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

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 #$^?

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.

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....

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.

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/150 [...] cheap.html

THe irony here is that MS made their money from companies reverse-engineered IBM's PC to make theirs able to use MS-DOS (Compaq was the biggest of them in the early 80s). Plus, DOS wasn't even their own creation. You do have to wonder why they didn't see with the prices they're charging for peripherals that people will find cheaper alternatives. Aarick is right. If you buy the same harddrive and transfer the original firmware to it, voila. You don't need a harddrive to access XboxLive, I do believe you need one to download content. I may be wrong.

Are you kidding? If you mod your XBox 360 or add/change the HDD and want to use Live, you're definitely going to get banned at some point. Microsoft has hardware and software identifiers everywhere in their console to help them determine if anything has been changed. With each new wave of bannings that you hear about means they've written more identifiers into the system to catch anything trying to masquerade as a virginal console.

For those of you who think it's illegal to be banned from Live, think again. Microsoft's got a stable of lawyers that make a ton of money writing ironclad TOS's and making sure their "closed" system remains that way. It's perhaps "annoying" or "irritating" to play by such rules, but it's a long step towards leveling a playing field for everyone who wants a fair gaming environment.

Cheaters, pirates and modders will get caught sooner or later if they keep playing with fire by insisting on using an online service. If you want to do whatever you want to your 360, then stay offline. Permanently.

Consider the consequences of a console ban:
You might end up with these reported significant disadvantages -

* Cannot go on Xbox Live.
* Cannot install games to the HDD.
* Cannot use Windows Media Center extender.
* Cannot be used to get achievements from backups without corrupting your profile.
* And it corrupts game saves in many ways.