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Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360 Hard-Drive Transfer Kit

Christopher Grant
Updated ·2 min read

While we're going through the manual that came with the Hard-Drive Transfer Kit, we though we'd share some pics of the little devil. It connects to the underside of the Xbox 360 hard drive and to the console via USB. This kit did not come with the Xbox 360 Elite. Microsoft anticipates most customers purchasing the Elite will be new customers; however, if you're upgrading, they'll provide a free Hard-Drive transfer kit redeemable at Xbox.com. While that's working (estimated time: 42 minutes), here's some info from the process:

  • You need to snap your 20GB drive onto the Elite, and plug the 120GB drive into the Transfer Kit (yeah, we thought it was the other way around at first, too)

  • Despite the image on the CD sleeve and software screen, the manual says "be sure to connect the transfer cable to the back port, not a port on the front of the console."

  • This process does not copy your 20GB hard drive; it moves that data over to the 120GB drive and erases the 20GB drive

  • The preloaded content on the Elite will be erased and replaced with your old data (not Hexic! Not again! Our refurbed 20GB drive didn't have Hexic on it ... and now the Elite won't either)

  • XBLM and XBLA data will be moved, but the licenses "are tied to your console not your hard drive." This means you will only be able to play/watch those items while connected to Xbox Live. (Update: this only applies to switching consoles -- users upgrading to the 120GB drive on their existing console shouldn't encounter this shortcoming)

  • Movie rentals will not be moved at all and will need to be watched before transferring data.

Update: And we're done. The update took just under 40 minutes, and we needed to re-enter the network security settings for the 360's wireless adapter, but otherwise it went smooth enough. Our save games are intact and operable, our XBLA games are intact and semi-operable (as long as we're signed onto XBL, otherwise they behave like demos) and, whaddya know, Hexic remained on the drive!

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