Is there a way to backup (make a copy of) my external USB harddrive?

I am using an external USB hard drive for our XBOX 360. Trying to find a way to make a copy of what is on it. In case of a crash.

Can't find any info anywhere...

Thanks!

GroovyComa

:)

 

Backup of Games

Technically if you have a physical copy of content you are allowed to make backups as long as you retain the original and the backup is only to be used in place of the original to preserve it. Problem you run into on the 360 is the tools needed to make a
backup have to circumvent the Digital Rights Management the 360 uses which is illegal. So no legal way backup your games.

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Second thing is external USB storage has a limit of 16GB partitions so you could only install 1-2 games. You can't create multiple partitions beyond the first one as the 360 will ignore them and look for the first partition on the drive. That means 16GB
per device with a limit on how many USB ports your 360 has free.

 

gamerscore issues

Heroic Elite:

Yes, but you could make a backup. Use a USB memory stick and copy it there, then recover it to your xbox. If it doesn't work, erase the recovered one from your HDD and copy over the backup from the memory stick. This should work. At least it sounds plausible
in my head

 

I know that you could used to get a specific transfer cable that went from the 360 to a PC or something.

Most files are protected with some sort of incription to prevent all sorts of wrong doing. I take it plugging it into a PC and copy & pasting files onto multile sticks doesn't work?

What backups are you worried about most? I recently moved my Fable III save to a memory stick which is now stored in a death trapped cave in the center of Nepal. Just on the off chance I want to complete the game all over again but don't have to worry about
that blooming sword achievement.

Recovering isn't that much of an issue though mate. As long as you still have the game then you can always play it again at a later date. Probably enjoy it all over again too.

 

Thanks BrakoVonCruel. Basically the drive already failed once and we lost all my daughter's minecraft, skylanders and other saved games.

Do you know what gets saved when you have a live account?

And what I was trying to figure out was how to save a copy of all the files on the hard drive...

How do I make sure we never lose anything (by having a backup somewhere).

Kevin

 

The Xbox servers will have all account information (gamerscore and purchases), but not game saves. That's the only thing the servers don't automatically back up. If you get a gold susbcription, you can use the cloud for game saves. The files cannot be transferred
to a PC and back without violating the terms of service. You can plug in a second USB storage device and copy saves to that for extra backup. There are some games that will not allow saves to be copied though, so you may only be able to keep those on the storage
device you'll mainly use.

 

OK. So I figured out I can COPY a profile according to sources. But when I try to copy a profile from one storage device to another (as backup). but when I get to the screen where you are supposed to be able to MOVE, COPY, DELETE. I only have MOVE, DELETE
as options.

 

If it doesn't give you an option to copy, then it's not possible to copy it. I believe profiles themselves can only be moved. Since profiles are saved on the servers, you can always redownload them.

 

OKay. So you believe our profiles are backed up on the servers? Automatically? So if the hard drive fails, would you be able to down load that?

 

If the profile is connected to Live, then it is automatically backed up to the servers and can be downloaded at any time. The only thing you can't recover is game saves. If the profile has never been connect to Live, and is strictly and offline server, then
you would not be able to redownload it.