Unformatted HDD and updates

Hey guys quick question! The 4gb HDD in my 4gb xbox 360 S has been saying unformatted since the whole update fiasco of last christmas. My xbox updated for several more month to a USB before it quit for some unknown. So my question is If i buy and install
an internal HDD will I finally be able to update my xbox? (and yes I have run through all of the update error soutions/fixes and I am not paying microsoft to fix a problem that seems to have been caused by their update!) Has anyone else experienced this issue
and did this fix it?

:)

 

unformated hdd after system update?

hey,

got an update from xbox and my hdd says unformatted. what causes this?

 

Xbox 360S Hard Drive suddenly not formatted?

Same this happens to me! 250g unformatted after update. It a " microsoft-branded HDD" its this update that corrupted our hdd !

 

You should be able to reformat your drive. If you can't, then your drive is dead. There's no 'fixing' the issue--it's your HDD that's pooched. It has little to do with the update, though that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. You should
be able to buy an internal and use it like you normally would, yes.

 

I just wanted to add that you should purchase an official Xbox hard drive from your local electronics store. As much as it seems a good idea to pay less and purchase one online, it's not. Purchasing from online sites such as ebay or amazon will more than
likely get you a 3rd party drive. These drives are not covered under any warranty by Xbox and do not have the necessary firmware to run backwards compatible games.

I have even heard that in some cases they will not run newer games either.

 

Funny thing is I can power up and run the xbox with the unformatted internal HDD, no thumb drive attached. Ok so I understand that I can buy an HDD and use it as normal but will I be able to download and install xbox live updates again or will this problem
persist?

 

The issue you've been having seems to have been with the USB stick. Getting an official Xbox hard drive should resolve the problem for you and allow you to download updates again.

 

Thank you guys for your help!

 

The internal "hard drive" on a 4GB console is not really a "hard drive" per se, but rather flash memory.

On the original release versions, this was attached to a riser card. On later versions of the S and all versions of the E this was part of the same NAND that the system OS is on.

If it is showing as unformatted, that means the NAND chip is failing. It will work for awhile, but eventually the part containing the system OS will become corrupted and unreadable. The only option is to replace the console at that point.

If it is still under warranty, get it replaced ASAP.