Review of Xbox 360 250GB HardDrive - Xbox Slim Only

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List Price: $129.99
Sale Price: $84.99
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cut right to the chase: it does play original xbox games

that was my whole concern before purchasing it. i had to rifle through hundreds of reviews before i found someone that actually said that and stood behind it. i'm saving someone else a lot of time.

as you already know, like myself you probably got the 4g xbox kinect, this works for that and you get a ton of storage for it, fits perfectly, works perfectly, and plays original xbox games.

this is a official microsoft product so it will work. the knock off versions do not play original games

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The fact that you have to purchase Microsoft branded drives for the 360 "IS" kind of ridiculous; especially being that they charge about 60% over the retail cost of a 250GB hard drive.

The drives however are solid. There is one known issue with this model of drive in the new 360 Slim. If the drive isn't inserted "just right" you will get what appears to be a "red dot of death" and the console won't work; however, all you have to do is remove the drive and re-insert it making sure it is in all the way, and the problem will correct itself.

And yes, ... I own a 360 slim with this drive in it....

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Well, I finally caved in and decided to get one of these hard drives... even though every fiber in my being was telling me that Microsoft is ripping us off! These hard drives cost triple compared to a regular computer SATA Hard drive.... so I wanted satisfy my curiosity by finding out what the difference was between the microsoft brand hard drive was, and these knockoffs on the "Other Sellers" list.

I waited until both drives got delivered so I could measure performance and quality. The initial differences were rather obvious: retail packaging versus shrink wrap. But in my eyes, this does not sully the quality of any product. Most companies use retail packaging as a way to knock up the price of the exact same, identical OEM product. So do not be fooled by the oldest trick in the book.

While inspecting the two drives for physical differences, I noticed that the knockoffs had small differences in manufacturing: like the plastic housing felt a little more sturdy on the Microsoft model, and the factory print on the back of the drives contained different text. Again, such small differences that hadn't really been a deal breaker for me.

The real test came when I plugged them each into my Xbox and tried transferring my Gamertag over. Believe it or not, there was absolutely NO difference. Both drives functioned the same. Gameplay was identical on Black Ops and Halo: Reach after I installed both games on the hard drive. So after I was done with my test, I actually ended up returning the Microsoft brand drive and keeping the knockoff.

Microsoft Brand 250 GB hard drive: $93-$100

Knockoffs Brand 250 GB hard drive: $60-$85

Sorry Microsoft, love ya but I'm gonna have to vote for the underdog who sells hard drives for what they are actually worth. I say, purchase from one of the "other sellers" on the list, but make sure that they have enough ratings to where you feel comfortable giving them your money. I'm always wary of some of the ones at the bottoms of the list with no seller history! Regarding who I specifically bought from, I won't mention specific names since that would be unfair for the other competitors. I imagine they are all selling the same or similar hard drives so why promote one over the other? Good luck and don't forget to do your independent research before you buy!

Honest reviews on Xbox 360 250GB HardDrive - Xbox Slim Only

If you are one of the many that bought a 4GB xbox 360 bundle and plan on playing more than a few games (2.7GB left after system data is factory installed onto the internal HDD), you're going to need this product. I originally purchased a 500 GB WD elements drive since it is a much cheaper option but landed up returning it do to:

1. 16GB storage cap on USB connected devices (thanks Microsoft).

2. Necessary reformatting from NTFS to FAT32, as well as Microsoft downloading excess software on to the drive so it can even be seen by the console.

3. Constant performance limitations of USB 2.0 compared to the SATA connection in the drive slot on the bottom of the console.

I have had the Xbox 360 S kinect bundle and the 250GB HDD since Christmas and have beaten Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, COD black ops, and now working on Halo Reach (dabbled a little with some kinect games as well) with not a single issue with the piece of hardware. Does the job without a hitch. I realize it is yet another overpriced piece of proprietary hardware from Microsoft but they really got us "by the balls" here if you want to experiment with all capabilities of the system. It is really dependent upon what type of gamer you are but if you want to see what your system can do, I would recommend this purchase.

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I was really surprised with how easy this was to install, it literally took me about 60 seconds just lift up the little door and slide it in (it only goes one way), and i was ready to go when the xbox powered back up. so far so good.