How to Format a Hard Drive for Use with an Xbox 360

Table of contents:

How to Format a Hard Drive for Use with an Xbox 360
How to Format a Hard Drive for Use with an Xbox 360
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This tutorial shows you how to format a hard drive to be able to use it with your Xbox 360, in order to increase the space available to store images, games, movies, music, etc. To date, only Western Digital branded devices with capacities of 80 and 250 GB are supported.

Steps

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 1
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 1

Step 1. Following this procedure you will format your chosen hard drive for use

If you have important data, back it up completely before proceeding. Otherwise you will lose any information contained on the hard drive.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 2
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 2

Step 2. After the backup is complete, connect the hard drive to your Xbox 360

From the console dashboard, select the 'System Settings' tab, then choose the 'Storage Devices' item. If the 'Configure USB Device' option is available, proceed directly to step number 8.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 3
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 3

Step 3. These steps only work with the Windows 7 operating system

Connect the hard drive to your computer. Access the 'Start' menu and select the 'Computer' icon with the right mouse button, then choose the 'Manage' option from the context menu that appeared.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 4
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 4

Step 4. From the 'Computer Management' panel, select the 'Disk Management' menu item located in the 'Storage' section

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 5
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 5

Step 5. Identify your external hard drive in the list

Select it with the right mouse button and choose 'Format' from the menu that appeared.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 6
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 6

Step 6. Under 'File System', select the 'exFAT' option, then press the 'OK' button and select the 'Continue' button to proceed to the next step

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 7
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 7

Step 7. Once formatting is complete, connect the hard drive to the console again, select 'System Settings' and then 'Storage Devices'

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 8
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 8

Step 8. Select the 'Configure USB Device' option, then choose the 'Configure Now' item

An information message will appear, follow the instructions to proceed with the hard disk configuration.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 9
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 9

Step 9. Once the formatting process is complete, a message will appear, simply press the 'OK' button

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 10
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 10

Step 10. Now, in the 'Storage Devices' window, you can see one more option called 'Storage Drives'

This means that the formatting process was successful.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 11
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 11

Step 11. Unplug the hard drive from the console and plug it back into your laptop

Copy your media content to your device, making sure the file formats are compatible with the Xbox 360. Once the copy process is complete, you can connect your hard drive to the console.

Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 12
Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360 Step 12

Step 12. Your content will be accessible under 'Portable Devices' of your Video / Music / Pictures libraries

Warnings

  • This method requires the use of 16 GB of free hard disk space. If you don't want to lose such a large amount of storage space, this procedure is not for you.
  • Formatting a hard drive will erase all data on it, so always make a backup before formatting.
  • This guide was created using a laptop running Windows 7 and an Xbox 360 with the firmware and dashboard version of the December 20, 2010 update.

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