360. They're taking that away which is a plus.
Basically it means their dropping original support
And I just spent 60 bucks for a 500 GBs hard drive... Oh well !!! Lol
Funny, I just bought a new 500GB hard drive too. Should we start a completely illogical and unwarranted "MICROSOFT IS RIPPING US OFF!" rant?
As you said, "oh well".
Thirded, installed it last week. Took 3 years to fill the old 250, so this 500Gb drive should be good for awhile.
You won't have to pay Xbox live subscription soon
I don't mind paying. I like the free monthly games.
I don't mind paying I like the free games to I have been Xbox live gold member for going on 7 years I currently use an Xbox 360, my youngest lad has 360 & One. & my oldest has a PS4, So I know what's what.
Well its still worth it untill Collective Minds makes a 360 version of their sleek looking enclosure they made for 1
There was a 32 GB restriction before?
Yep as 360 only [officially] supported USB drives. This update will allow external HDDs with a higher capacity.
When did THAT happen...I thought it was 16GB? @_@
They originally said up to 2 16gb flash drives, I believe.
Yup.
Hope the allow us to use the same external to and fro between 360 and the One.
Its 2 x 32gb I have them on mine to store arcade games on. But anyway.. Thus is fantastic news albeit a tad to late.. But good nonetheless.