Xbox 360 Arcade to eventually be replaced by $199 new Xbox 360; data transfer cable will be $20
By Sean Hollister 
posted June 14th 2010 11:16PM
posted June 14th 2010 11:16PM
And if you've preordered your shiny new Xbox 360 but have a older unit at home, you're going to need a little something to move those profiles, avatars and game licenses over. Should you have an Elite (or if you've upgraded your hard drive) you might find the cable you need between your couch cushions, but on the off-chance your Xbox 360 Hard Drive Data Migration Transfer Kit hit the dumpster long ago, you're not entirely out of luck. The one-way, single-use device will retail soon for $20, a mere $5 more than what it costs at the Microsoft Store -- or $19 more than used cables fetch on eBay.
The sooner the better! Thinking about selling my 360 Pro on eBay for atleast $100 then buying the arcade and just putting 250gb hard drive on it
Why can't MS just replace the whole lineup with this new slim version right off the bat? Maybe they want to wait what Sony/Nintendo would do (Wii for $99?). If MS put a hard-drive (even 80GB would be fine) along with the new slim design for a $199 Arcade model, imo that would be a very good deal.
@pika2000 You would be a terrible businessman. What should microsoft do with the few hundred thousand arcades and pros they have chilling around the country? Burn them?
@muyoso I didn't say for MS to stop selling them. They could've just do a price cut on them, or bundle them up. I mean that's what they've been doing anyway, bundling up the older consoles with games.
I assume the xbox 360 arcade slim will have some kind of memory. I really hope its a 120gb hard drive, it would make sense.
You don't need to spend 20 bucks on a stupid cable. If you have a usb flash drive, use that instead. I did, and all I have to do is connect it to the xbox 360 slim, and I'll have my account info, and games, etc.
I think it's a bit ridiculous that after a video unboxing, by Engadget themselves, wherein a Microsoft rep specifically stated that a USB drive could be used to migrate data, they still managed to miss out the fact in this article, instead decided to concentrate on a $20 peripheral which isn't even necessary.
Save games and the like are not going to take extreme amounts of space and thus shouldn't take long to transfer, and DLC and such can be downloaded onto the new console.
Really guys, you don't talk to each other at all?
@Gordonator
Yes, you can use USB drive, but you're maxed out at 16GB. It would be fine if you have a 20GB 360, but imagine if you have 80GB/120GB worth of content. Unless you are a really patient man, that $20 cable doesn't sound so bad after all.
@pika2000
It's idiotic to try to copy games you've installed from disc. It's slower than just re-installing them!
It's idiotic to try to copy tons of games from Arcade. It's faster to just re-download them!
It's idiotic to try to copy Marketplace movies and music. Again, it's faster to just re-download that stuff!
The only things you really need to transfer are your game saves, custom content for games, your profile, and your ripped CDs (which you could re-rip, I suppose).
Anyone who tries to transfer their entire hard drive via cable is sort of missing the point of XBox Live and the disc installation features.
hopefully the new hard drive is even easier to hack than the last one, im interested in getting the arcade and then getting one of the external casings online and using a laptop drive i already own
@annoyingposter4 Easier to hack? No hacking necessary. User replaceable drive.
what about transfering them piece by piece onto a flash card and then onto the new xbox? thats the whole point of allowing the usb flash fdrives no?
@Sepirioth Well, obviously you can do that. But when you have a new 360, you want to play games with it ASAP though, right, not waiting to copy your data one by one from numerous USB drives. The $20 cable is like Farmville cash.
@pika2000
Oh I agree, (not the farmville part, thats just an evil empire to me) but was just pointing it out since peopel tend to constantly try to save $ on those little things, its just another option. Besides, the transfer cable isnt THAT fast, at least wasnt.
@Sepirioth That won't work, it would have to be transfered all at once, which means you need to have under 16gb of data. However, you could just delete all your dlc and downloaded games to save space. It would still transfer the licences so you could redownload them on the new xbox.
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
If you have more than 16GB of game saves, you've got a lot of game saves.
Don't copy the games. Just reinstall them.
Don't copy your Marketplace media. Just re-download it.
I boiled a full 60GB hard drive down to 5GB of data for transfer to my new hard drive. It's pretty idiotic (and slower than hell) to try to copy the whole hard drive when the only things on it that aren't replaceable are your game saves.
I hate when companies do this they REPACKAGE the same crap to avoid coming out with a newer more innovative system.
@Juggernaut408
You really just wrote that and you have an Apple avatar? LOL
Since when does glossy mean stealth???
I'm asking what others have asked: Why is Engadget whining about this cable when YOU DON'T NEED IT?
Seriously: Hook up an external USB drive or stick, let the XBox 360 format it, and then transfer all your saves and stuff to the external drive. When you get the new XBox just connect the external device, and copy it all into the new hard drive.
There's a space limit, but just don't try to transfer your disc-based games or arcade titles. No point, anyway: You can reinstall those from disc or XBox Live on the new XBox.
I did this when I went from my 60GB to a 250GB drive. No problems. It's part of the dashboard now, guys. No need for an extra cable.