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Xbox 360 USB storage support now live

R Nilla

R Nilla

Diamond Member
Queasy said:
Confirmed for an April 6 release date.
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You can click the link above for more info, but everything Joystiq originally reported below is true.


-----Original Post

Joystiq says yes:

Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.
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joystiq-xbox-usb-support-08.jpg


This is huge news if true. The article goes on to explain that you will only be able to use a maximum of 16GB regardless of the capacity of your device, and that you will be able to have up to two devices recognized at once (even if you have three plugged in). So we're looking at a max of 32GB of active USB storage at any one time.

Still not as good as being able to use whatever size/brand HDD you want like the PS3, but it's a big step in the right direction and far better than the paltry 512MB Memory Units. This would also allow MS to eliminate Memory Units and the MU slot on the 360 altogether if they wanted.
 
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There was nothing stopping MS from doing this when the 360 was launched, so I'll believe it when I see it. They have a history of screwing us on accessories.
 
interesting...

this makes 100% sense too if the rumors about the Xbox 360 Slim come true, because those looked to not have any memory card slots on the motherboard pics.

mugs the reason they didnt do it initially was obvious - $$$$.

bah, kronis beat me by 1 minute!
 
mugs said:
There was nothing stopping MS from doing this when the 360 was launched, so I'll believe it when I see it. They have a history of screwing us on accessories.
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True, but do they really care about selling Memory Units? This allows an alternative solution to MUs without necessarily taking away from their overpriced hard drive sales due to the 16GB limit (32GB over two devices). Maybe it's not worth it to them to continue to produce and support MUs.
 
DaveSimmons said:
Engadget says you can only use up to 16 GB of space though, so this will mostly be useful for hooking up a spare old HDD to an arcade unit.
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Hey, 16GB of useable space is more than you get with a 20GB 360 hard drive. 😉

This will be great IMHO. I was getting ready to buy another memory card to separate my kids' profiles and game saves from my own (we are sharing a memory card to move back and forth between our two 360s). Having a 16GB thumbstick is a great way to transfer not only game saves but Live Arcade games and other content that you can purchase from the Live Marketplace.

If true, this is a big change in direction for MS after they blocked unlicensed third party memory solutions.
 
that would be so awesome. I want my rockband songs off my console. I have like 20 or maybe more gigs worth and I don't play it much anymore but I don't delete because I don't want to redownload it
 
Gillbot said:
I think they need to fix the RROD instead of adding bells and whistles.
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this comes up in practically ever 360 thread. RROD instances have gone down on later revisions.

MS gambled, lost and have taken reasonable steps to address the issue. Let it go already.
 
purbeast0 said:
mugs the reason they didnt do it initially was obvious - $$$$.
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I know that, and they continue to screw us on accessories for that reason.

The possible introduction of an Xbox 360 Slim is a plausible reason why they would abandon their insistence on using official memory cards, but it will annoy me even more that they've required us to use expensive "official" storage options for so long only to change their minds when it is required by their own needs. And they'll continue to require their own official hard drives for no good reason.
 
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They have gone down, not been eliminated. The only reason I made that statement was a recent RROD incident on a "new" style console.
 
Gillbot said:
They have gone down, not been eliminated. The only reason I made that statement was a recent RROD incident on a "new" style console.
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No console has a zero defect rate. No electronics period.

We'll never get numbers from MS, but other evidence such as SquareTrade repair rates shows that Jasper is probably as reliable as a PS3.
 
DaveSimmons said:
No console has a zero defect rate. No electronics period.

We'll never get numbers from MS, but other evidence such as SquareTrade repair rates shows that Jasper is probably as reliable as a PS3.
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I never excepted a zero rate, but my Atari 2600 still works flawlessly and so do many other of my much older consoles.

Many of my newer ones have been replaced repeatedly so i'm not picking on the x360 itself.
 
Atari 2600 = solid-state, passively cooled, with only a couple of toggle switches and no other moving parts.

Once consoles started using spinning CD / DVD drives with delicate laser assemblies, cooling fans, and now hard drives reliability was bound to go way down.

Also, my Atari 800, 800XL and 130XE all died years ago. I had to pick up an 800XL off of eBay to transfer my floppy collection to a PC emulator.
 
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Know what else I'd like to see? Let us stuff data straight onto a Windows Home Server. I know the 360 is somewhat bandwidth constrained due to the 100mbit/s ethernet port (my WHS can readily hit ~250mbit/s), but you'd think it'd be enough for anything but game installs. Hell, if they're letting you install to a lame little USB drive with who knows what kind of transfer rate, they may as well let you put 'em over the network.

Still, just being able to use a USB stick as a 360 memory device is a nice step forward, and I imagine it'll simplify the lives of folks using multiple 360s.

Oh, and as for "cut down on the RRoDs", go check on the "slim 360" thread for my theory as to why the new Valhalla chipset might eliminate them almost entirely.
 
So will this only be for saved games? Or will you be able to save other stuff like DLC to the USB device as well?
 
trmiv said:
So will this only be for saved games? Or will you be able to save other stuff like DLC to the USB device as well?
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Everything that you can save on the 360 hard drive, you'll be able to save on the USB storage device as well.

At least, that is what we know right now based on the Joystiq article.
 
Sweet, I need to order myself a usb hard drive enclosure because I've got a few laptop hard drives laying around that would be perfect for this.
 
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