only 12gb?

[ashenfang]

Well, I have the 20gb HDMI version of the 360. There isn't anything on the hard drive and I was gonna try and install a game after this recent update. How is it that a 20gb hard drive can only have 12gb free?

I looked under "my xbox" and the only thing on the hard drive showing is a demo at 238mb that I downloaded. Any ideas?

[hajalie24]

mine is like that too. once drives get formatted it loses space i think.

[zexmarquies01]

The Xbox Dashboard takes up most of that space. Everyone has the same problem. Even on a 120 gig, A person will only be able to use about 112 Gigs.

[OldSkool]

This is the same as the regular HD "issue" that people have discussed endlessly for years. "Why isn't my 150gb HD reading as such?" As has already been said, formatting and OS.

[Special7]

*shrug* On my brother in law's 360 with a 20GB drive he had 13.3GB free, we installed Gears of War 2 and it's now down to 6GB. That's with no demo's downloaded and or anything else.

[sHape oF gReY]

My HDMI 360 came pre-loaded with a couple of random xbox-related videos that took up around 3-4 gigs all together, yours might have the same thing going on. Worth a try.

[ashenfang]

thanks for the input. Figures, another bloated MS application. How exactly can dashboard run on a non-HD xbox 360 arcade? I thought the dashboard was loaded as part of the OS on the 360.

[zexmarquies01]

thanks for the input. Figures, another bloated MS application. How exactly can dashboard run on a non-HD xbox 360 arcade? I thought the dashboard was loaded as part of the OS on the 360.

D'oh. Yeah, you'd have to be right about the Dashboard being part of the OS.

But Doesn't the HDD's have the data on them to allow people to play their old Xbox 1 games? If i remember correctly, I think that may be one of the reasons.

And yeah, Microsoft likes to put in video's and extra crap on the new HDD's. Which can use up a couple gigs of data.

I may have to drop the cash for a new 360 HDD. I only have a 20 gig HDD at the moment, and after installing one game, i only have like 6.3 gigs left. Though, i'm going to wait a bit, and see if microsoft comes out with a newer, larger Hard Drive. I wouldn't doubt it, since a lot of people will probably be upgrading their HDD's here pretty soon.

[ashenfang]

The install to hard drive is a nice idea, but is countered by having to *still* have to put the disc in. It would be nice if after install it verifies the disc, and then will randomly check for it, not requiring it to be in all the time. Sorta defeats the purpose of having it on a hard drive. :-/

[unrlmth]

I think I remember reading tha it was just a normal 2.5in drive. If you're not afraid to take it apart, you could save a lot of money just getting the drive.

[Hardin]

Guys you don't get the full 20gb because the rest of it is used by games as a cache. Nothing bloated about it.

[Mortis03]

Also, I think it has to do with the conversions of bytes from 2 based to 10 based. Like a kilo in 10 base is 10^3, while, in 2 base it's like 2^10 I think.

[Mr.Guvernment]

This is the same as the regular HD "issue" that people have discussed endlessly for years. "Why isn't my 150gb HD reading as such?" As has already been said, formatting and OS.

ya except a 20G wont loose 8G from formating alone.

[Ebola]

ya except a 20G wont loose 8G from formating alone.

It contains the code to run the XBOX 1 games

[zexmarquies01]

I think I remember reading tha it was just a normal 2.5in drive. If you're not afraid to take it apart, you could save a lot of money just getting the drive.

Can't. People have tried. Evidently, there's data on the HDD's that are needed for the Xbox to use them. The only way people can get it to work, is to take their current 360 HDD, and create a ghost image of it. Then, place that ghost image onto a new, larger HDD.

But the problem is, somewhere within the image is data that tells the 360 how large the HDD is. So, If you slap a 250 gig HDD in there, But you originally had a 20 gig HDD, the 360 will still read it as a 20 gig HDD.

Microsoft has it locked out so you can't upgrade the HDD's on your own.

[zexmarquies01]

It contains the code to run the XBOX 1 games

That's what i thought.

[FudgeNuggets]

That's what i thought.

Well you thought wrong then because it downloads the "code" individually for each original game when you stick it in the drive and it checks LIVE for compatibility which is why you download an update when you stick in a Xbox original game. I've gone in and looked at these files on my 360 and their fairly small also, the largest was 2MB I think.

Whoever said that it loses space with the format AND it reserves a certain amount for caching gave you the CORRECT answer. Yes there is some garbage video you can remove as well but you will not get the full 20GB due to the above reasoning.

[zexmarquies01]

Well you thought wrong then because it downloads the "code" individually for each original game when you stick it in the drive and it checks LIVE for compatibility which is why you download an update when you stick in a Xbox original game. I've gone in and looked at these files on my 360 and their fairly small also, the largest was 2MB I think.

Whoever said that it loses space with the format AND it reserves a certain amount for caching gave you the CORRECT answer. Yes there is some garbage video you can remove as well but you will not get the full 20GB due to the above reasoning.

Oh well. Then that is the answer.

The install to hard drive is a nice idea, but is countered by having to *still* have to put the disc in. It would be nice if after install it verifies the disc, and then will randomly check for it, not requiring it to be in all the time. Sorta defeats the purpose of having it on a hard drive. :-/

Well the problem with that is, people could just rent 360 games for 5 bucks, copy the game, and bam. They have the entire game without owning it. It helps keep pirating down. Sure, they could do a online authorization, But that would kill the sale of used 360 games. Which would REALLY **** Gamestop off, which is the leading seller of video games. ( well...dunno about online sales. But in terms of brick and mortar buildings...).

If people couldn't buy used games, Nintendo, MS, and Sony would see a decrease in console sale. Plus, Gamestop would lose A LOT of money. that's how they make the majority of their cash. The last thing big publishers want, is the largest game retail store closing. Video game sales would drop quite a bit. Walmart isn't exactly an option. in the past 2 months or so, 2 or 3 games i bought from Gamestop were not carried by Walmart. At least, not on the release date. Certain game genre's just arn't followed by the mainstream. ( certain RPG's, Tactical games...etc.. ). That would kill the lesser known publishers. ( Such as NIS, who makes the Disgaea games. )


long way to put it...but yeah..it's to discourage piracy. :D

[Niku-Sama]

i wonder if you can install to a hard drive hooked up over USB, hrmm i'll have to check that out, i have a 60 gig laptop harddrive (7200 rpm even) in a slim case to hook it over USB

[Ebola]

Well you thought wrong

I guess you know better than Microsoft then.


Approximately 2 GB is reserved for use by the Xbox 360 backwards-compatibility software that allows you to play older Xbox titles on the Xbox 360 console.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911593

[zexmarquies01]

i wonder if you can install to a hard drive hooked up over USB, hrmm i'll have to check that out, i have a 60 gig laptop harddrive (7200 rpm even) in a slim case to hook it over USB

Yes, you can. But the 360 can support only FAT32 though.

Though, i don't know if you can install games to the USB hard drive though. Since NXE just came out, might have to wait a few days before we get a response.

And i don't think you can use a USB based HDD for Market place purchases.

But if you have a lot of music on your 360's HDD, or a lot of videos, a external HDD might not be a bad idea. But until i find out if you can install games to an external HDD...the point is kinda moot to me.

*SNIP*

yay! I WAS right after all. So it looks like about 2 gigs for backwards compatibility, and the other 6 goes to formatting, and caching. ( well, exact numbers for the format will differ, depending on the drive size. But most of us here already know this. )

[Niku-Sama]

Yes, you can. But the 360 can support only FAT32 though.

Though, i don't know if you can install games to the USB hard drive though. Since NXE just came out, might have to wait a few days before we get a response.

And i don't think you can use a USB based HDD for Market place purchases.

But if you have a lot of music on your 360's HDD, or a lot of videos, a external HDD might not be a bad idea. But until i find out if you can install games to an external HDD...the point is kinda moot to me.


well the annoying thing from before was that if you had music on your hard drive you couldnt copy it to the internal drive or back to the USB drive. it was strange, like it had no write command for over USB but that could have changed......but probally not

[zexmarquies01]

well the annoying thing from before was that if you had music on your hard drive you couldnt copy it to the internal drive or back to the USB drive. it was strange, like it had no write command for over USB but that could have changed......but probally not

Ahhh. I dunno about that then. As i said, i never use music on my 360. If i want music while playing games, I'll use my computer. 5.1 surround sound from my computer sounds better than the 2.0 stereo sound from my TV. :D

[FudgeNuggets]

I guess you know better than Microsoft then.



http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911593

on top of that each game has it's own small download. You can delete those but not the main file.

[TheGreySpectre]

You lose a gig or so just because of the way Hard Drive space is measured, same as on PC. You then lose more space to the system cache.

[petteyg359]

Also, I think it has to do with the conversions of bytes from 2 based to 10 based. Like a kilo in 10 base is 10^3, while, in 2 base it's like 2^10 I think.

ya except a 20G wont loose 8G from formating alone.

This is the same as the regular HD "issue" that people have discussed endlessly for years. "Why isn't my 150gb HD reading as such?" As has already been said, formatting and OS.

Whoever said that it loses space with the format AND it reserves a certain amount for caching gave you the CORRECT answer.

and the other 6 goes to formatting, and caching. ( well, exact numbers for the format will differ, depending on the drive size. But most of us here already know this. )

You lose a gig or so just because of the way Hard Drive space is measured, same as on PC. You then lose more space to the system cache.

All of you are wrong, partially. A drive does NOT lose space due to formatting. The space can be measured in binary or decimal. Most drives are sold with sizes advertised in decimal, but MS operating systems show the size measured in binary. The OS and pre-loaded data will take up space, but formatting, by itself, does not take up space. A 60GB drive, whether un-formatted, FAT32, or NTFS, will still have 60GB of space until you put something on it.

[zexmarquies01]

All of you are wrong, partially. A drive does NOT lose space due to formatting. The space can be measured in binary or decimal. Most drives are sold with sizes advertised in decimal, but MS operating systems show the size measured in binary. The OS and pre-loaded data will take up space, but formatting, by itself, does not take up space. A 60GB drive, whether un-formatted, FAT32, or NTFS, will still have 60GB of space until you put something on it.

aka: Advertisers say 1000MB = 1GB, but actually 1GB = 1024MB, Which is how windows ( and the Xbox, and PS3..etc..) all read the file size. People tend to ignore the extra 24 bytes/megs/gigs etc...Due to language, since Kilo = 1000, Mega = 1,000,000 etc...

I'm pretty sure that *most* of us here already know this. I mean, this is OCF, not Yahoo answers. But even so, thought I'd spell it out directly for those who didn't know.

[Ebola]

We are actually not wrong. A drive does lose available space when formatted because space is used by the filesystem for indexing etc. NTFS uses a lot more space than FAT.

[Hardin]

We are actually not wrong. A drive does lose available space when formatted because space is used by the filesystem for indexing etc. NTFS uses a lot more space than FAT.

The xbox 360 uses fat32.