Xbox 360 with third-party hard drive; will I get banned?

[coolgamer512]

I have a 20 GB hard drive for the 360, and we're starting to run out of space. Since $180 for a 120 GB hard drive is a complete ripoff, our only option is to open up the hard drive case and put a Toshiba 120 GB hard drive in there. Would this get me banned from Xbox Live?

But if it will, my brother suggested having one hard drive for Live, and another for installing games onto. Would that work, or does the Xbox keep a record of the hard drive?

 

[pr2thej]

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/install-western-digital-hard-drives-into-your-xbox-360-231670.php

Looks like its possible with a bit of tinkering, you cannot get anything larger than the official drive sizes recognised by the system though.

 

[Tyor]

The thing is, will there be enough space for airflow? I doubt you will find any room to put a hard drive in the 360.

 

[waffle911]

You put the drive in the same casing as the original HD of course. You just replace it. Most 360's come with a removable external mount hard drive in a special casing with a proprietary connector. But inside the casing sits a normal 2.5" SATA laptop drive, albeit with unforgivably small capacity. But there is a SATA connector in the casing. It's not like they could afford to have Western Digital (the manufacturer of the OEM drive) build and entirely new hard drive with proprietary connections and such, especially not when all the necessary components are already available. Instead, they just locked it away and gave it a proprietary pass-through. Easy money for them. Total rip-off.

 

[Rob423]

what exactly are you doing that you need more than 120GB for XBOX if you don't mind me asking. For Songs and What not, the system does have a USB.. also Streaming capabilities. Other than some game demo's... what else do you have stored on there?

 

[Heyyou27]

If Microsoft is able to detect that you do not have a first party hard drive, they will most likely ban you.

 

[Flakes]

well with the new update you can install games to the HDD, i have a 60GB drive in mine and want to put in a 1TB drive for all my stuff.

 

[Heyyou27]

well with the new update you can install games to the HDD, i have a 60GB drive in mine and want to put in a 1TB drive for all my stuff.

You have to keep the disc in the drive, so it's not really that convenient. Also, I can almost guarantee you'd get banned with a drive that large, ignoring the fact that you'll need a laptop drive anyways.

 

[Flakes]

well it is Sata i was just planning on leaving the HDD out of the case, and using converters if necessary.

it may not be too convenient but it does cut down the noise that little 360 makes.

 

[Heyyou27]

well it is Sata i was just planning on leaving the HDD out of the case, and using converters if necessary.

it may not be too convenient but it does cut down the noise that little 360 makes.

Ah, I see; well there shouldn't really be a hardware compatibility issue then, but I'd imagine Microsoft would not be too happy with you using your own hard drive.

 

[Ananan]

I'm probably a dunce about this, but I can't believe it's legal for a company to ban third-party products that are within the bounds of the law.

Sure - they can make it tough on third-party users with proprietary hardware. That's their right as the manufacturer.

But banning a perfectly legal third-party item such as a hard drive seems anti-competetive, to say the least.

Again - I didn't do any research. Just thoughts.

 

[Heyyou27]

I'm probably a dunce about this, but I can't believe it's legal for a company to ban third-party products that are within the bounds of the law.

Sure - they can make it tough on third-party users with proprietary hardware. That's their right as the manufacturer.

But banning a perfectly legal third-party item such as a hard drive seems anti-competetive, to say the least.

Again - I didn't do any research. Just thoughts.

Sure you can use your 360 with a third-party hard drive, but when using Xbox Live you are in agreement with Microsoft that you will follow all of their rules, and they reserve the right to take action if these rules are broken.

 

[Ananan]

MS will do whatever they want; they have a long history of anti-competetive behavior.

Still - banning someone from a publicly provided service for using a third-party device that's legal in any case of usage doesn't seem like it would stand up in court if someone chose to challenge it.

 

[Heyyou27]

MS will do whatever they want; they have a long history of anti-competetive behavior.

Still - banning someone from a publicly provided service for using a third-party device that's legal in any case of usage doesn't seem like it would stand up in court if someone chose to challenge it.

I don't think you understand how terms of service work; if you want to use Xbox Live, you have to play by Microsoft's rules. Once you agree to the terms of service, Microsoft can do whatever they want as long as they fall within the boundaries of the contract you've agreed to. If you don't like it, tough ****; Microsoft isn't the only one selling game consoles, you know.

 

[Ananan]

Since you're obviously an expert - what does the Xbox live ToS say?

Does it specifically say "No third party hard drives"?

 

[llama_man]

It probably says no third party hardware at all. MS want you to pay the premium for their branded add-ons.

 

[Ananan]

Ok - so I looked it up myself, just to be clear.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/legal/?WT.svl=nav

Heyyou27 - how hard is it to check this out? Why be a #$^?

 

[llama_man]

What does it say (is blocked as a "games" website at work )


Let's not also forget that opening up your 360 will void the warranty - and with the problems the 360's got, I'm not sure I'd want to void it!

 

[Ananan]

16. Service Operation and Equipment.

The Service may only be accessed with an original Xbox, an Xbox 360 console, a personal computer, or other device authorized by us, or by logging into your account via Xbox.com . You agree that you are using only authorized software and hardware to access the Service, that your software and hardware have not been modified in any unauthorized way (e.g., through unauthorized repairs, unauthorized upgrades, or unauthorized downloads), and that we have the right to send data , applications or other content to any software or hardware that you are using to access the Service for the express purpose of detecting an unauthorized modification. Any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute, or use for other purposes the Service, any game , application, or other content available or accessible through the Service, or any hardware or software associated with the Service or with an original Xbox or Xbox 360 console is strictly prohibited and may result in cancellation of your account and/or your ability to access the Service, and the pursuit of other legal remedies by Microsoft. Microsoft may take any legal action it deems appropriate against users who violate Microsoft's systems or network security ,this contract or any additional terms incorporated or referenced in this contract, and such users may also incur criminal or civil liability.

Sort through it yourself -

But it clearly states that "a personal computer" can access Xbox live; a PC couldn't do that without a HD, and a HD that can run Windows has obviously been ceritifed by MS.

This sentence -

"Any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute, or use for other purposes the Service, any game , application, or other content available or accessible through the Service, or any hardware or software associated with the Service or with an original Xbox or Xbox 360 console is strictly prohibited and may result in cancellation of your account and/or your ability to access the Service, and the pursuit of other legal remedies by Microsoft."

- is only meant to confuse end users. That's pathetic legalese gibberish that has about as much chance of standing up in court as... my cousin's $%^. The only way MS wins that is with $.

The initial point of this thread was not about voiding your warrenty by opening your Xbox anyway.
It was about third party HDs.

 

[llama_man]

I'm interested at how you arrived at your legal analysis. I struggle to see where the duty of care arises between Microsoft and the end user. AFAIK, the Live account is seperate from the purchase of the Xbox console?

 

[will_chellam]

I would have thought micorsofts standpoint was obvious - the sentance above prohibits unauthorized hardware and unauthorized upgrades, so I would think that doing a custom upgrade on your HDD would be frowned upon by microsoft....

At the end of the day, micorsoft provide the service, so they get to make the rules - they're there for a reason, which is to stop people gaining a competitive advantage, however the number of poeple with rapid fire mods on COD seems to continue....

 

[Guest]

I think you have a very good chance in court. First of all ms doesnt warranty the third party dvd drives or hard drives meaning they dont have any obligations, responsibility or control over what happens with them. So modding something that is not ms should not fall into the ms contract. You are not violating ms equipment. It should be 100 percent legit. Comments? Oh yeah its funny how the ps3 is made for expanding hard drives....

 

[tallguy1618]

I am going to send Microsoft an email kindly asking if they could please authorize me to use a laptop hard drive in place of the 360 one. I'll post their response if I do it.

 

[nottheking]

Technically, it's Microsoft's own rules, and yes, I believe they'd consider a modification of their hard drive casing to use a different hard drive inside to be an "unauthorized upgrade." I'm not really sure it could be construed as uncompetitive behavior; yes, they do have a form of monopoly in terms of Xbox Live. However, they aren't exactly supressing any sort of hard drive market, and they aren't the ones making such hard drives. So yeah, Microsoft is, again, being irritating with their rules. But then again, they are their own rules.

 

[smcurry83]

This "hack" uses the same 120GB HD drive that you would have if you bought the official xbox 120GB HD. I doubt it'll get you banned from xbox live. You're using the same hardware and firmware as the original. They probably could never tell.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/150970/upgrade_your_xbox_360s_hard_drive_on_the_cheap.html