4gb vs. 250gb... or Upgrading your Xbox 360 Hard Drive

I bought an Xbox 360 a few months ago. Like any other buyer out there, I faced the "4GB or 250GB" dilemma.

Which one do you get?

What's better?

Specifications?

Cost?

Here are some things to consider.

Differences

1. Specifications

• Storage: the 250GB version of course has 250 gigs of memory (hard drive) while the 4GB version has 4 gigs of memory (flash). A hard drive upgrade of 250gigs is available.
• Finish: the 250GB version has the piano black finish similar to the Kinect accessory while the 4GB version has a matt finish.

2. Price

The 250GB version is $100 more. A 240gig hard drive upgrade right now sells for $109.99. So the price difference is $10 if you want the matt finish.

3. Usability

Something you don't realise is that game demos and downloads take a significant portion of space. With a 4GB Xbox 360, you actually have 3.2gigs of usable space. When a demo is on average ~500 MB, that gets you 6 demos. Less if you buy game discs and much less if you have an on demand game (digital download).

Another important realisation i discovered was that some games just require an existing hard drive for 'complete performance'. One of the Kinect games that came in my bundle refused to save content on the flash memory. It required a flash drive. I've also read online that many other games require a hard drive for multiplayer or plain gaming.

So what's the decision?

For most wannabe techies it is possibly just picking the 250gb xbox 360. Less to worry about in the future. If you really wanted the matt finish, pickup the hard drive add-on. But for some of us, paying $110 for a 250gig drive seems like daylight robbery to conform to the custom spec of the Xbox 360 drive bay. There must be a way, right?

any instructions you follow below will void the warranty of the hard drive and hard drive bay and not the entire console. remember, if you needed up fix/upgrade your hard drive you'll have to do it somehow! that said, don't follow the instructions if you're not confident it is easy for you. you could damage your hard drive bay / computer permanently.

What you need:

1. An old Xbox 360 hard drive, or a laptop hard drive that are of the same model number as those used in the Xbox 360 units. For example, a WB Scorpio Blue Series BEVT size 250gig (it has to be this size) works.

2. A desktop computer or computing environment where you can connect a hard drive for flashing

3. A printout of excellently written instructions courtesy of InsaneNutter

4. {optional} A case for the laptop hard drive. You can get one here or here.

The Xbox 360 checks the firmware of the drive to see if the particular model is OK by Microsoft. Essentially what you're doing is taking a compatible hard drive and then flashing it to ensure it matches Microsoft's specifications so that it works with the Xbox 360 console and data can be stored on it safely. Hit me up if you had any questions regarding the instructions. The tail end of the instructions talk about transferring data from an old hard drive. If you're a new Xbox 360 buyer this doesn't pertain to you and so you can skip.

Need a little bit more help? Here's a video from Youtuber SiddGoneWild which can help you orient yourself with what you need to do.

All the best, Wannabe Techie!