Mr. Miyagi
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250GB Xbox 360 HDD Now Available for $129.99
- Thread starter Mr. Miyagi
- Start date
Rash
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$129.99?
Ahahahahahahahahaha!!
nearly 3 times the price of regular 250gb laptop drives lmao!!
ie 250gb 2.5" sata drive is $45 on ebay!
Ahahahahahahahahaha!!
nearly 3 times the price of regular 250gb laptop drives lmao!!
ie 250gb 2.5" sata drive is $45 on ebay!
snaggletooth
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That is absolutely brutal. I put a 320GB drive in my PS3 for under $100CDN over a year ago.
I guess it is a price cut though.
I guess it is a price cut though.
Considering you can upgrade to that, or nothing at all, MS can pretty well charge what they want. The 360 being a closed system, and all, means accessories are easy money. I wouldn't buy it, but plenty will.
edit: and they sell the systems at a loss, so don't expect a price cut for this. It'll probably be replaced by a more spacious unit at the same price point as the competition increases its offerings.
evanisthecoastie
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seriously, theres 500gb drives on newegg for less than that
MajorMullet
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Steep price for such a small amount of storage, especially with Microsoft considering allowing storage of 360 data on external hard drives with a spring update.
Mr. Miyagi
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There is actually a 16GB cap on the external drives. It's meant more for thumb drives as a replacement to the memory cards.
False. Microsoft has been turning a profit for every console they sell for quite some time now. Only Sony is still selling for a loss.
Shalafi
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thanks to all the people who buy replacements for their RRoD'd 360's if they are out of warranty or don't want to bother sending it in
MajorMullet
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Ah, I didn't read about it in detail - just saw a headline. Guess it makes sense - they wouldn't be able to sell many of these proprietary hard drives they opened it up. I wonder how much the "official" thumb drives will be
Microsoft is making a profit on each console through hardware cost reduction. The hardware is cheaper to produce because of die shrinks (allow more chips per wafer) and sourcing cheaper components. If all you had to do was sell more consoles, Sony would still be making 90nm PS3's with PS2 BC. Why go through the trouble of designing a 45nm slim w/o PS2 BC?
a profit? this is not a profit... its way more.
nobody_here
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i dunno...local auto repair shop was going to charge me $267 for a part they were going to get at the local advance auto for $60, and then charge me 2.1 hrs labor ($180+/-) for something me and my brother in law did with a jack and a few hand tools in 30 miutes.....and this was a big name "reputable" shop, not billy bobs corner store
talk about markup and making more than a decent and respectable margin
talk about markup and making more than a decent and respectable margin
You don't have to buy it
.But is it really way more? Let see the console business model.
Pay people for 3 years to design console = -$1 Billion (total guess)
Marketing and pay for exclusive titles = -$500 Million (total guess)
Sell 2 Million consoles at $400 that cost $700 to manufacture. = -$600 Million
Sell game licensing ($10 per game sold?)
Sell accessories for a high profit margin
The reality is both Microsoft and Sony sold the consoles for way less then it cost them to actually make it. Neither company will profit much.
Rash
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the difference is you could buy a reliable third party mem card for the ps2, wheras he 250gb harddrive for the 360 your COMPLETELY FUCKED!! youd be better off selling your current 360 and buying a 250 gb 360!
sirmonkey1985
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250GB drive for 130 bucks aint bad at all.. i mean shit i remember paying 200 dollars just for the 160gig EIDE drive in my laptop less then a year ago.. if you really think its bad go look up 2.5" external drives.. most of them are about 100-150 dollars for 250GB.. so its really not a bad deal at all since thats exactly what your buying..
Rash
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you were severely ripped off on the laptop drive mate. i live in the uk and i got a 250gb way way cheaper around the same time!
looking on ebay for external 250 gb 2.5" drives and selecting buy it now, the top 5 results which include western digital come in at $60 new plus free shipping. im not sure where your getting your info from....
sirmonkey1985
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well when you live in california and your only choices are bestbuy which is a total friggin rip off, fry's which isnt much better and carries low end model crap and the only ones that sell internal eide drives and newegg which sucks when your drive dies on a thursday night and you have to wait til thursday the next week to get it even though you ordered it friday morning then ya pretty much screwed and have to pay what ever the B&M stores charge since fry's doesnt do price matching.. and i dont consider ebay as a source for prices because quite frankly i wont buy anything that remotely resembles computer hardware on there..
snaggletooth
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Rash
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unlucky buying computer related hardware at max costs for the rest of your life.
Creepingdeath1977
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Wow you can buy a 1.5TB western digital harddrive from egg for $99 bucks.
And MS wants to sell us a 250gb for $130 bucks.......nice.
And MS wants to sell us a 250gb for $130 bucks.......nice.
MassConfusion
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Yeah, just go ahead and try to hook up you 360 to that 1.5TB HDD and see what happens. Not everyone is so hardware savy, so I'll will just save up, buy the harddrive, transfer the info, download Oblivion, Fallout 3, CoD4, MW2, and what ever the hell I want, as well as a couple DAYS worth of movies
, and have a hell of a fun time doing it. All while you rant and rave about prices.Creepingdeath1977
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Yeah, just go ahead and try to hook up you 360 to that 1.5TB HDD and see what happens. Not everyone is so hardware savy, so I'll will just save up, buy the harddrive, transfer the info, download Oblivion, Fallout 3, CoD4, MW2, and what ever the hell I want, as well as a couple DAYS worth of movies
Has nothing to do with being hardware savy, you can swap an HD in a PS3 in about 5 minutes for 1/6th of the price. I upgraded my HD in my 360 from a 20 to 60 and only did that because I found one on the cheap.
When it comes to extras for the 360 MS rapes the customer and there's no question about it, like it or not. And they do so because they know you have no choice other than theirs.
Rash
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Yeah, just go ahead and try to hook up you 360 to that 1.5TB HDD and see what happens. Not everyone is so hardware savy, so I'll will just save up, buy the harddrive, transfer the info, download Oblivion, Fallout 3, CoD4, MW2, and what ever the hell I want, as well as a couple DAYS worth of movies
your the reason the prices are high!!
I think the obvious response to the 1.5TB HDD is that the X360 uses a 2.5" drive.
The point is console manufactures make accessories to make back what they lose on the console. That's why controllers are $50-70. Of course you can't really compare their prices to a comparable product so you don't complain, but the mark up is just as big. Its beside the point that you can get cheap memory cards from 3rd parties, Sony still charged what they did and the design is proprietary to prevent the use of generics. Look at the the Sony Memory Stick Duo vs SD card. PSP owners are paying a premium for storage too. Their a lot cheaper now, but SD cards are still even cheaper.
Also if the 250GB X360 bundle is $400 with MW2 and 2 controllers. Bundles will always be cheaper, but its pretty comparable individually. $200 for an Arcade, $130 for 250GB HD, $60 for a game, $50 for a controller = $440. So no your better off keeping your X360.
That's the console business. You bought into their platform and now... you can only play their games!
Film at eleven...
The point is console manufactures make accessories to make back what they lose on the console. That's why controllers are $50-70. Of course you can't really compare their prices to a comparable product so you don't complain, but the mark up is just as big. Its beside the point that you can get cheap memory cards from 3rd parties, Sony still charged what they did and the design is proprietary to prevent the use of generics. Look at the the Sony Memory Stick Duo vs SD card. PSP owners are paying a premium for storage too. Their a lot cheaper now, but SD cards are still even cheaper.
Also if the 250GB X360 bundle is $400 with MW2 and 2 controllers. Bundles will always be cheaper, but its pretty comparable individually. $200 for an Arcade, $130 for 250GB HD, $60 for a game, $50 for a controller = $440. So no your better off keeping your X360.
When it comes to extras for the 360 MS rapes the customer and there's no question about it, like it or not. And they do so because they know you have no choice other than theirs.
That's the console business. You bought into their platform and now... you can only play their games!
Film at eleven...
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YeuEmMaiMai
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i still have 50GB free on my elite
swatbat
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Same could be said for those quoting ebay prices.
Anyway yea a 250 gig hard drive is 50 to 75 bucks depending on model. Tack on a custom case, custom transfer cable and some software to make it happen that ms needs to support. Yes they are making money on it. It is a retail product. I think they should have personally done it at the 99.99 price point.
Rash
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and ill respond to that just to keep the comparisons simple
640GB Western digital 2.5" Hard Drive + external usb 2.0 enclosure case including usb 2.0 cable = $129 shipped
theres also 750gb 2.5" drives for around $145
640GB Western digital 2.5" Hard Drive + external usb 2.0 enclosure case including usb 2.0 cable = $129 shipped
theres also 750gb 2.5" drives for around $145
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Rash
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yes my new 640gb ps3 slim was a breeze to install, sold the 250gb hard drive for 40 bought the 640gb hard drive for 80, ps3 formats and installs its bit of software to make it happen that sony needs to support lol with ease to the hard drive.
id just like to point out that sandisk also make memory stick duos and micros and nearly all the console high street retailers sold the san disk mem stick duos and not the official sony ones right from the launch of the psp!
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Creepingdeath1977
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The PS3 and Wii don't have proprietary storage just MS so if the other 2 will let you use what ever you want "storage wise" that's not the console business. MS keeps the closed environment so they can sell you what they want at the price they want. And that's all fine and good but selling their hard drives for 6 times their worth is shitty business practice anyway you cut it.
And a big fuck you to the consumer because they have no other option but the "MS" option.
How much do you think it cost Sony to make a Six-Axis controller? How about the nun chuck, motion plus, or wii fit? You aren't complaining because you don't know how much it really cost to make. We can't compare it to anything else so the answer isn't obvious. The reality is most things you buy have huge mark ups. The manufacture is making 20-40% on a product, then distributor gets his cut (+20-30%), and then the store is taking 20-40% too. So 6 times is happening all the time.
Like I said its the consoles business, you buy their console and you are stuck buying their games and usually accessories. M$ and Sony both sold their consoles for a huge lost ($300-400 initially), not because they love you but to make that money back by charging you more for games (20% higher price vs PC) and accessories. You will pay the mark up because it doesn't play any other games.
Like I said its the consoles business, you buy their console and you are stuck buying their games and usually accessories. M$ and Sony both sold their consoles for a huge lost ($300-400 initially), not because they love you but to make that money back by charging you more for games (20% higher price vs PC) and accessories. You will pay the mark up because it doesn't play any other games.
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Or just put your own in...
Code:
Tools:
1. A PC, duh! lol. (One capable of booting from USB)
2. Some SATA ports (or a SATA expansion card) [Any will do]
3. USB Flash Drive (I'd say any size should do, this will consume 2.12MB)
4. This PACKAGE containing ALL the need programs and files.
5. A Hard Drive of the following models:
* WD Scorpio Series BEVS/BEAS
* WD Scorpio Blue Series BEVS/BEVT
* WD Scorpio Black Series BEKT/BJKT
* WD VelociRaptor Series
(NOTE: The hard drive that you are using MUST be of the SAME SIZE as a Xbox 360 HDD, or larger. However, according to the read me 500GB seems to not work well. When you use a larger drive, the only usable part will be that of the next size down [Ex: you use a 40GB HDD, only 20GB will be used. If you use 160GB, only 120GB will be used.] On the other hand, you CAN NOT make a HDD using a smaller one. [Ex: If you use a 40GB, you can NOT flash it to a 60GB.] So make sure that if you use a non-360 hard drive that you use the hddss.bin for the NEXT SIZE DOWN!)
(Note II: This tutorial will cover the 250GB HDD. In this tutorial I will be using the Western Digital Caviar Blue BEVT)
[You can also download this tutorial in Adobe PDF format HERE]
Ok... ready? Go...
1.) Insert your USB stick. Don't forget to remove anything you don't want deleted.
2.) Install iPrep v009 contained on the File you downloaded. (follow the pictures)
3.) After installation. iPrep will start up if you checked the box.
4.) Load up all the firmwares, which can be found in the "firmware" folder inside the iPrep folder in the package you downloaded in the beginning.
5.) After you load the correct firmware for each of the DVD drive firmwares (this is necessary for iPrep to work correctly) you should be seeing this:
6.) If you were flashing drives, you would select your sata ports or via sata card, but youre not, so you don't need to. As hddhackr will find your ports.
7.) Now select your USB drive under the "Target Device" drop down box. Also make sure the "Format / Make Bootable" and "Include Batch Files" boxes are checked. Lastly, select FAT as your format. You may choose FAT 32, if FAT gives you problems.
8.) Now press start. iPrep will do it's job.
9.) Step 9 is a two part step.
9a.) Open your USB drive under Windows Explorer.
9b.) Drag "hddhackr.exe" and hddss.bin files to your USB. They can be found in their respective locations in the package you downloaded. Drag them straight to the USB as in the root. Don't drop it in any folders, do not drag any folders. Just drag the exe and the bin file into the root of the USB stick.
10.) Shut down any programs you had running, and take notes of the res of the steps because you won't be able to refer to this website unless you are doing this on a 2nd PC like I did, or if you download and print the .pdf I posted at the top.
11a.) Shutdown your PC. Do not remove your USB drive.
11b.) Insert your new HDD (the one you intend to hack).
NOTE: Please excuse the quality of the next few pictures. I had to use a webcam because I lost my digicam. They are bad, but you can still get an idea of what's going on.
12.) Choose to boot from USB.
13.) This will be the first screen you get. It's main screen to flash DVD drives.
14.) type "hddhackr" (without the quotations), this will begin the almost automated process.
15.) hddhackr will begin to scan your drives.
(this shows my system which contains 1 IDE HDD, 2 DVD Drives, and the 250GB I used for this tut)
16.) hddhackr will assign each drive a letter. Choose the one that corresponds to yours (mine in this case was 4).
17.) hddhackr will ask you to dump sector 16-22, flash firmware, or restore firmware.
D to dump (I don't know what this will be for)
F to flash (this is to make the hdd into a Xbox 360 one)
R to restore (this is to make your hacked Xbox 360 HDD back into a normal one, MUST have UNDO.BIN present which you will make in the next step)
Type F,
18.) hddhackr will then ask for the file name for the sector 16-22. This is where you would type in "hddss.bin" (without quotes).
19.) It will then ask you to create the backup file name. You will call this "UNDO.BIN" (no quotes, not case sensitive). (Ignore the question about already existing. I had to redo this for the sake of the tutorial. This will only show IF you already have a undo.bin on your USB drive.)
20.) hddhackr will then post drive information. It will then tell you that the hddss.bin does not match that of your hard drives firmware. It will then ask if you want to flash to Xbox 360 compatible firmware.
Type Y (for yes)
21.) hddhackr will then begin to load the firmware. A colored bar will show progress. Should only take 30 secs.
22.) hddhackr will then tell you to shutdown your PC. Wait 10 seconds. Then restart.
23.) Restart your PC.
24.) Boot back into the USB drive.
25.) Type "hddhackr" (no quotes)
26.) Wait for it to scan drives. Your 250GB HDD should show up as a Hitachi now. If it did, it worked. (Look hard, you can see it in the screenshot)
27.) Shut down your PC.
28.) Remove your HDD.
29.) Place it back into it's casing (You don't need to reassemble in case there is an error).
30.) Plug into your Xbox 360.
31.) Boot the Xbox 360.
32.) Go to Settings > Console Settings > System Information.
33.) Write down your console serial number (don't use the one of the back of your Xbox 360 because with refurbs, case swaps, and such, the one on the back of your Xbox may not be accurate).
33.) Go Back to System Settings.
34.) Select Memory. Highlight the HDD. Press Y. Format.
33.) Enter the serial number you just wrote down. Press Start. Wait for format.
34.) Enjoy your new Xbox 360 hard drive. 228GB should be free.
You may run into problems. Please post (in a NON-RUDE manner) your problem. Please remember that this is for the 250GB HDD, however, the process should be the same for all of them. Just use the correct hddss.bin file. I would avoid using oddly sized HDDs. Just use the same sized one to be safe.
Please +rep if I helped you. Credit goes to Scottocs for showing me how to do this, but I had to tweak a little bit. Please +REP him as well. I just wanted to make a tutorial with pictures, using the process I did.
If hddhackr has problems finding your port, open jungleflasher and find out which port you have the HDD on. Also my suggestion is, to disconnect all other drives when you restart so as to not accidentally flash any other drives. Also this creates less arguments for hddhackr.
So here is a possible solution if you can't find your hdd:
Go to jungle flasher, go to DVDKey 32, and it will list all the ports on your PC. Take a note of all the ports that are SATA. Write them on a scap paper. You only need the four characters after the 0x. (Ex: 0x8400, 0xA800, etc). Those are your ports. So once you collect them all. Restart your PC, disconnect all drives EXCEPT the USB and drive you want to hack. Try using Auto mode (hddhackr). If it doesn't work, restart and then enter manual mode (hddhackr -f).
Now if you need to try all the ports, enter this command:
Quote:
HDDHACKR F XXXX A0 HDDSS.BIN UNDO.BIN
(Replace XXXX with your port info) Try each one if you need to. It will say ATA Device Not Present if you chose the wrong port. Since you can only access SATA on a Master Drive, always enter A0 (in red). If all is well, then it should begin the same process as above. If it still can not find your drive, try changing ports, and make sure the drive is powering up.
I hope I helped you. I will try to do everything in my power to find solutions if you run into any.Creepingdeath1977
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But were not talking controller's, mics, games etc...those all cost similar to each other, wii, xbox, ps3, so they can't be used to compare and If you post on this forum you know how much a hard drive cost. MS doesn't make their harddrive and their HD is no different than one you can slap in a pc or ps3.
If a MS 360 controller was the only controller they let you use but cost you 150 bucks would you buy it? When a Wii/PS3 controller cost $50 ? Because it's the exact same thing, there's absolutely nothing special about the 360 HD but MS charges the premium for it because they know you don't have a choice. The 360 HD's don't perform better than their counter parts, they don't do anything that would justify the insane price for them.
That's not good business practice, that's a monopoly. Something that MS has got their ass in legal trouble because of in the past. Controller's are one thing but there's know way in hell your going to convince anyone on this forum with any common sense that they're not raping customer's on the price of their HD's.
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MassConfusion
Limp Gawd
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Yeah, because I am realistic and not trying to mod my xbox, but legally buying the stuff made BY the company who made the xbox in the first place. All while realizing that I will probably NEVER use up all 500GB of space in the HDD that the first guy was suggesting. Both 160GB and 250GB are PLENTY good enough for me.
TheCowOfNow
Assault then RUN AWAY!
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There was a deal a while back, not sure if you'd call it a deal, where the 399$ or 299$, can't rmemeber xbox elite with 250gb HD and FFXIII or Splintercell plus two controllers.
Yes, it's still overpriced. But that's not exactly news at this point. Also, it's a drastic improvement from the previous drives Microsoft has sold (20GB drives were $180 when the 360 launched). If prices on the older drives can serve as any guide, etailers should have this discounted below $100 within a month or two, which takes it out of the range of "you've got to be f***ing kidding me" previous drives were priced at and puts it more into "normal 1st party markup" range.
More importantly, this means we'll be seeing price drops on 120GB drives pretty soon, which, now that movie rentals are streamed, is about all the space you really need on a 360, IMO.
More importantly, this means we'll be seeing price drops on 120GB drives pretty soon, which, now that movie rentals are streamed, is about all the space you really need on a 360, IMO.
YeuEmMaiMai
Extremely [H]
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say what? why not try $50 to $100 for 320gb-1TB.....