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Can You Use a USB for the Xbox 360 Without a Hard Drive?

USB drives offer a low-cost storage alternative for Xbox 360 consoles that don't come with an internal hard drive. When originally sold, the basic Core and Arcade Xbox 360 models limited you to 256 MB of internal memory for games and other content. However, with upgrades to the console software, you can now add up to two USB drives to any Xbox 360 console, either flash drives or external hard drives. Each drive can store up to 32 GB of data, including games, game saves and movies.

Instructions

- 1
  Update the firmware on your Xbox 360 console if you haven't done so recently. You can get an automatic update with full USB support by connecting to Xbox Live or by installing a game from a disc released after November 2012.
- 2
  Obtain a USB drive, and insert it into one of the USB ports on the front of the console.
- 3
  Press the "Guide" button in the middle of the Xbox controller, select "Settings" from the menu and then select "System Settings."
- 4
  Select "Memory" on the next screen, and then select "USB Storage Device." You are presented with two options: "Configure Now" and "Customize."
- 5
  Select "Configure Now" to use the entire available space on the drive, up to 32 GB. If you prefer to use only part of the drive's storage space, select "Customize," move the slider to the desired size setting and then select "Configure." Once you make your selection, select "Yes" to begin formatting. A USB flash drives takes only a few seconds to format, while an external USB hard drive may take several minutes. Once the formatting is complete, your Xbox 360 displays a message that the drive is ready for use.

Xbox 360