How to Format a Hard Drive for Use With Xbox 360

Last Updated: March 5, 2022

This article will tell you how to format a hard drive so that you can use it with your Xbox 360 for extra space for your photos and music etc. Only Western Digital hard drives work, and there are specific storage spaces that are compatible: 80GB and 250GB work so far.

Steps

1
In this process your hard drive will be formatted, so back up all files to another hard drive, laptop, or be prepared to lose everything on your hard drive.
2
After you have backed everything up, plug your hard drive into an Xbox 360 then go 'My Xbox/System Settings/Memory.' If an option called "USB Storage Device" appears, please skip to step 8.

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3
(This may only work on Windows 7) Connect the hard drive to your laptop. Open up your Start menu, right click on 'My PC' and select 'Manage'
4
Under 'Computer Management,' select 'Storage/Disk Management.'
5
Find your external hard drive, right click then select 'Format'
6
Change the File System to 'exFAT' then select 'OK,' then select 'Continue' on the next screen.
7
Reconnect your hard drive to your Xbox 360 then go to 'My Xbox/System Settings/Memory.'
8
Select 'USB Storage Device/Configure Now' then accept the warning.
9
After the formatting is complete a Performance Warning box will appear, click 'OK.'
10
Now in the 'Storage Devices' screen you should see a new option 'Memory Unit.' This shows that the formatting was successful.
11
Disconnect your hard drive, then connect it to your laptop, load on some media (makes sure the file types are compatible), then reconnect it to your Xbox 360.
12
Your selected media should not appear under 'Portable Device' in the Video/Music/Picture Library.

Community Q&A

Question

Are you sure that only Western Digital will work?

Community Answer

No. Other platforms will work, too.
Question

Is there any way to use a old hard drive with a new Xbox?

Community Answer

Yes. You must open the hard-drive case, remove the hard drive, and put it in the new case. Or you can use the Xbox 360 transfer cable.
Question

I have an external hard drive, but I am having trouble using a seagate backup. Is there anything else I can do?

Community Answer

You could copy all the files on the drive to a folder on your computer. This can be faster in some cases.

Warnings

Formatting your hard drive will delete all data. Back everything up first!

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This guide was first created using a laptop running Windows 7 and an Xbox 360 using the latest firmware and dashboard as of 20.12.2010.

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This method uses up 16 GB of your hard drive. If you don't want to lose that amount of space, this guide is not for you.

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